Alabama Mad Cow Case Sparks PETA Protest In Mobile

[PhilipShore]

PETA (press release)
Alabama Mad Cow Case Sparks PETA Protest In Mobile
For Immediate Release:
March 16, 2006

http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=8033

Contact:
Mike Brazell 757-622-7382

Mobile, Ala. — Carrying signs reading, "It’s Mad to Eat Meat—Go Vegetarian," members of PETA wearing biohazard suits accompanied by a giant "cow" will pass out "emergency vegetarian starter kits" in Mobile tomorrow in response to the news that a cow in Alabama tested positive for mad cow disease:

Date: Friday, March 17
Time: 12 noon
Place: 150 Dauphin St. (Bienville Square)

This is the nation’s third confirmed case of mad cow disease. The first was in 2003—a dairy cow in Washington who was tested only after her body had already been ground up and sold as hamburger meat. The second case was in Texas in June 2005 and involved a cow for whom final tests weren’t conducted for seven months.

According to news reports, the most recently diagnosed cow was thought to be more than 10 years old. Most cows are killed before they turn 2 years old and before they become symptomatic, so it is impossible to know whether they are infected with the brain disease unless they are tested, which is not normally done on nonsymptomatic animals.

Mad cow disease was detected in British cows in the mid-1980s after infectious tissue from sheep was included in their feed. This led to a ban on feeding animals to animals in the United Kingdom as well as a ban on feeding any animal older than 30 months to humans. Although the United States banned the practice of feeding ruminants to ruminants in 1997, the U.S. government said that this regulation was widely violated. It is also still legal to feed cows’ blood to cows and to feed sheep, cows, pigs, and chickens to other animals, even though these practices have been banned in Europe and the World Health Organization recommends against doing so. It’s possible that there is a mad chicken disease or a mad pig disease, because any animal with a brain could potentially develop a variant of mad cow disease, which could then be transferable to humans. Cases of mad sheep disease, mad mink disease, and mad deer disease have already been found in North America.

"Mad cow disease is obviously still a major threat, and it only adds to the dangers already associated with meat consumption, such as salmonella, E. coli, campylobacter, heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, and cancer," says PETA Director of Vegan Outreach Bruce Friedrich. "The only safe thing to do with any meat in your refrigerator is to throw it in the trash and go vegetarian."

For more information, please visit GoVeg.com.

[RebelOne]

1. Mad deer disease -- that's funny.

"Cases of mad sheep disease, mad mink disease, and mad deer disease have already been found in North America."

It is known as chronic wasting disease and there is plenty of it in the U.S.

[DBoon]

2. PETA must be terrorists

Who else would be opposed to the wasting away of American's brains?

:sarcasm:

[WindRavenX]

3. I seriously question how people can eat beef in the US

The cattle industry is destructive to the enviroment and the health of individuals. And you know there are more cases of mad cow that aren't reported or even known.

[Debau2005]

4. I question

how people can eat animal flesh of any kind! But that is just the hippy, vegetarian in me talking!:hippie:

[DBoon]

6. Vegan isn't necessarily safe

Look at GM crops and the use of pesticides and herbicides in soy farming.

Better to look for organic products instead. I'm sure organic beef would be a lot safer and much less environmentally destructive. Yes, it is more expensive, but meat was never meant to be a major component of the human diet.

I'm certainly not a vegetarian, but I do think people eat way too much meat. better to look on meat as a seasoning than a staple.

[LeftyMom]

13. Well most vegans avoid GMOs

and are more aware of that issue than the average omnivore. It's perfectly possible to eat a healthy vegan diet with no soy at all, which many people do since it's a fairly common allergen.

Even with the GMO soy issue though, vegans have much lower body burdens of pesticides when tested. Pesticides and other toxins tend to bioaccumulate in animal fats so those who eat animal flesh absorb a great deal more than those who eat a plant-based diet.

[Bushy Being Born]

63. Simple. Because that's what we're made to do.

Of course, to the extent possible, I hunt and kill my own food. That is environmentally much more friendly than anything coming out of the cattle farms, and compared to that, it tastes better too.

Edit: Oh, and PETA can seriously go f*ck themselves.

[noonwitch]

9. Because steak tastes good

Steak, prime rib, hamburgers, mmmm!

PETA annoys the hell out of me. Fur is cruel, but leather isn't? I see plenty of PETA people wearing leather boots, belts, shoes and jackets. Live your life, and leave me the hell alone about mine.

