PETA Kids Hermit Crab Quiz

starmaiden · Post by **starmaiden** » Sun May 28, 2006 7:48 pm

Well, I'm going to get on my

for a minute regarding PETA. My family is associated with those 'factory farming' dairies to make their livelyhood. From what I've seen, they often have the means to provide better conditions for the cows than the smaller family farms because they have the capital to invest. I've seen cows on the small family farms standing in the sun in 100+ degree heat...cows on 'factory farms' have shade and misters and eat girardilli chocolate to make their milk richer! LOL!!!

Cows have been separated from their calves ever since dairies have been invented. They fuss for a few days and are separated from the rest of the herd during this period, but then settle back down. They are animals and are treated humanely, given good food and shelter, but when they are too old to produce milk any longer, they are slaughtered for meat. They are a commodity, not pets.

'Factory Dairies' can also provide better ecological treatment of all the waste generated by the cow. The bigger dairies tend to build with the future in mind. The little dairies can't afford this. The waste water goes into drainage ponds where it is treated like a city sewage system and eventually spread back on the fields of alfalfa and siliage for the cows, an ecologically closed system. My dad has a spreading business that handles taking the waste out of the drainage ponds and spreading it in the fields.

Please don't buy PETA's hype. They also claim that 4-H is cruel! LOL! Wonder how those vegans would feel about killing the field mice in the grain silos or the rabbits that get run over by the harvesters?

Some pics of the cows at one of the dairies my dad does business with:

The milking barn. 70 cows are milked at a time, 24-7, and it is only manned by two people. The cows automatically know when and where to go to get milked and do so of their own free will:

Here's the cows under the misters feeding:

One of the alfalfa fields my dad spreads manure on:

All of these pictures were taken at a dairy in the central valley of California in case anyone was wondering. Don't mean to be so defensive, it's just that growing up on a farm in California, I've heard a lot of PETAs untruths. Like I said, their main goal is to get everyone, even your dog and cat, to go vegan!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun May 28, 2006 8:22 pm

(The thing about the family farms vs. factory farms as vegans see it - you never really know for sure where you're getting the dairy from...) But I can see where you're coming from, and it's certainly not as bad as PeTA makes it out to be sometimes. I just had to add my two cents worth. Now, back to the real business...hermies!

starmaiden · Post by **starmaiden** » Sun May 28, 2006 9:05 pm

Now, back to the real business...hermies!

Yeah! [smilie=clap.gif]

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Mon May 29, 2006 6:52 pm

No matter what PETA says or does,hermie sales will never ever end.

Instead of wasting their energies trying to get people to stop buying hermies,why not spend that energy into educating people on looking after their hermies so they do live longer and therefore more wouldn't be taken from the wild. It's called 'lateral thinking'. And spending their energies on helping to educate pet stores would help as well with reducing numbers being taken from the wild,and therefore they will achieve what they had wanted to in the first place.
Instead of going against the grain all the time,and taking an extreme view on issues,if they worked with other organisations concerned about the well being of creatures,then they will have acheived their ideals as well,and with probably alot less fuss,and as a bonus they would gain respect from everyone else not affiliated with them.

And as for Peta wanting everyone to be 'vegans' i say to that if humans were meant to eat a complete vegan diet,why do humans have 'canine' teeth?
Humans are omnivores.

"give me a juicy t-bone anyday"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 29, 2006 11:06 pm

darn straight

I agree with troppo. PETA would be so much more effective if they changed their approach.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed May 31, 2006 12:48 am

I have a funny story about PETA. Last year at the earth day celebration me and my then one and three year old were purusing the booths. We came on PETAs. My girls wiggled to the front and the display was two miniature farms. The woman in the booth pointed to the first and said this is a farm that raises food like grains. The display was pretty with fields and farmers and little plastic cows etc. Then she pointed to the other and said in an evil voice, "This farm raises cows for people to eat, which looks nicer? Where do you think the animals are happiest living?" I am not kidding, on this farm there was nothing but dirt and a little farmer standing holding a raised shovel and a plastic cow lying down with blood all over it. It still cracks me up to remember this. Luckily my kids were small enough to be simply confused.

Okay story aside, it seems to me (this is my phrase for the night) that things usually aren't so black and white. I try hard to talk people out of buying hermit crabs because I know so many people who get them and either don't know how to care for them or don't have the energy to do it well. I really wish the pet stores would stop marketing them as good beginner pets because they ARE NOT. So, while I think PETA can be over the top I can't help but support discouragement of buying them.

I agree with Troppo. I wish that pet stores were more educated about the realities of hermit crabs. I wish they sold them with the reverence reserved for a big Boa or a tropical bird. I wish people knew what they were getting into when they bought them.

Willow · Post by **Willow** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 5:03 pm

I live in South Dakota, and I'm sorry to report that most cow farms are "nothing but dirt" because, if there are too many cows for the area, the cows' hooves kill all the grass, or they eat it all. I've never seen a dead cow covered in blood, though

; most farmers don't do home butchering anymore. And some farms are nice and grassy, with decent shelter for the cows and pretty good conditions, but unfortunately, not a lot of them are that good. And the smell can get pretty bad.
I know a guy who works for a forklift repair service, and he's been to meat packing plants, and he says they're absolutely disgusting. But he bought a 5 lb ham from the company store anyway, LOL. I'd kind of like to be a vegetarian (NOT vegan!), but an occasional hamburger is just SOOOO yummy, or some nice crisp bacon....*drool*. I just wish the meat animals were treated better.

But, yeah, sometimes I do agree with PETA, but most of the time they're just nuts.