Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Thursday, June 19, 2008

The pigs in Iowa

Click on this sentence to read the CNN article that inspired this blog post. Pigs have been with us for about 7,000 years. Dogs have been with us for 12,000 years, and cats for about 4,000.

Unlike cattle, whose domestication has dulled the urges prevalent in their wild cousins, pigs are just as smart, if not smarter than their wild cousins. Simply put, they know what is what, and where to go.

These pigs in Iowa were able to make their way to safety, and may very well could have been saved, and yes, slaughtered at a later date.

Sadly, there simply was not enough man power or time to rescue these animals, and so they were shot, and their carcasses were treated like roadkill.

I am an omnivore. I believe in eating meat, but I am not a heartless bastard. These animals were given a raw deal, and their deaths served no one. That is sad, and I felt that I should speak for a few smart animals in Iowa.

Meat isn't some amorphous product that starts out wrapped in plastic. It comes from a living, breathing being, and if you want to be more connected to this universe, you should remember that.

7 comments:

kimberkara said...

That's fucking sad. They MADE IT to safety, only to be killed. Was there no other way to get them off the sandbags? Really? I hate that animal life is not as important as ours. And yeah, I like me some bacon.

Cindy-Lou said...

I think the blame lies on the farmer. He should have moved them before it got to that point. I can understand that saving the humans is more important than saving the pigs. But they shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Stepho said...

The waste we produce in this country disgusts me. I have no problem with hunting or killing meat, but if you're going to do it, use it. I don't believe that there wasn't some option, either to preserve the pigs or to somehow at least save the meat. And then we have the audacity to whine like little bitches when the cost of our food goes up. I imagine the ghosts of long-gone Native Americans standing around weeping.

Anonymous said...

Please, will some wise person tell me how a farmer is supposed to be able to find a place for his family to live (that isn't flooded or occupied by the hundreds of other people looking for shelter), move his family & all of their belongings, help his neighbors that do not have truck move their belongings, help fill thousands of sandbags, help sandbag the levee to prevent it from breaking, find a truck to transport thousands of pigs, find a place to take these pigs, all in a couple of days?

And if the levee does break, how do you suggest the authorities catch these pigs while at the same time helping evacutees & preventing the next levee downstream from breaking & flooding even more farms?

I'm Scooter, but I might be a troll. said...

I do not blame the farmer, or the authorities that shot the pigs. It is a natural disaster. Lives are lost in disasters.

Still, one should mourn the loss of wasted life, porcine or otherwise.

Anonymous said...

Seriously....!!!!!???!!! A dozen pigs or hundreds of homes and possibly human life on the line. What is wrong with you people that you would even give half a damn about some pigs when thousands and thousands of people have lost all that they have because of these floods?!!?? Hey Kimber, Cindy-Lou, do you guys live in Burlington? Have you seen the devastation? Have you seen the couple of feet of sand-bag wall that's protecting the rest of the city from vast devastation?
Shut Up about the Pigs!

I'm Scooter, but I might be a troll. said...

I would appreciate it if you put a tag line to your words, eh? It's all right to be anonymous, but when you address my other commenters, they have a right to know what to call you.

On your question as to what is wrong with me, I am a little touched in the head. I seem to feel that if folks do not purchase flood insurance after not fifteen years ago their entire STATE became a lake, they may very well be getting their just rewards.

These pigs did not choose to live in Iowa.

Kindly do not tell my commenters to shut up.