[LeftyMom]

14. Uh, no they don't.

PETA promotes a vegan lifestyle to prevent animal suffering, so anybody who is wearing leather may identify with them on some issues but clearly is not embracing thier whole message. Either that or what you're seeing is a convincing fake.

[TX-RAT]

15. what you're seeing is a convincing fake.

Best description of PETA i've heard yet.

[LeftyMom]

16. Care to explain what you mean by that?

:grr:

[TX-RAT]

19. Sure

http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44226

http://www.austinreview.com/archives/2005/06/peta_kills.html

[LeftyMom]

21. Nice right wing sources

Your first link is to the Center for Consumer Freedom, a right wing pro-corporate lobbying group created by the junk food industry and chain restraunts. The second is from World Net Daily, which is a right wing fundamentalist website. The third link just rehashes the CCF's allegations.

Come up with a source that's got some credibility and we'll talk.

[TX-RAT]

22. To hell with the source. Peta kills or killed animals.

You deny that?

[LeftyMom]

23. Some low level employees acted improperly

PETA let them go.

PETA contracts with some of the shelters in the area to do human euthanasia because they were using gas or bullets otherwise and that was the only way to get them to adopt a more humane method (the shelters in the area are woefully inadequate and underfunded. Many don't even have an adoption program.) Likely these animals were picked up for that purpose as PETA does not operate a shelter or adoption program.

BTW, shortly after this story came out, the shelter got a big donation from the CCF. Looks to me like they were buying a big anti-PETA story.

[TX-RAT]

25. I guess that means yes. PETA killed animals.

( PETA let them go.)
Well i guess they don't need that freezer anymore.

[LeftyMom]

26. Got a legitimate link yet?

You get some unbiased into and we'll talk. In the meantime you're just letting right wing talking points and your personal animus for an organization whose goals conflict with your source of income lead you- that's not the basis for a good discussion.

[TX-RAT]

29. Back to that again ?

Can't help it if you don't like the links, they were just the first of many that popped up when i googled PETA kills. Instead of worrying about my links just answer this.

Do you deny PETA's killing of thousands of animals?

How about this.

Two PETA employees are facing 50 felony charges in North Carolina, after police caught them killing adoptable pets (including puppies and kittens) and tossing their bodies into a grocery-store trash dumpster.

How about this.

From July 1998 through the end of 2004, PETA killed over 12,400 dogs, cats, and other "companion animals" -- at its Norfolk, Virginia headquarters. That's more than five defenseless animals every day. Not counting the dogs and cats PETA spayed and neutered, the group put to death over 85 percent of the animals it took in during 2003 alone. And its angel-of-death pattern shows no sign of changing.


Or this.

http://www.animalscam.com/references/peta_fbi3.cfm

[LeftyMom]

31. As I said, PETA handles euthanasia for some of the shelters in the area

We have a pet overpopulation problem in this country and there simply aren't enough homes. Until people alter their companion animals as a matter of routine euthanasia will be a necessary evil visited on many otherwise adoptable animals. PETA is not anti-euthanasia and as far as I know never has been.

[TX-RAT]

38. Now i get it.

It's OK for PETA to kill adoptable puppies and kittens, and throw them in a dumpster. But it's not OK for me to raise a cow to feed my family.

[LeftyMom]

40. No, it's not okay

Euthanasia fucking sucks. It's not cool, but since there aren't enough homes it's a needed evil. Those animals should have been properly disposed of, as dumpstering them was likely illegal and definitely an affront to their dignity. PETA supports no such action, which is why those involved were terminated.

And no, no animal need die to feed your family or any other human. Killing an animal simply because you like the taste of it's flesh is the height of selfishness at best and outright evil at worst.

The difference is that euthanasia is done to prevent suffering in sick animals or those who face an unsocialized life in a cage because they have no prospect of a home. Euthanasia is a choice made with the best interest of the animal in mind. Slaughter is done for human wants. There is no moral equivalence.

[flvegan]

48. Tell you what, how about you

stroll into your local open intake shelter or animal control and wag that finger at them. No difference. You probably didn't know that shelter workers that euthanize animals have support groups to help deal with the anger and depression they experience because of the job they have to do, did you? No...maybe you did. You likely spend oodles of time volunteering for them. My bad.

BTW, apples and oranges. Interesting that you raise cows to feed your family, though.

[TX-RAT]

52. I'm not wagging my finger at anybody.

I just point out hypocrites when i see them.

(You likely spend oodles of time volunteering for them)

Actually i haven't. I have donated over 3000 ft of used pipe and loaned them my welder, so they could build an 80 pen extension on the land, myself and many others donated money for. Oh and lets not forget the 15 cats and 1 dog i have on my place, Their shelter critters also. OH! forgot one more thing. They also borrow my forklift once a month to unload their truck. But your right, i haven't volunteered to clean pens or feed. How about you?

