When raising livestock for meat, farmers must follow one hard and fast rule: You can’t care about the animals you care for. Which isn’t to say you can’t respect and honor the creatures you’re tasked with raising. I believe you should, in fact, play and talk with your feeder hogs to make their life as good as possible. But you can’t love them, or else you’ll depart the processor in tears every time.
It’s simple pragmatism, but to the outsider looking in, this attitude can seem callous, especially when coupled with the livestock farmer’s other rule against keeping animals who don’t pull their weight. When budgets get tight—and farm budgets are, by nature, very tight—it doesn’t make dollars and sense to keep an old animal around just because.
Which is exactly what we’re doing with George Clooney, the 700-plus-pound Berkshire boar.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, in effect the executive committee of the Chinese Communist Party, in late February issued an edict banning the country’s “wet markets,” including those in Wuhan, the source of the current COVID-19 outbreak. The statement notes that “it is necessary to strengthen market supervision, resolutely ban and severely crack down on illegal wildlife markets and trade, and control major public health risks from the source.” The Straits Times of Singapore has reported that eight laws have been passed in the last week. We have no details on the contents of the legislation. It’s too soon to know, though, whether we have been down this road before. To read more on this story, click here:The Chinese Wild-Animal Industry and Wet Markets Must Go
Lakeland, Florida - A central Florida woman was arrested on suspicion of riding a horse in the middle of a road while drunk. Donna Byrne, 53, was arrested on charges of DUI and animal neglect after she was found riding the horse on Combee Road near North Crystal Lake Road in Lakeland. Deputies said Byrne reeked of alcohol, had red, watery eyes and was staggering. Deputies said she provided breath samples that showed she had a blood alcohol level of 0.157 and 0.161, about twice the legal limit of 0.08 in Florida. "Ms. Byrne was obviously not in any condition to be on the road," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. "She not only put herself and the horse in danger, but also anyone who was driving on the road, which is typically very busy." Authorities said Byrne was charged with animal neglect because she did not provide proper protection for the horse, which she put in jeopardy of being injured or killed. The Sheriff's Office said Byrne's criminal history includes five felony and 10 misdemeanor charges, including cruelty to animals, drug possession and a probation violation. The horse was taken to the Polk County Sheriff's Animal Control livestock facility.
Okeechobee, Flordia - There is encouraging news for a miniature horse found abandoned in Okeechobee. The Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office Animal Control says it believes it has identified the owner of the mini horse, named "Little Sammy." Animal Control is now trying to locate the owner. The extremely adorable mini pony was found abandoned roaming on various properties. The Sheriff's Office said it escaped its pen. Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office Animal Control officers took the pony into their possession. Officials said if the above livestock is not claimed by the 18th of November, "it shall be offered for adoption, auction, or disposed of humanely." For information: Okeechobee County Sheriff Animal Control HOURS: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 1480 NW 25th Dr Okeechobee, FL 34972 (863) 357-3225
The micro-mini pig craze has exploded over the past few
years. There are YouTube pig celebrities. There are "trendsetters"
like Victoria Beckham and Paris Hilton cooing over their tiny pigs. There was
even a teacup pig appearance on How I Met Your Mother. But the acceptance of
mini pigs as pets is the result of misleading claims (dating back to the 1980s)
that can truly hurt innocent pigs.
Teacup pigs are really baby potbellied pigs
At first glance, it sounds purely adorable: a pig who will
never weigh more than a human baby. But as the executive director of PIGS
Animal Sanctuary Melissa Susko confirms, this isn't the case. "There
really is no such thing as a teacup pig, micro-mini, Juliana, etc.," she
tells The Dodo. "Miniature pigs are mini compared to a domestic farm pig
that can reach 600-plus pounds. So-called teacups are actually potbellied pigs
who are either underfed to stunt their growth or who are sold under false
pretenses."
Potbellied pigs ( Sus scrofa domesticus) are wild boar
cousins from Vietnam who are in fact miniature pigs when standing next to huge
farm pigs (who can weigh more than 1,000 pounds) or even wild hogs (who can
weight 450 to 700 pounds). However, potbellied pigs still grow to between 100
and 150 pounds on average — nowhere near small enough to fit into a teacup. In
fact, the smallest size that is healthy for these little guys is around 60
pounds (though that could be underweight, depending on the pig).
They can breed when they are just 3 months old
To convince customers of their pig's minuscule size,
breeders may invite them to look at the piggy parents. Don't be fooled, says
Susko. Because these pigs "can breed when they are as young as 6 to 8
weeks old, the parents of a piglet may be piglets themselves." Therefore,
she says, "their size is not an accurate measure of how large their
offspring will be in adulthood. Potbellied pigs can grow until they are 5 years
old and reach well over 100 pounds."
Keeping pigs that small is simply unhealthy
Some breeders inbreed their pigs to try to achieve a
smaller size, but that produces a host of health issues resulting from reduced
genetic diversity, such as squished snouts, which cause breathing problems
later in life. And breeders often instruct buyers to feed their pig a diet that
amounts to starvation.
Susko says her sanctuary takes in numerous pigs turned in
by people who said they "were told by the breeder that the pig will only
get big if you feed him too much. Many pigs come in malnourished and emaciated.
Underfed pigs also suffer from weak immune systems, sensitive skin and hoof
problems." Indeed, underfed pigs — like too-little Wilburt here — tend to
come with a host of health problems caused by malnutrition. Wilburt was fed
guinea pig food to keep him small, but after being surrendered to a shelter,
this curious 2-year-old is on a more appropriate diet of fruits and vegetables.
And it makes them unhappy
Potbellied pigs need other piggy friends and lots of space
to roam — otherwise they can become depressed or angry. Pigs love to root, dig,
roll in mud and splash in water. Their intelligence makes them exceptionally
curious animals who will probably get into some trouble when they're bored,
just like a toddler, and they can get territorial and moody, too. Pigs simply
being pigs is oftentimes enough of a reason for teacup pig owners to abandon
their pigs or surrender them to sanctuaries like Best Friends Animal Society or
Pig Placement Network.
The Dodo reached out to Janette Reever, the Humane
Society's deputy manager of animal fighting response for the Animal Rescue
Team, for comment on the pet pig craze. Between her former job as an animal
control officer, her current position at the Humane Society and her active
volunteer work at PIGS Sanctuary, Reever says she has "seen firsthand
countless pigs that were surrendered to shelters, rescues, and dumped because
the 'teacup' pig grew to 100-plus pounds." Reever shares her home with two
such rescues from PIGS Sanctuary — Annabelle and Arnold (pictured below) — and
she "can attest to how smart they are, how closely they bond to their
families and the specialized care they require."
Keeping pigs is more
expensive than you may think
Because customers expect these
piglets to stay tiny, they can't possibly imagine the mountainous costs
associated with keeping a fully grown potbellied pig. As Susko puts it,
"Many people think they are buying a teacup Yorkie and end up with a Saint
Bernard. Not many people can handle a 100-, 200- or even 300-pound pig in their
house."
There's the initial price of
the pig, which may be several thousand dollars, the proper food (no dog or cat
kibble), the space needed, the vet bills (finding a good vet for these piggies
can be almost impossible), sterilization costs and the expenses for a qualified
pig-sitter if the humans go out of town and don't take their pal along.
They also may be illegal
No matter what teacup pig
purchasers may think or how small their pig may be, in the eyes of the law,
these little pigs are livestock — just like farm pigs or cows. Many local
governments outside of farm country forbid the keeping of livestock, so it
might be illegal to keep these pigs as pets, even if you do have the money and
the ability to care for them.
Unfortunately, the prevalence
of misinformation about the care of these complex creatures means that most
teacup pigs live only about five years, even though "the average life
expectancy for a potbellied pig is 12 to 18 years," according to Susko.
"We've had some that barely made it past two years of life."
And their popularity doesn't
seem to be waning anytime soon. "I have been at the sanctuary since 2002
(going on 13 years) and have worked with well over a thousand pigs during this
time," Susko says. "We get an average of 30 requests a week to take
in pigs that people have purchased under the assumption that they will be micro
or teacup pigs. When the pigs start growing, they call us. We have 120 potbelly
pigs here at PIGS and 85 percent of them have been pigs that people bought
without doing their research and fell for the teacup pig myth."
