meat is murder

Despite the economic gloom circling the planet there still seems to be a place for meat in peoples’ budget. One abattoir in Australia has managed to process 24,000 goats in two weeks. The horror of that scene does not bare imagining.

From ABC News

The Western Exporters Abattoir in Charleville was forced to close earlier this year because it could not find enough workers.

It has now been able to employ more overseas workers under the 457 visa program.

Managing director Neil Duncan says it processed 24,000 goats in the past two weeks for export markets.

“Well mainly to the US, Taiwan, our normal customers,” he said.

“We should have been doing these sort of numbers years ago, we need to do that to keep up with the goat industry.

From Farmed Animal Watch

The US goat farming and slaughter industry is experiencing rapid growth in part based on increased demand from Muslims, Hispanics, Indians, and other ethnic minorities. According to the American Boer Goat Association (ABGA), goat flesh is the “fastest-growing segment in agriculture.” Indeed, total consumption of goat flesh in the US grew by 64% from 1999 to 2003 and is expected to grow by 10% per year in the short term future. The industry changed dramatically in the early 1990s when Boer goats were imported from South Africa, replacing the much smaller goats traditionally raised by US farmers. The US also ceased paying government subsidies to farmers raising goats for mohair or cashmere around the same time, prompting some farmers to switch to raising the animals for meat production.

As of January 1, 2005, nearly 2 million goats were being kept on farms for slaughter; another half-million goats were being kept for angora and milk production. This is according to the first complete annual survey of goat farming conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Despite growing consumption, however, the goat industry’s total size is largely unchanged from 2002 when the same number of goats (just less than 2 million) was kept on farms for slaughter. Because of increased demand but relatively stagnant supply, the US imported 17 million pounds of goat flesh in 2003, an increase of one-third more than 2001. One increasingly popular item, especially among Hispanics, is caproetta, which is the flesh of a “baby goat that was still suckling its mother.” Several high-end restaurants in New York City are reportedly carrying the product.

1. “No Kidding; America’s Booming Goat Industry,” MeatPoultry.com / The Economist, 8/27/05
http://tinyurl.com/8yx7a (meatpoultry.com)
2. “Livestock Reports: Sheep and Goats,” USDA / NASS, 1/28/05
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/nassr/livestock/pgg-bb/shep0105.txt

Isn’t killing and eating things fun! It makes any Christmas a treat!
At least that seems to be the idea of a group of people who are going to celebrate the thing they hate - Christmas - by eating reindeer. The idea of taking life as a joke is so very abhorrent that the author of this post is at a loss of polite words. The only (non)saving grace is that these people aren’t contributing to the disgusting end of the world proportioned poultry massacre that takes place every year.*

*
22 million turkeys are killed each year in licensed plants with an estimated 10 million being killed at Christmas (based on consumption figures, DEFRA, 23/10/2001).

From the Daily Telegraph

About 90 regulars are set to tuck into Father Chrstmas’s four-legged friends as members of the Humbug Club at The Victory in Walton, near Clacton, Essex.

Russell Bettany, 44, the landlord, said: “Among the over-50s there is such an anti-Christmas feeling and I just thought starting the Humbug Club was a good idea.

“But we do it for charity and it’s very light-hearted.”

Mr Bettany said putting reindeer on the pub’s Christmas menu had gone down well with Humbugs and other customers - 200 people had reserved places at the pub between December 1 and 20.

“First and foremost, for our Christmas menu, we wanted to get away from the traditional and do something with a slight angle or hook to it,” he said.

“So I thought, ‘I know, let’s eat Santa’s little helpers.’

“The Humbug Club members are coming to make sure they can eat the reindeer, which they feel will go some way to spoiling everybody else’s Christmas.”

Please find this excellent blog article about Obama (vs McCain…now a defunct issue) and animal Welfare. Yes, animal welfare is a huge galaxy away from animal rights, but expecting a mainstream political party to be talking animal rights is a vein hope so for now it is best to at least garner some glimpses about the welfare issues.

A play on the Minor Threat song ‘Guilty of Being White’ , this guy likes meat enough to want a tattoo of it on his arm. Odd. Very odd.

TattooBlog

In a pointlessly reported argument Paul McCartney has been all over the press having said very little against Gordon Ramsay who has in turn said nothing new about vegetarians but managed to court the controversey required to maintain his elevated profile as this generation’s Fanny Craddock.
 
The meatismurder crew having nothing against cooks. Taking ingredients and turning them into a meal to be enjoyed by loved ones, friends…activists, is a great skill to be admired, but we do believe that for tv chefs and their pornographic love of braising and frying body parts to be so reveared is just plain weird.

It is just a pity that despite all the reported environmental and health risks of animal based diets (see this site!), the future strife over food security (see future articles on this site) to be caused by Western animal based diets, and the love of the British, Americans, Canadians and god knows who else for animals with the right fluff to floppy ear ratio  people are still chowing down on cadavers and vegetarians/vegans are being reported as a fringe voice standing against the mainstream.

Anyway, please see below for the pointless debate
(from the Daily Mail).

Sir Paul McCartney has criticised Gordon Ramsay - calling the TV chef ’stupid’. Ramsay, 41, has angered the ex-Beatle, 66, with his outspoken comments against vegetarians.

The foul-mouthed chef has annoyed the music legend by saying he could not tolerate it if one of his three daughters came home with a vegetarian boyfriend.

Kitchen Nightmares star Ramsay said recently: ‘If one of my daughters’ boyfriends turns out to be vegetarian I swear to God I’d never forgive them.’
In another tirade, he said: ‘My biggest nightmare would be if the kids ever came up to me and said “Dad, I’m a vegetarian”. Then I would sit them on the fence and electrocute them.’

Sir Paul, who has not eaten meat for 30 years, told Sainsbury’s Magazine: ‘I think it’s a case of live and let live.

‘I will talk to people about the advantages of vegetarianism, and it will upset me if we’ve had a good conversation and they turn around and say something stupid.

‘I just read a quote from Gordon Ramsay… “If my daughter ever grew up and married a vegetarian, I’d never forgive her.”

‘But even that I would forgive because it’s not my affair, it’s not up to me if he talks stupid or not.’

The music legend, whose youngest daughter Beatrice, four, is vegan, said: ‘I’d be happier if everyone was vegetarian. The planet would be better off for it.’
In Ramsay’s Channel 4 show The F Word, the chef persuaded 50 vegetarians to feast on Janet Street-Porter’s recently butchered veal.

In July, outraged animal welfare groups accused Ramsay of employing shock tactics to gain publicity after he was seen on the show killing and eating puffins.

In another outburst against vegetarians, Ramsay told Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole when she appeared on the show: ‘Didn’t you get the message? Vegetarians aren’t welcome here.’

Common sense and scientific reason has prevailed and the English badger cull has been cancelled due to the government considering an earlier, larger scale report that proved no conclusive link between badgers and bovine TB. This has aggravated farmers who are going to stamp and shout about it instead of putting their own house in order and improve the living conditions of and stop the movements of the animals in their charge. Or they could go one step further and just stand aside from the death industries altogether. (Badgers and Bovine TB information at Animal Aid.)

From the bbc

The government has decided against a cull of badgers in England to control TB in cattle, the BBC understands.Its decision goes against former chief scientific adviser Sir David King’s recommendations, made in 2007, that a cull could be an effective measure.
The decision has angered the National Farmers’ Union, which claims cattle TB has already cost the industry millions. In April a “targeted cull” of badgers was announced in Wales as part of a plan to eradicate TB in cattle.

But ministers have instead accepted the scientific arguments of the Independent Scientific Group on TB in Cattle.
NFU president Peter Kendall told BBC News that Westminster had “ducked the issue” and that the union would be organising a protest outside Parliament next week. A policy announcement is due on Monday. The ISG’s analysis - an earlier and much larger study than Sir David’s - concluded that culling badgers would not be economic.

However the imminent remains.