(Interesting that you raise cows to feed your family, though.)
Sure do, raise cows to feed my family, and sell cows to feed many more. Been doing it for over 25 years. I also have a hunting operation here. We hunt deer, quail, dove and turkeys. And i personally don't give a rats ass whether you or anybody else approves or not.

[flvegan]

54. Sure looks/sounds like

(defensive now) finger wagging to me. PETA never claimed to NOT euthanize animals, did they? So, "hypocrites" really doesn't fit. However, if you think it does, I volunteered in an open-intake shelter, and sat on it's Board. I guess I'm a hypocrite, too, since I took part in the deaths of tens of thousands of animals. Go ahead...point me out. Call me hypocrite.

However, good on you for helping out the shelter and taking those animals in. You deserve a lot of credit for that (no sarcasm, I do mean it).

How about me? I actually run a rescue.

I'll leave the hunting operation out of it. Animal exploitation through hunting is a little off-topic, here.

[The Stranger]

37. The fact that there are too many animals really eviscerates your position.

Until people are more responsible, euthanizing some of the pet population is unavoidable, and trying to use that (and completedly bogus web sites) to attack PETA is nothing short of ridiculous.

PETA may be many things, but trying to wantonly kill animals? That isn't even good rhetoric.

[TX-RAT]

39. Y'all tag teaming?

Lets make this quick. You post a link proving any of those allegations against PETA or it's employees to be wrong.

[LeftyMom]

42. Nope, I don't even really know that poster very well

There is a pretty large AR contingent on the board.

[Ignis]

45. There are a lot of progressives here, too.

We make sure to coordinate all of our joint attacks on moderates via an extensive network of behind-the-scenes emails, IMs, and phone calls. :eyes:

OR...perhaps most progressives simply understand the tremendous cost in heath, environment, medical costs, societal carrying capacity, and ethics that the factory farming of animals places upon America.

(Personally, I try to apply Occam's Razor to a problem before I suspect that shadowy conspiracies lurk behind every poster who disagrees with me. YMMV.)

[The Stranger]

50. Animalscam is a hack, bullshit site and shouldn't even be linked here.

http://www.animalscam.com/about_us.cfm

AnimalScam.com is a project of the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the full range of choices that American consumers currently enjoy. In addition to malicious animal-rights activists, we stand up to the "food police," environmental scaremongers, neo-prohibitionists, meddling bureaucrats, and other self-anointed busybodies who claim to "know what's best" for you.

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/about.cfm

The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit coalition of restaurants, food companies, and consumers working together to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices.

The growing cabal of "food cops," health care enforcers, militant activists, meddling bureaucrats, and violent radicals who think they know "what's best for you" are pushing against our basic freedoms. We're here to push back.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Consumer_Freedom

The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) (formerly called the "Guest Choice Network") is a front group for the restaurant, alcohol and tobacco industries. It runs media campaigns which oppose the efforts of scientists, doctors, health advocates, environmentalists and groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, calling them "the Nanny Culture -- the growing fraternity of food cops, health care enforcers, anti-meat activists, and meddling bureaucrats who 'know what's best for you.' "

In a 1999 interview with the Chain Leader, a trade publication for restaurant chains, Berman boasted that he attacks activists more aggressively than other lobbyists. "We always have a knife in our teeth," he said. Since activists "drive consumer behavior on meat, alcohol, fat, sugar, tobacco and caffeine," his strategy is "to shoot the messenger. ... We've got to attack their credibility as spokespersons."

In November 2001, the Guest Choice Network launched a separate web site, ActivistCash.com, which purports to expose the "hidden funding" of various activist groups that support animal rights, food safety and smoking prevention.

[TX-RAT]

53. Animalscam is a hack, bullshit site. LMAO

You don't like the site because it doesn't jive with your opinion. Heaven forbid somebody having an opposing argument.

[flvegan]

55. Free Republic has one too.

You want to get behind them?

Animalscam is a bullshit site.

[Beaverhausen]

57. Yep- it's bullshit

see for yourself who their sponsors are. You will see that they aren't companies who care about your health or the health of the planet.

[TX-RAT]

17. The cattle industry is destructive to the enviroment

I've been raising cows for 25 plus years on this place. Please explain to me how i've been destructive to the environment.

[depakid]

27. Perhaps some reading would be in order....

Worldwide (and throughout the US) cattle are one of the most destructive environmental practices mankind engages in. Just because you may not see it on your land, doesn't mean that it isn't true.

