Covering the attacks on the livestock industry from animal rights activists is an important part of what we do at the Western Producer.
We feel it’s necessary for those in the industry to know what they’re facing from groups such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Our coverage has run the gamut from activists trespassing onto livestock operations to warnings from those who follow these groups about the threat they pose to livestock agriculture.
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Our most recent coverage has been focused on legal challenges against the live horse export business in Canada.
Many members of these groups are likely genuinely concerned about the welfare of animals, but many who follow these organizations believe their ultimate end goal is stopping meat consumption altogether.
Whatever the motives, we have covered these kinds of pressures in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
As a result, PETA has played a significant role in my professional life over the years.
However, until recently, it had never encroached into one of my off-work passions — the Canadian Football League, and specifically, the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
This passion has always come with its fair share of controversy, whether it’s officiating, player conduct or contentious rule changes.
But now there’s a new, rather unfamiliar controversy. PETA recently announced that it wants the CFL to stop using leather footballs, instead opting for the synthetic kind.
The demand is based is allegations of animal cruelty at a slaughter plant in Ohio that provides leather to Wilson to make footballs.
It’s hard to know what to make of those allegations. They apparently grew out of one of PETA’s undercover operations. I’m assuming the proper authorities will conduct an investigation, and if wrongdoing is discovered, the appropriate steps will be taken to rectify the situation.
However, demanding an end to the time-honoured use of leather footballs seems to me be taking things a bit too far.
One of PETA’s points in its letter to the CFL is that about 70,000 head of cattle are slaughtered every year to produce roughly 700,000 leather Wilson footballs.
This may or may not be true, but the implication that the cattle are being killed just to make footballs is, of course, wrong.
Those cattle are being slaughtered primarily for their meat. The footballs are a happy sideline.
As long as we keeping eating beef, which I predict we will do for a very long time, I don’t see a reason to rule the leather football offside.
