Diary: Dying on a Factory Farm

I had no idea when I received an e-mail notification from Humane Farming that I should make time to view HBO's "Death on a Factory Farm" documentary that this factory farm was in northeast Ohio. But a post on CARE 2 written by Drew Wilson today gave us this pertinent information and more in this
regard. It will air on Monday night at 10 PM (EST).

In 2006 "Pete" got employment with the Wiles Hog Factory Farm in NE Ohio. A 20-something vegan and animal activist, he went undercover to videotape the cruelty. Undercover video footage is a great tool which allows us to see what really goes on daily in the factory farms and slaughterhouses which
are purposely kept far from public view. I admire so much people like "Pete" who are placed in a terrible position having to view and videotape this daily and remain passive -not allowed to intervene and stop the cruelty.

Most reasonable people would be shocked to see how our farm animals are systematically mistreated in the meat, dairy, and egg industry. I admire Paul McCartney, and in this regard, he once said "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian." I concur. I think the numbers of especially younger people who are becoming aware of farm animal cruelty are asking themselves - do I really want to eat meat anymore? And some are answering in the negative.

I'm a realist though because after 30 years trying to convince my family to give up meat- it was largely a wasted effort. However, at this point I am praying for two things - first is that these horrible CAFOs (Confined Animal Farm Operations) will disappear. If they were allowed to begin during the Reagon administration - somehow hopefully, they will be phased out during the Obama years. Difficult - you bet. It's easier to allow corporations to move forward on money-making CAFOs then to tell them they need to be disbanded. I feel sorry for any president who may want these CAFOs to disappear. He will feel the ire of these fat corporations who are making money on these cruel CAFOs.

And secondly, if people must eat meat, I hope that they will be concerned about not only how they are raised but how they are slaughtered. Anyone who hasn't read "Slaughterhouse" by Gail Eisnitz and will do so- will probably be as horrified as most of us who have.

"Pete's" videotape evidence led to a rare prosecution and trial for animal cruelty. Most states, and Ohio included, have very lax animal welfare laws. That the prosecutor was able to bring charges against the Wiles Hog Farm was a small miracle in itself- probably largely due to the explicit video footage that at least one Cleveland TV station showed in part. I imagine that the
courts really had no choice but to move forward on this cruelty. I hope the documentary will bring this out as well as having a very unsympathetic judge sitting in on this case.

The prosecutor did all that he could and he won the cruelty case. But what happened at the sentencing phase was in my estimation truly "farm country" injustice and I was ashamed of the judge and of our weak Ohio laws.

I hope those of you who get HBO will watch on Monday at 10 PM. If you don't have cable and are interested, you can watch some clips of this on the YouTube.