Some issues:

Subsidized overgrazing & range destruction, watershed degradation, deforestation, desertification, wildlife (espeically predator) depopulation, fishery depletion- the list is long and the scientific literature is full of egregious examples.

[TX-RAT]

33. None of what you wrote applies to the ranching here.

[depakid]

41. Oh, I bet some of it does

like I said, maybe not on your land- you're probably a good steward- but I bet there's plenty in your region.

[WindRavenX]

28. To start off with:

1. High emission of CH4-- a lot of people laugh at this, but cows give off a hell of a lot of natural methane-- to the point where it does account for a fair amount of greenhouse gases.
2.Soil erosion/nutrient depletion-- most small farmers are ok with this because they rotate crops and fields where grazing occurs, but for large cattle lots, especially in central and south america, new land for grazing is simply burned.
3.Waste of resources-- the amount of energy required to raise 1# of animal flesh VS 1# of grain product is staggering. In other words, resources used to raise cattle could be used to make more grain products.
4.Inhumane slaughter processes. I could go on and on here. But I'm sure you know most of what goes on :) . And again, it's mostly the big guys, not the small guys, that are gross violators of this. I know a few small farmers who raise one or two cows for consumption a year, and they do a great job of minimizing pain and impact on environment. But if you have thousands and thousands of heads, it gets difficult and dangerous.

Now, my "beef" with the cattle industry is mainly concerned with those who have large stocks and are used for large corporations; McDonald's and many other chains buys South American cattle which only increases rain forest destruction and a whole lot of other socio-economic issues. Local farmers who rotate crops and treat their livestock humanely, which I have seen firsthand, should be respect. But I have no respect for those who do not humanely slaughter their animals and who destroy the environment.

I hope you didn't feel like I was personally targeting you.

[TX-RAT]

30. I hope you didn't feel like I was personally targeting you.

Not at all. We're cool.
Because none of what you posted apples to me or anybody else around here. Our cows are all pasture raised, my place is 3 sections ( 3 square miles ) It will only support 15 to 18 head a section, depending on the amount of rain. My cows are sold locally, directly to the processor, to the consumer.

What interesting is theres more methane seeping from the ground around here than cows will ever produce.Theres a total of 22 oil wells on my place.

[WinkyDink]

51. I only hope my husband and I stopped early enough.

As it is, we can't donate blood because of the time we spent in England in the 80's.

[Burning Water]

5. PETA

members are free to follow their own inclinations. But they are "fundies" in every sense of the word, and their advice should be weighed with that fact in mind.

I refuse to live my life in fear. I'm having chile CON CARNE tonite, and steak Saturday. On Friday, a chicken will hit the frying pan.

[megatherium]

10. You belong to the other PETA:

People Eating Tasty Animals.

I try to eat vegan, but the problem with that diet for me is that it involves a hell of a lot of soy products, many of which (fake burgers, etc) are laced with MSG ("yeast extract") and are practically artificial foods. Plus, tofu is a possible migraine trigger (I get these once in a long while). Sometimes I fear that the vegan lifestyle is just another clever bit of marketing by agribusiness, which grows vast amounts of soy to feed to cattle, and are always looking for new markets for it. Humor aside, the Achilles heel of organic/vegetarian food is that organic produce is fertilized by such things as sterilized manure from farms that raise animals. That is, you cannot get away from the exploitation of animals. PETA members please clarify if I am mistaken in this.

Still, I do try to avoid animal products from CAFOs--I buy chicken, etc, from stores such as Whole Foods that promise that the animals are treated in a healthy, humane manner. I have no way of being sure this is indeed the case, but if it isn't, they're the guilty party.

[Burning Water]

12. Well,

I can't afford to worry too much about the provenance of the animals I eat, if I want to do it on a daily basis. Which I do.

I'm aware that some animals are raised in horrendous conditions. But with the world of humans in such lousy shape, I prefer to spend by time and money working for peace.

[flvegan]

59. "Want" and "prefer"

Must be nice.

[Burning Water]

65. Everybody has

tomake choices, and live with the results.

How are your choices constricted?

[ThomasNewton]

7. PETA is too extreme....

and is exactly the type of fringe element we need to disassociate from if we're to start winning elections again.

I don't buy the idea we aren't supposed to eat meat either. Look at out teeth, why do we have canines & incisors?

