An Open Letter to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals from a Farmer Who Cares
Dear PETA,
I think it's time we had a talk. On behalf of those who work in agriculture, there are a few issues I would like to bring to light and see what you make of them. This letter's purpose is to help us find common ground, and to work through some of our issues like adults. I believe some parts of our philosophies are similar, and as such I am reaching out in a civilized means in order to explain where I as a future agriculturalist am coming from.
First, I would very respectfully like to ask you to refrain from spreading falsity and misinformation. For instance, I found this post on your Instagram page just the other day:
I get that you don't like dairy, and I'm not judging you. We can agree to disagree on this point. What I can't let slide is the way you portray calf pulling. Some of your followers who commented on this picture were genuinely sad that calf pulling occurs because you made it seem like a horrible, abusive thing by carefully choosing your words and adding the hashtag #ReasonsToGoVegan. Calf pulling is not a reason to go vegan. It is a practice that saves lives. Sometimes, cows may experience a condition called "dystocia," which means that the calf is too large for the size of their birth canal, and is stuck. If not corrected, the calf has a very good chance of dying. In addition, the cow may die as well due to infection or uterine rupture, which causes massive internal bleeding (1). If the cow manages to give birth somehow, she's more likely to experience a uterine prolapse from excessive straining (2). If you don't know what that is, Google it. Just be warned that it's not pretty. With all that being said, how on Earth can you not support pulling calves when the mother cow has dystocia? More importantly, I cannot fathom why you would try to convince people that this is a bad thing. If you're truly about helping animals, why are you trying to persuade people that farmers shouldn't pull calves? Would you rather the calf just rot inside the cow?
It's things like this that bother me. You claim to be for the benefit of animals, but in the same breath, you advocate for methods that involve killing them. For instance, in American animal shelters, only about 23% of those animals that enter are euthanized (3). According to animal custody records by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, PETA euthanized 71% of all the animals it took in during 2016 (4). Only 80 out of the 2,007 animals taken in were adopted out, for an adoption rate of less than 4%. In contrast, the adoption rate in the rest of the United States is 49% (3). Clearly, there's a problem. I'd like to kindly ask you to explain those statistics. For people who are extremely vocal about your disdain for killing animals, you seem to do an awful lot of killing.
Another thing I would like an explanation for is your silence on some things, but not others. Where were you when horrible fires killed and injured countless cattle in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas a few weeks ago? Why haven't any of your members given any aid to orphaned calves and injured cows? Why haven't we seen you donating hay or milk replacer, as we have from numerous people who are true animal lovers? Your silence is very telling, and I have to admit I find it disturbing that you'll petition video game companies to keep them from programming fur onto their fictional characters, but you won't step in to save baby calves whose mothers burned to death trying to keep them safe. I would think actual animal lives would be more important than fictional ones, yet I didn't see a single post on any of your social media accounts that concerned these poor, suffering cows. What gives?
In conclusion, you have some explaining to do, PETA. Both of us believe animals should not be beaten or treated inhumanely. On this, we can agree. Even if your members choose not to eat meat, dairy, or eggs, I can live with that. Your diet is your choice. However, I refuse to sit idly by and allow you to demonize hard working, honest farmers and ranchers with misinformation and lies when your own numbers clearly show that you have no problem with killing animals. That is the textbook definition of hypocrisy. In addition, you fail to address things that matter, like the deaths of uncountable cattle at the hands of a fire. It's disgraceful, and you should be ashamed.
Sincerely,
A Farmer
I think it's time we had a talk. On behalf of those who work in agriculture, there are a few issues I would like to bring to light and see what you make of them. This letter's purpose is to help us find common ground, and to work through some of our issues like adults. I believe some parts of our philosophies are similar, and as such I am reaching out in a civilized means in order to explain where I as a future agriculturalist am coming from.
First, I would very respectfully like to ask you to refrain from spreading falsity and misinformation. For instance, I found this post on your Instagram page just the other day:
 |
| Seriously? |
It's things like this that bother me. You claim to be for the benefit of animals, but in the same breath, you advocate for methods that involve killing them. For instance, in American animal shelters, only about 23% of those animals that enter are euthanized (3). According to animal custody records by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, PETA euthanized 71% of all the animals it took in during 2016 (4). Only 80 out of the 2,007 animals taken in were adopted out, for an adoption rate of less than 4%. In contrast, the adoption rate in the rest of the United States is 49% (3). Clearly, there's a problem. I'd like to kindly ask you to explain those statistics. For people who are extremely vocal about your disdain for killing animals, you seem to do an awful lot of killing.
Another thing I would like an explanation for is your silence on some things, but not others. Where were you when horrible fires killed and injured countless cattle in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas a few weeks ago? Why haven't any of your members given any aid to orphaned calves and injured cows? Why haven't we seen you donating hay or milk replacer, as we have from numerous people who are true animal lovers? Your silence is very telling, and I have to admit I find it disturbing that you'll petition video game companies to keep them from programming fur onto their fictional characters, but you won't step in to save baby calves whose mothers burned to death trying to keep them safe. I would think actual animal lives would be more important than fictional ones, yet I didn't see a single post on any of your social media accounts that concerned these poor, suffering cows. What gives?
In conclusion, you have some explaining to do, PETA. Both of us believe animals should not be beaten or treated inhumanely. On this, we can agree. Even if your members choose not to eat meat, dairy, or eggs, I can live with that. Your diet is your choice. However, I refuse to sit idly by and allow you to demonize hard working, honest farmers and ranchers with misinformation and lies when your own numbers clearly show that you have no problem with killing animals. That is the textbook definition of hypocrisy. In addition, you fail to address things that matter, like the deaths of uncountable cattle at the hands of a fire. It's disgraceful, and you should be ashamed.
Sincerely,
A Farmer
Sources
(1) Neilson, JP; Lavender, T; Quenby, S; Wray, S (2003).
"Obstructed labour.". British medical bulletin
(4) https://arr.va-vdacs.com/PublicReports/ViewReport?SysFacNo=157&Calendar_Year=2016
I'm a full-time college student at Texas A&M University, where I'm in the process of getting my Animal Science degree, with eventual aspirations to go to law school and work as a consulting lawyer for agriculture corporations. I grew up around animals, and currently manage an operation that breeds show-quality boer goats for 4H and FFA exhibitors. My family also raises commercial cattle in south Texas.
I'm a full-time college student at Texas A&M University, where I'm in the process of getting my Animal Science degree, with eventual aspirations to go to law school and work as a consulting lawyer for agriculture corporations. I grew up around animals, and currently manage an operation that breeds show-quality boer goats for 4H and FFA exhibitors. My family also raises commercial cattle in south Texas.
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