Animal cruelty at an auction

[Catherine]

It never ceases to amaze me that people are so cruel and abusive to the vulnerable...when they think no one is looking. Good thing That Mercy For Animals is able to get in and expose such cruelty. It won't change the whole industry, but it will start to shift things.

If people think they might get caught, they will be more careful.

http://www.mfablog.org/breaking-four-mor...-of-animal

There is never any excuse that justifies the systematic abuse of animals.

[LPC]

Time to close that firm down by taking away its licence. Not just the workers have been found guilty of cruelty, but the owner as well (last year). It looks like there is a chance that action may be taken to close the firm: "Ontario City Council member Jim Bowen also condemned the livestock auction and asked the City Council to take action."

There are a fair number of dead and dying animals shown on the video, some of them clearly very ill. It is not clear whether these were also bought at the auctions (for example, by meat traders buying for rock bottom prices). In that case they could easily have entered the food chain by the back door - eaten by humans and/or in pet food or animal feed. Frightening.

However, the truth is that - chilling as the video of this current atrocity is - this sort of cruelty is going on every day in many abattoirs, behind closed doors. For many humans, money (selling lots of livestock quickly; high turnover) is more important than respect for other living creatures. I'm glad that you mentioned this latest MFA video, Catherine.

[Tobi]

Deeply saddening.
But I am glad such crimes are brought to light. All we can hope for is change.

At the very bottom, there is a line which says our best way to protect these animals is to leave them off our plate. But of course that would probably never happen en-masse, and so we are grateful for organisations fighting for the animals' rights, and criminal charges wherever cruelty is observed.

[Catherine]

Some of the sickest animals were being sold as food. They were being taken away to be "home slaughtered". Who knows, some might have ended up in restaurants.

I am glad they are trying to shut the company down.
They are not the only people who are cruel and they possibly are not the worst. It just helps if they are made and example of. The people in this industry will not change because they start caring for animals, but they will change if there is a chance that they will be fined and shut down. It is not the best motivation, but it will do.

It is unlikely that everyone will stop eating meat, but if people start questioning where the meat comes from and how the animals are handled, then there will have to be changes.

It also helps to support groups like Mercy For Animals and pass on their videos. I like to believe that when people know what is going on they will be outraged and demand change.