[megatherium]

11. Why do we have molars, and can move our jaws sideways?

(To grind our food, which is what plant-eaters do.) We would have a 'tough' time eating meat if it weren't for cooking (something our ancestors started to do a few hundred thousand years ago; our brains have evolved faster than our teeth, perhaps). Still, it is clear we are omnivorous; our closest living relatives the chimps (Pan troglodytes) get a fair bit of meat (they have the unpleasant habit of catching and tearing apart certain monkey species). Of course, they're stronger and have bigger canines than we do.

[FlaGranny]

32. The theory is that

the brain DID evolve faster when fire and cooking were discovered, because it allwed better digestion of protein-rich meat and allowed more to be eaten. We are onmivores and always have been. Before we ate cooked meat, we ate grubs and insects and remains of predator kills. Some people still do eat insects. The fact is, we evolved eating whatever we could find to eat that was edible and did not make us sick. Vegetarian animals tend to have either multiple stomachs and/or longer intestinal tracts than humans, in order to digest the larger amounts of cellulose in their food.

Modern meat-raising methods ARE harmful, I agree. I think there are just too many people on the planet.

[LeftyMom]

34. Oddly enough, I heard an alternate theory a few weeks ago

I haven't read the book yet so I can't go into too much detail, but the general idea was that the human brain, communication skills, community living, etc are largely a result not of predatory behavior as was previously thought, but adaptations to prevent predation.

As I said, I haven't read the book yet, but the idea is interesting.

[FlaGranny]

43. Many and varied reasons for evolution, I guess.

No doubt it is a combination of things. Humans started out probably as scavengers, eating anything edible. Then discovered tools and fire and learned to hunt some of their own food. Also, when humans came down from the trees and learned to walk on two legs, they developed hand dexterity, due to their hands being free. Avoiding getting eaten certainly fits in there too. :-)

[LeftyMom]

44. I suspect that's pretty close to the truth nt

[The Stranger]

35. Great, now then, we've evolved & don't have to eat "whatever we can find."

We can eat with the planet in mind.

[Ignis]

46. Great point, Stranger.

I have serious doubts that anyone posting here lives at such a subsistence level within a pastoral society that they are forced to eat meat. As such, any decision one makes to kill another animal (particularly a mammal) in order to eat its flesh should be made with health, ethics, and the environment in mind.

Claims that one "must" eat meat often revert upon analysis to familial/societal conditioning--and frankly, that shouldn't cut it for progressives, IMO. Does familial/societal conditioning excuse racism?

We have the great luxury of being able to survive without killing other animals in order to do so. What a joy that possibility is! Why not take advantage of it?

[MrPrax]

8. Kick...

Go PETA!!

[mainegreen]

18. I bet they cant wait for mad lobster disease.

I just can't take PETA seriously since they attacked eating seafood.

[superconnected]

20. At this point peta has soured so many would be supporters and former

supporters, myself included, that all I can think is peta may as well have madcow disease themselves. At least it would explain their violent lunacy.

As far as a legitimate protest, sorry, lost total credibility when the name peta was mentioned.

And I'm a vegetarian actively trying to save abandoned cats.

Now for their appologists, blinders bigger than any horse ever wore...

[The Stranger]

36. Nonsense.

GO PETA!!!!

:woohoo:

[Critters2]

56. I agree

I'm a member of PETA! Go me and the rest of PETA!!

:woohoo:

[Endangered Specie]

24. The whole lot of them can go F themselves

just for them, Im going to eat steak tonight :)

[Beaverhausen]

47. How very progressive of you

:eyes:

[Endangered Specie]

58. Since when is being a herbavore a democratic requirement?

[flvegan]

60. Never, of course

but telling a group to "go f themselves" is a little on the Cheney side for me.

[LeftyMom]

61. It isn't

Compassion used to be a considered a liberal value though. :shrug: The two go together.

[flvegan]

49. That's EXACTLY what Ted Nugent said.

Good company, I guess.

[Karmakaze]

62. I always have a laugh at the PETA types.

I always say one thing to them - I'll stop eating meat when the lions and tigers do.

[Jose Diablo]

64. Better stop feeding the cattle by-products from beef slaughtering plants

Mad cow disease is caused by a prion, a specific type of protein found in the brains of diseased bovines. The prion is practically indestructible, but the only way the disease can spread is by turning the cattle into cannibals, feeding them other cattle.

The disease can spread to us also.

The pursuit of profit is what is creating and spreading this disease. Looking to make more profit, cheaper high-protein feed is being used. Feed made from slaughtered cattle is being fed to cattle. The feed probably has slaughtered sheep brains in it also.

Not sure about this, but I think the ultimate source of these prions that cause mad cow disease will be found to be from sheep.