Don't be "pignorant"
— find more information about "teacup" pigs here. When you see photos
or videos tagged "teacup" or "micro" pig, remember that
many of these pigs have a hard time finding a forever home after they no longer
fit into that teacup. "It is an unethical industry," cautions Reever,
"and the victims are the pigs."
Instead of an actual pig, why
not gift a pig sponsorship this holiday season? There are also plenty of
opportunities to donate to shelters that provide the proper care for abandoned
or surrendered pigs.
It started when someone left a 120-pound cow head in a
park.
At first, investigators in Sacramento wondered if that
someone was a hunter, one who had accidentally left something behind. Then
another cow head appeared nearby not long after, followed over the next few
months by a series of gruesome packages containing dead goats, chickens, rats,
fish, lambs and even a tortoise, according to the Sacramento Bee.
In most cases, the carcasses being left around California’s
capital city are headless, but strangely blood free, aside from one instance in
which a package contained bowls of what was described as “bloody oatmeal,” the
Bee reported.
Since the first cow head was discovered in December,
authorities have logged at least a dozen instances of mutilated animals being
found around the city, often near train tracks, according to NBC affiliate
KCRA.
The killings almost always involve livestock, and never
cats and dogs, investigators say.
In March, the Humane Society offered a reward of up to
$5,000 for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the
mutilations.
“These animals were mutilated and killed for no apparent
reason and discarded as though they were trash,” the Humane Society’s Eric
Sakach said at the time. “We are hopeful that this reward will bring forward
anyone with information about these disturbing crimes.”
But more than six months after the killings began,
authorities say they still don’t know who, or what, they’re dealing with.
Gina Knepp, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento Department of
Animal Control, told Reuters that some packages have included bloody dollar
bills, oil and seeds that are known to be used in some Afro-Caribbean
religions.
And yet, she admits, investigators are stumped.
“It’s bizarre,” Knepp said. “We don’t know if it’s
religion; we don’t know if we have a sick individual in our community that
simply likes to cut the heads off animals and dump them where people can see
them.”
On Monday, the city released surveillance footage that
appears to show a woman dropping off bags that included a beheaded goat
carcass, as well as red hens, a rat and a catfish.
The woman, who struggled with the weight of the object, can
be seen getting out of a white van and dropping off the packages before getting
back into the vehicle less than a minute later and driving away.
Shelby County, TN (WMC) - What's lurking around the corner this Halloween? It may be a bull. Shelby Forest residents are on the lookout for a bull that is reportedly on the loose.
According to neighbors, the bull belongs to R&B icon Al Green. It is the second Halloween that neighbors are spooked.
When a young baby chicken fell off a livestock truck on her way to New York, she fell out of the frying pan and into the fire. Once destined for a slaughterhouse, she was now left to die by the side of the highway.
But luckily, things took a welcome turn for her and dozens of other chickens who fell off the truck. Officers from NYC Animal Care & Control rescued them from the Staten Island Expressway and quickly brought them to the New York Shelter of the organization Farm Sanctuary.
According to staff, when this chicken in particular arrived, she was traumatized and unable to sleep. Now, the bird, named Jane, is so relaxed that she can fit in a snooze anytime. And in case you were unaware, the sound of a chicken snoring — snuckling? — is real and absolutely perfect:
It’s important to note that tens of thousands of animals are killed or injured in U.S. highway accidents each year while being transported by the meat industry. At the same time, some 9 billion chickens are slaughtered each year in the U.S. for food.
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Animal cruelty has been discovered behind the scenes at popular pizza cheese suppliers. This might change your mind if you had plans to order a pie from Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, or Domino’s.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Idaho was among several states whose Ag Gag law was declared unconstitutional. What this means is that they made it a criminal offense to film what happens in the process of meat or milk production. It was created as a way to protect the public from the sometimes barbaric way the animals are treated, and now it seems the first results have appeared from its removal.
Mozzarella giant Leprino Foods in New Mexico supplies cheese to three of the biggest fast food pizza chains in the United States. An undercover activist uncovered a shocking (literally) secret behind the processing of the milk used for their cheese.
Apparently the cows’ genitals were being shocked into aggressive milk production. Other actions used on the dairy farm in question are punching and kicking of the livestock, as well as whipping and stabbing them with screwdrivers, as revealed in the disturbing video below.
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in the black drop-down menu on your right. Thank you.)
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