|
Recently, Trent Loos called "foul" when FFA hired country singer Carrie Underwood, a well-known vegetarian and supporter of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), to entertain at its annual gathering in Indianapolis, Ind.
Loos questioned on his radio shows and in his Oct. 23 Feedstuffs column why FFA would hire an individual who, on her web site, publicly supports a group that is hostile to American agriculture, especially animal agriculture.
It is unfortunate that Loos and FFA, who should be allies, traded jabs over the issue.
Just as importantly, the Animal Agriculture Alliance has received reports that Loos also received e-mails from agriculture teachers rebuking him for mistaking HSUS for a vegan-led animal rights group. These teachers need to do some homework.
HSUS does not operate animal shelters. The American Humane Assn. does. There is a difference. It is big.
The current anti-agriculture activities of HSUS can be divided into six areas. The four that are currently most influential are:
- National legislative and regulatory initiatives;
- State legislative and regulatory initiatives;
- City and county legislative and regulatory initiatives, and
- Consumer outreach campaigns.
The most successful of these activities to the exclusion of animal welfare is the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (HR503 and S1915). This act seeks to ban the transport of horses for slaughter in the U.S., but this legislation gives no attention to the consequences of such a ban on the 90,000 horses it would affect every year.
No provision is made for their feeding, health and welfare. Increased death by starvation and predation are the alternatives that this legislation promotes. It is foreseeable that the proposed "solution" is far worse than the "problem."
This solution does not meet most people's definition of improved welfare. In fact, more than 190 national and state organizations opposed this legislation, including the American Veterinary Medical Assn. and the American Quarter Horse Assn.
(Go to www.FeedstuffsFoodLink.com for more on the horse slaughter issue.)
In state legislative campaigns, HSUS supported the 2003 Florida constitutional ban on gestation crates that put the state's two family farmers producing hogs out of business, according to one of the affected farmers. HSUS and its allies are prepared to spend nearly $2 million to sponsor a similar measure in Arizona.
HSUS and its allies will have spent roughly $3 million on two campaigns to shut down three farmers in two states. A group truly dedicated to animal welfare could have significantly advanced its cause by spending that $3 million on practical research to improve on-farm practices.
On a more local level, HSUS supported the city-wide ban on selling foie gras in Chicago, Ill., even though there is no evidence that foie gras production practices are inhumane. The group is working to get a similar measure passed in Philadelphia, Pa.
Another local level initiative HSUS supported and praised at its Taking Action for Animals conference in Washington, D.C., was the animal guardianship law campaign introduced by the radical group In Defense of Animals.
This campaign is intended to further blur the line between animals and man, introducing non-economic damages to veterinarians' offices with the ultimate goal of making veterinary medicine as expensive as human medicine and animal ownership (both farm and pet) cost prohibitive.
Finally, HSUS is currently running two consumer outreach campaigns. The first is the previously mentioned campaign against foie gras, though ironically, that campaign has actually increased foie gras consumption.
The second campaign is for cage-free eggs, which seeks to introduce laying hens to cage-free settings where they are free to establish dominance through a pecking order. Though some may doubt whether this campaign is aimed at damaging the industry, HSUS vice president Miyun Park earlier this month dispelled any doubt when she articulated the organization's objective for the egg laying and broiler chicken industry to be "to get rid of the industry." Cage free is just a stepping stone on HSUS's path to eradication.
Philip Lobo is communications director at the Animal Agriculture Alliance. For more information on a number of these issues, visit www.FeedstuffsFoodLink.com. | 
