There has been public outrage over a horrific incident in which authorities gunned down 51 cattle in County Tyrone, in the north of Ireland, doing so in a publicly visible area.
Complaints from politicians have centred on why the brutal measures had to be carried out in an area viewable by locals. However, the obvious question this begs is the following: why would mass murder suddenly become justifiable if it is hidden out of sight?
The details of the incident are unquestionably distressing. According to Sinn Féin councillor, Eugene McConnell, the killing took almost 12 hours to complete. He told the Irish News:
The shooting started at 10:00 in the morning and the last animal was shot at 9:50 that evening.
McConnell also said:
It was like a Wild West scene — there were cars blocking the roads, there were people standing on ditches watching the marksmen shoot the animals dead in the field.
Deborah Erskine, South Tyrone MLA for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said:
Members of the public shouldn’t have seen this. In one case I’m aware of a father and son driving past this field and witnessed this in broad daylight, that shouldn’t have happened.
County Tyrone: Cruel meat industry lacks transparency
Observers said cows fled in a distressed state following initial gunshots and that the gunman killed cattle in front of each other. The animals were part of a mixed breeding herd owned by 59-year-old Martin Beattie. The purpose of such a herd is to produce fresh cattle, most of whom would have been murdered at some point in a slaughterhouse.
These cattle suffered well before that, however, as many were diseased and “highly stressed” due to abandonment. The Irish News reported:
Beattie’s defence solicitor said his client had suffered from mental health issues and that he was isolated, while the judge said he was “overwhelmed” by the job of running the farm. The defence solicitor added the remaining 66 cattle, mainly cows and calves, were in a “reasonable state”.
Beattie had pleaded guilty to 21 offences related to his failure to properly care for the animals. Questions remain as to why the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) let things get to the point where the mass slaughter was necessary.
Only weeks previously, the cows were apparently in a “reasonable state”. Given DAERA carried out “four previous culls”, it’s unclear why they weren’t more attentive to potential deterioration among any remaining cows.
Agriculture Minister, Andrew Muir, was hardly transparent about what occurred on the day of the shooting, saying he was “not at liberty to discuss further” all the details of the incident.
Transparency hasn’t exactly been a strength of farming in the north of Ireland. It is only in the past week that the region has come in line with British laws around CCTV in abattoirs. This might lessen the chances of the most egregious cruelty to animals in these horrific places, but it can’t prevent the brutal truth: there is no humane method of mass murdering animals.
Pigs struggle to survive before throats are slit
Animal Equality thoroughly debunks this myth on their web page. They point out that stunning of animals in the moments before slaughter is ineffective and itself causes pain to those about to be killed. For example, they reveal the horrors suffered by pigs when carbon dioxide gas is used to stun them prior to death:
Carbon dioxide does not cause the pigs to become unconscious immediately and high concentrations of the gas can cause them significant pain and distress. Pigs have been shown in studies to gasp for air, squeal and struggle to escape for up to a minute before losing consciousness.
A UK Government report says: “There are longstanding concerns about the negative welfare impacts of high concentration CO2 stunning systems for pigs.”
After the pigs fall unconscious, a slaughterhouse worker slits their throats and the pigs bleed out until they die.
Meanwhile, abattoirs use electric baths to stun chickens.
[The birds are] painfully hung upside down by their legs and carried towards a bath containing electrified water. When the chicken’s head makes contact with the water, they’re electrocuted and become unconscious. The chickens are then carried towards a metal blade which slits their throats.
Yet they often suffer a painful death, due to cases where they are:
…not shocked strongly enough to render them unconscious.
The cruelty of farming animals for meat starts long before death, due to the brutal practices of factory farming that are still routine across Britain and Ireland.
[Dairy cows are] kept indoors and forced into a life of misery spent walking back and forth to the milking stations where they are attached to milking machines that take the milk intended for their calves.
No justification for brutal mass killing of animals
Animal Equality points out:
Cows are extremely maternal and social animals who can naturally live up to 20 years. However, on dairy farms, a cow is slaughtered when she is around three or four years old and sold for cheap meat or leather products.
Even in an imaginary world where we found a totally humane method of slaughter, we have no business ending the lives of these intelligent creatures so prematurely. In my opinion, it is not necessary to consume meat — a good plant-based diet is a healthier alternative.
The events in Tyrone were unquestionably horrific, and no one should be exposed to brutal violence without consent. However, the horror would still be present were it to take place within the confines of an abattoir. The gunning down of cows in public is simply a reminder of the obvious truism:
If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.
Featured image via BBC
