Katie
Medlock asked this intriguing question on Care2 -- Do Vegans and Vegetarians Have
More Empathy? And her answer-"Scientific research suggests the answer is yes."
Well, despite science's role in arriving at this conclusion, it didn't surprise me that a
number of people who commented on Care2 disputed the science by giving all their indefensible
rationale for in this case- eating animals which are cruelly raised and slaughtered.
Then from Harper's Magazine an article which really shouldn't surprise
anyone who knows anything about the USDA -a government entity which in my opinion doesn't even know
the meaning of the word "empathy." Not too long ago an article appeared in the Washington
Post revealing how the
USDA was conducting cruel experiments involving farm animals in a Kansas
Research facility. I cannot understand how this president and others just simply let this agency
do whatever it wants. Now a new expose by Harper's Christopher Ketcham where he reveals that the
USDA has been known to torture dogs and kill endangered species.
In the fall of 1980 Rex Shaddox was working in Animal Damage Control in
Uvalde, Texas. Animal Damage Control was then a branch of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. it
was his job to kill wild carnivores and coyotes in particular. They were said to prey on the flocks
of local sheep ranchers.
One day his supervisor, Charles Brown, told Shaddox and his fellow agents
to meet at the city dump outside of town. Brown said that they were going to do some M-44 tests with
dogs. The M-44 is a spring-loaded device that is planted in the ground and ejects sodium cyanide when
set off. It was one of the weapons used by Animal Damage Control to kill coyotes.
At the dump -Brown and several colleagues saw the arrival of a truck from
the Uvalde city pound pull up. In it were abandoned dogs of various breeds. A small collie was pulled off
the truck and given to Brown who took it by its neck. He then took an M-44 cartridge and forced it into
this poor docile dog's open mouth and with his thumb sprayed a white dust of cyanide into the collie's
mouth. The collie howled, convulsed, coughed up blood and screamed in pain. You can imagine the
reaction of the other dogs in
the truck. They howled and beat against their cages -- fearing they would
be next.
Brown then opened a capsule of amyl nitrate and put it under the collie's
nose which he said was an immediate antidote to cyanide poisoning. This made the collie heave and
sneeze. And then this agent who was completely devoid of empathy forced another M-44 cartridge
into his mouth. The collie screamed again in pain. Shaddox could take no more and yelled at Brown to
stop.
Unbelievably, but Brown was not the only one devoid of empathy because
Shaddox noted: "He and the other trappers thought it was funny." This dog was convulsing and dying
and they're laughing. For Shaddox this was a hell of a way to die. He felt that they were heartless
bastards who showed no
sympathy, no feeling, no nothing. He admitted that he was no animal-rights
guy, but this was wrong. And he also noted that these were federal employees and what they were
doing was evidently sanctioned by our government.
Shaddox quit his job after disputes with Brown re this horrifying incident
in Uvalde. He would have a long career in wild life enforcement and would spend part of it
investigating his former employer.
Of course, this agency's primary focus has been to respond to the ranchers
who want their livestock protected from predators. As one retired Wildlife Service agent remarked-
"Ranchers call us up and the system kicks in, guns blazing." Well, not only guns but the cruel
cyanide cartridges which
Brown showed the trappers may still be used. And what about the practice
of denning -- where agents set fire before the places where animals rear their young. These
little animals surely don't deserve such a death.
Ketcham also devotes a whole paragraph to the killing spree of the US
Wildlife Service:
"Since 2000, Wildlife Services operatives have killed at least 2 million
native mammals and 15 million native birds. Many of these animals are iconic in the American West and
beloved by the public. Several
are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
In 2014, Wildlife Services killed 322 wolves, 61,702 coyotes, 2,930 foxes, 580 black bears, 796 bobcats, 5
golden eagles, and 3 bald eagles.
The agency also killed tens of thousands of beavers, squirrels, and prairie
dogs. The goal of this slaughter according to the agency's literature, is to provide 'federal leadership and
expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts and create a balance that allows people and wildlife to coexist
peacefully,'"
It sounds good on paper and perhaps some of this killing is necessary, but
somehow it doesn't make me feel good. What about you?