Re: Temple Grandin

["angela harper" <minpins@hotmail.com>]

Antoinette wrote:

>I couldn't agree with you more regarding the fact that many rescuers >are 
>highly emotional, however, most of those are not the ones that >operate 
>organizations.  Sue and Chris over at the EPN certainly have 
> >qualifications of their own, however, how much education one has has 
> >nothing to do with their ability to report, document, and photograph 
> >what they have seen.

Emotions can certainly cloud the ability of someone to report or document.  
Photographs, too, even - I know of a particular colt that was not wanted by 
its owner and bought by a woman who now exaggerates the condition he was in. 
  Only thing really wrong with that baby was that his feet were a little 
overgrown, and he was a hair underweight.  She has photographs, as well - 
these particular photos *look* bad, but the horse was not in dreadful shape 
when she bought him like she makes out.  I see too many people crowing about 
the $800 horse that they rescued when they "outbid the killer buyer" on it.  
The anti-slaughter folks I've corresponded with are not very pragmatic.  
I've never had my question regarding what would happen to slaughter horses 
if slaughter was abolished answered to my satisfaction.

>The issue with common sense is not with reporting what one has seen, >but 
>rather with doing such a survey or study and announcing ones >presence in 
>advance, thereby allowing the findings of the study to be >deliberately 
>skewered by those being studied, ones who would have much >to loose if such 
>findings did not suit them.

CSU, I believe, also did a study on the slaughter of horses, and they also 
concluded that the horses that they saw were not damaged in transit or at 
the plants or feedlots, but while in the care of previous owners, and the 
slaughter process was not inherently inhumane.  With the experience I've had 
with anti-slaughter advocates, I can only place the research of 
"professionals" (for lack of a better word)  above theirs.

>3-legged, half dead horses headed for slaughter spell profit for all 
> >involved, from auction owner to transporter, to truck drivers and 
> >auction employees as well.

How so?  It's my understanding that slaughter houses will not accept dead 
horses, and 4-D (Dead, Dying, Diseased, Decayed) meat is marked as 
unsuitable for human consumption.

>For a study by someone prominent and respected, such as Temple >Grandin, to 
>return a finding that such illegal activites were indeed >going on would 
>surely

Here's another thing I'm not 100% sure on - isn't there supposed to be a 
USDA inspector present?  So, theoretically, that should inhibit illegal 
activities.

>I don't have a college degree.  I recall in my younger years when I >worked 
>in the fast food service industry, whenever the state health >inspector 
>would announce an impending visit, we always had to scrub >everything top 
>to bottom, much more dilligently than we normally did.  >My friend, who 
>worked in a nursing home, would tell me that when the >state inspectors 
>told them they were comming, employees would work day >and night painting, 
>polishing, and scrubbing to make sure everything >was perfect for when the 
>inspector came.  Did conditions met in these >inspections match the true 
>day-to-day conditions of these businesses?  >No.  If so, there would never 
>have been the need to put forth all of >the extra effort prior to the 
>inspection.

I seem to recall "suprise" visits from my fast food days, and on announced 
inspections, there was sometimes a flurry of cleaning, sometimes not.  When 
we did clean extra hard, it was usually little things like waxing the 
floors, or pulling the tables out and scrubbing the walls extra white, to 
make a good impression.  Basic health procedures were never, ever, ever 
skimped on, and as an assistant manager, I made sure of that.

>And one more example, if you please...how many of us on this list will 
> >clean up our house when company is comming?

I pick socks up out of the living room, but that's about it.  And I'm not 
running a sock slaughter house, so I'm not sure what the point is.


-=-=-
~angela
"Any PC built after 1985 has the storage capacity to house an evil spirit."
- Reverend Jim Peasboro, as quoted in the Weekly World News





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