Industrial farms around the nation are
fighting back against animal rights groups with litigation and help
from state senators. Could Texas be next and should we prevent them?
After all, The cattle industry is big business in Texas. It started
when Central Valley Meat, a Californian slaughterhouse, was shut down
in 2012 after a string of undercover videos popped up on the internet
showing animal abuses at the accused plant. Corporate farms in Iowa,
Vermont, and Florida began pushing legislation that would prevent
citizens from exposing similar abuses. Farms in other states are also
considering similar tactics. Going so far as to accuse these
activists of being terrorists even though they haven't committed any
real crimes. These bills would make it illegal to photograph farms
without the owner's consent and a felony to lie on the job
application.
Let me start by saying, I am a
carnivore and like the taste of steak just as much as the next guy.
However, the idea of skinning calves alive and causing unnecessary
suffering to animals disturbs me. I wouldn't buy food from a company
guilty of such atrocities.
I understand that it's not possible to provide livestock with
ideal living conditions and provide the volume needed to feed the
country, but there should be consideration. I also believe that
industrial farms (CAFOs) left unregulated will not enforce policies
as strictly as needed. We need whistle blowers in the system to
provide information on how our food is being processed. Let's be
honest the majority of us, including me, would not take the time or
effort to investigate such issues on our own, even though it does
matter. Texas's cattle industry is very important, but similar bills
should not be allowed to pass here. It's not just for the sake of
animals but Texans as well. We have a right to know if these farms
are operating within the law and if they're preparing our food
properly and morally.
The only purpose of these bills is to
keep the general public from having an inside window to conditions
taking place inside these farms. It's not like a defense contractor
where espionage is more prevalent and restricting pictures is
necessary. Private property owners do have certain rights, but
considering the industry those rights shouldn't be taken
for granted. If it's cheaper to buy politicians that pass laws
to prevent the leakage of animal abuses instead of preventing them,
it just goes to show that what happened in these videos is much more
common than the public would like to believe. I'm not a big fan of
deregulation. It didn't work for Enron or the hedge fund industry, so
why would these mega farms be any different? I'm not beating on
farmers, I know most are honest hardworking individuals. What we're
talking about here are corporate farms with little incentive, other
than the fear of getting shut down, to regulate themselves in an
appropriate manner.
I haven't even touched the other
reason to support stricter regulations. E. coli, mad cow disease, and
salmonella have gotten a lot of media exposure lately. One of these
undercover videos caught an inspector, one of the guys who are
supposed to protect us, coaching farm operators
on how to cheat inspections. So now we've gone from a moral
dilemma to a public health issue. When something goes wrong at one of
these farms hundreds of people get sick before the culprit is tracked
down. As a result, thousands of animals will be put down because of
lax regulatory enforcement. Instead of misspent resources on
litigation CAFOs should be working on methods to prevent such abuses
from occurring in the first place. So, if a few activists
want to sacrifice their time going undercover and exposing the
farming industries' dirty secrets, I commend them. They're
contributing to a worthy societal cause.
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