Who says animals don't feel?

Calf   (Photo by Jim Champion)

The folk song “Dona Dona” has some very sad lyrics.  It contrasts a calf bound for market with a swallow flying freely. 

The farmer in this scenario is unsympathetic to the calf’s plight.  He (or she) says, “Stop complaining.  Who told you a calf to be?” (implying that calves were created in order to be slaughtered).

The lyrics culminate with this assumption:  Calves are easily bound and slaughtered   Never knowing the reason why   But whoever treasures freedom   Like the swallow has learned to fly.

It is highly likely that calves deeply feel their impending doom, and it is highly likely that they treasure freedom every bit as much as a swallow (or a person).

A recent Newsmax article illustrates just how desperate cows are to break free from the death camps we call slaughterhouses.  It tells of the final moments in a condemned cow’s life.

This 1,000 pound heifer “escaped from a meat processing facility by jumping a six-foot fence and racing through the town of Pocatello, Idaho… where it was eventually cornered… [and shot dead].”

The reason given for the shooting was that “the animal might trample someone as it charged through residential neighborhoods…”  In other words, humans don’t want to get hurt.

Apparently, neither do cows.

Resources

http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/idaho-cow-escapes-butcher/2014/12/15/id/613131/

Copyright December 17, 2014 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved