Farm animals face some of the most abhorrent cruelty inflicted by humankind. Hidden from the sight of most Americans who consume animal products, literally billions of animals in U.S. factory farms endure unparalleled misery every year. One might think that technological advances would result in more humane treatment of animals. Unfortunately, for many of these innocent creatures, "progress" means more torture. Happily, there exists a peaceful place for those farm animals who are rescued from the agribusiness nightmare. Abandoned, sick and disabled farm animals find serenity at Gene and Lorri Bauston's Farm Sanctuary based in Watkins Glen, New York.

FARM SANCTUARY IS HUMANE REFUGE

Founded in 1986 to help end farm animal abuse, the Sanctuary creatively educates Americans about treating animals with compassion and tirelessly works to pass legislation to end the suffering of farm animals. As the name implies, Farm Sanctuary also serves as a haven for some of the abandoned farm animals fortunate enough to be found by the Sanctuary's caring staff.

In the mid-1950s, Congress addressed some of the evils facing farm animals in America. Speaking on the bill to establish a national policy mandating humane methods of livestock slaughter, Senator Richard L. Neuberger noted: "We have taken for granted, that the Eighth Amendment of our Constitution prohibits infliction of cruel and unusual punishment upon our citizens. Today, the national conscience is asking why we subject our animal friends to such cruel and inhumane treatment." Almost 40 years after passage of the 1958 Humane Slaughter Act, we still must ask the same question.

Although the 1958 law represented a monumental effort to ameliorate some of the agony of slaughter, it is not a panacea for all farm animals' ills. Possibly the most egregious and avoidable inhumanity befalling farm animals is the way in which non-ambulatory livestock - downers - are heartlessly abandoned to die a slow and painful death. Animals who lose their mobility -- and, therefore, profitability -- are discarded without pity.

The Sanctuary's initial work to help address the downer issue was an investigation into Pennsylvania's Lancaster Stockyards in the late 1980s, where animals too sick to walk or even stand were frequently found scattered around stockyard grounds. Often, cows were left lying for days without water, food or vital veterinary care. Though pressure from the Sanctuary staff led stockyard representatives to promise reform, little changed. Concluding that all citizens should know what barbarism hides behind stockyard walls, Farm Sanctuary mounted an aggressive educational and media campaign to reveal the "Downside of Livestock Marketing."

Ultimately, Farm Sanctuary became custodian for numerous animals and the stockyard began taking steps to destroy downed animals, establishing a "no downer" policy. Unfortunately, the problems continued and Farm Sanctuary, incorporated as a humane enforcement agency in Pennsylvania in 1992, filed cruelty charges against Lancaster Stockyards for denying adequate veterinary care to a sick animal. They were found guilty.

Lancaster Stockyards is not an aberration, however. Between 1991 and 1993, Farm Sanctuary investigations uncovered downed animals at stockyards in 18 states from California to New York, Texas to Wisconsin: cows dumped in carts of garbage, calves dragged by their ears, and other incapacitated animals simply abandoned to die.

Typically, resisting regulation, indefatigable stockyard and other animal facilities' representatives maintain that they could and would be "self -policing." Farm Sanctuary was rightfully skeptical of this suggestion. For many of these stockyards, voluntary adherence to ethical standards of conduct is prompted not by morals, but instead by profitability.

In 1994, Gene Bauston, Farm Sanctuary's charismatic cofounder, lobbied the California legislature to become the first state in the country to enact legislation to prevent cruelty toward downed animals. The bill was signed into law by Governor Pete Wilson.

Federal legislation must now be passed following California's wise example. This will be the only way to ensure nationally that stockyard owners and employees act in the best interests of animals' health and not their own level of convenience and prosperity.

Representative Gary Ackerman (D-NY) has re-introduced the "Downed Animal Protection Act" (now H.R. 2143) to make it "unlawful for any stockyard, market agency, or dealer, to buy, sell, give, receive, transfer, market, hold, or drag any non-ambulatory livestock unless the non-ambulatory livestock has been humanely euthanized."

Passage of such a measure would allow imposition of civil penalties of up to $2,500 and criminal penalties of up to a year in prison for individuals and/or companies who continue to employ practices such as using chains to drag non-ambulatory animals by their broken limbs.

Testifying before the United States House of Representatives, Bauston asserted that, "Although the livestock industry has shown an increased concern over the mistreatment of downed animals, and has taken steps to resolve the problem, it is clear that industry cannot police itself, and that legislation is needed." Through the dedicated work of Farm Sanctuary, the disastrous downer suffering has gained national attention and could soon come to an end in the not too-distant future.

Efforts in the national arena, however, stall yearly as agribusiness executives with high-priced lobbyists convince elected officials not to push forth with this essential legislation.

Inherently, agribusiness industry is to blame for establishing deplorable conditions using such intensive agricultural systems that lead, by their very nature, to debilitated animals. Dairy cattle, for instance, are pushed to their physical limits by an industry thirsty for highly profitable milk and milk products. The cruelty of modern milk production is exacerbated by technological advances such as the use of growth hormones to increase milk output (see Animal Guardian, Vol. 7, No. 2, 1994, for further discussion).

Thankfully, no such nightmares await cattle at the Sanctuary. Ahimsa was found at a veal calf auction; too weak to stand or lift his head. With emergency veterinary treatment by Sanctuary staff, he recovered and now is used to teach Sanctuary visitors about non-violence.

		(Clockwise from top) Downed calves awaiting slaugher. Jackson in excellent health at the Farm Sanctuary. Roscoe at the Farm Sanctuary. Rhonda, Duane and Tania roosting contentedly at the Farm Sanctuary. An abandoned downer left behind in a slaughterhouse holding area.

PIGS FIND HOME, TOO

Cows are not the only farm animals at risk - pigs also face a cruel fate. In the summer of 1992, Farm Sanctuary investigators discovered downed pigs in Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota.

Swine cruelty in factory farms is well documented. These social, intelligent animals live tormented lives in close confinement, their normal behavior inhibited by cramped quarters in uncomfortable stalls with concrete floors, forced to breed repeatedly until being sent to slaughter. Hogs in transport are overcrowded purposely to increase profit, even if hundreds of hogs die in the process.

Everyone faces danger, as numerous factories are polluting otherwise pastoral, peaceful communities throughout the U.S. The August issue of Pork '95 magazine describes a hog factory lagoon which broke, releasing "an estimated 25 million gallons of effluent" which "flowed eight inches deep across a highway and washed over fields and woods before entering a tributary of the New River" in North Carolina. Not surprisingly, thousands of fish were killed and health authorities warned against human use of these waterways. State officials imposed a $110,000 fine on Oceanview Farms for this terrible mishap.

This hog factory disaster is not an isolated case, however. Increased air pollution from the terrible odor of more hogs in less space, as well as water and other ecological damage from these intensive operations, have sounded rallying cries against hog factories. Incensed locals and small farmers have begun fighting the industry and city councils have begun rejecting proposals to build new or expanded hog factories near these towns.

No angry protesters circle Farm Sanctuary, and no poorly treated hogs live on its sprawling landscape. It's the opposite. In the summer of 1992, for example, Cameron, Gwideon, and Luna, who were born at a stockyard and experienced the death of some of their littermates, had Sanctuary volunteers serve as "sow surrogates" to help the piglets recover to be placed in permanent homes.

Vinny was given to the Sanctuary in the winter of 1993. He had been crushed in an intensive environment causing a dislocated hip and hoof infection. Vinny has recovered fully and is now able to exhibit both typical behavior patterns of a free pig - and such atypical behavior as eating popcorn, playing with his dog friend or napping on his very own blanket. Pigs like Vinny now wait for the next rub of their bellies by Sanctuary staff and visitors.

POULTRY ALSO NEED A SANCTUARY

Also well documented is the harsh handling and housing of poultry for egg production and general consumption. Stories abound of tortuous debeaking, cramped cages in which birds cannot spread their wings, and their inability to engage in normal social behavior such as establishing pecking orders and engaging in dustbathing.

In the fall of 1993, Farm Sanctuary documented information from a local official at one of the Tyson Foods plants, reporting that an employee " 'kills sick or injured birds by hitting them in the head with a stick,' and live birds may have been dumped carelessly in.a landfill."

Again, animals are helpless at the hands of big business and most animal advocates are currently ill-equipped to fight on their behalf. A Washington Post report on July 23, 1995, concerning Tyson Foods, the world's largest poultry producer, shows that the company renders over, one million birds per week! With over 55,000 employees and an annual revenue of roughly five billion dollars, companies such as this may seem beyond being exposed.

Animal protection organizations like Farm Sanctuary are engaged in a Herculean struggle to require companies to provide birds with humane treatment. Influencing consumer buying trends away from products made by companies which treat animals thoughtlessly may impose sufficient market pressure to force a decision for more compassionate care. Again, without a financial incentive to change, legislation is vital.

Passage of the Humane Methods of Poultry Slaughter Act of 1995 would be an important step in granting poultry a less painful death. Currently, poultry are exempt from the Humane Slaughter Act of 1958. H.R. 264, sponsored by Representative Andrew Jacobs (D-NY) would mandate that poultry be slaughtered only when they are "...rendered permanently unconscious by an electrical, chemical, or other method that is rapid and effective before or immediately after the poultry are shackled or otherwise prepared for slaughter" or slaughtered in accordance with Kosher law.

The United Kingdom and Canada have adopted laws for the welfare of poultry during slaughter. The U.S. is one of the few western countries that does not protect birds from undue agony in the slaughter process. At the state level, California again led the way for compassionate animal protection legislation, becoming the first state to enact a Humane Poultry Slaughter Bill in 1991.

Some birds, having endured the hazards of confinement, may never make it to slaughter. Carelessly discarded and left to die, Farm Sanctuary provides these birds a peaceful retirement.

Clarissa, a former laying hen, was lucky. Sanctuary News tells her story: "She spent her entire life in a bare wire cage, crammed together with several other hens. For month after endless month, she could not walk, stretch her wings, or even sit down comfortably." When she was taken into Sanctuary, she "had lost most of her feathers and 75 percent of her body was covered with bruises. She was also severely malnourished, and unable to walk normally." Thanks to the work of Sanctuary staff, Clarissa received attention, grew feathers, gained strength, and was given a new chance at a happy life.

Farm Sanctuary's adoption program enables individuals to pay a monthly fee ranging from six dollars per chicken to forty dollars per cow to help provide necessary shelter and feed for the animals in the Sanctuary's care. Willing individuals living in an appropriate setting may also take rescued animals to live with them in "home adoption."

The Sanctuary even publishes a "Turkey Adoption List" to help promote turkey adoptions, in pairs, to safe homes. In late 1994, the Sanctuary rescued 126 turkeys whose overcrowded crate fell from a transportation truck. Through the staff's efforts, the turkeys were able to recover and live out the remainder of their lives without the threat of cruelty and premature death.

The Bauston's regularly extol the virtues of vegetarian dining and have redefined the notion of having turkey for Thanksgiving as these birds are invited to dine at the table with their human counterparts during the holiday feast. Further, the Sanctuary supports vegetarian dinner parties and the opening of vegan restaurants.

BOVINE MOOOOVES OTHERS

Additionally, Sanctuary staff manage to inject some levity into the heavy subject of farm animal welfare. "Ms. Moo," Farm Sanctuary's beautiful bovine ambassador, represents millions of animal advocates to help convince the mega-fast food chain, Burger King, to initiate the sale of a tasty vegetarian burger at some of its restaurants.

Mr. Bauston successfully helped convince Dennis Tase, president of Wienerschnitzel, the nation's largest hotdog chain, to try a vegetarian alternative. Southern California will be the first test market.

Farm animal walk-a-thons, a bed and breakfast, a people barn, cow camping and an annual hoe-down all contribute to the Sanctuary's positive attitude toward farm animals.

Though many animal advocacy organizations identify problems and promote solutions to miserable situations, few actually engage in hands-on activities to help. Farm Sanctuary gives a name to otherwise forgotten creatures and provides and inspiration for us all to work for the end of farm animal abuse. Everyone should follow their lead.

For those interested in more information, you may contact Farm Sanctuary directly at:

Animal Guardian Volume 8, No. 4, 1995, p. 6-9, 15.

Reprinted with permission from the Animal Guardian, Doris Day Animal League
http://www.ddal.org