Animal cruelty is the type of thing that gets people’s blood boiling.
First, when humans take ownership of animals they assume the responsibility of caring for them. It is despicable to betray that responsibility.
Second, in this time of increased concentration on animal rights and welfare, incidents of mistreatment give activists a good dose of muck to smear indiscriminately on all livestock producers.
The recently exposed apparent cruel neglect of fallow deer on a game ranch in northwestern Saskatchewan is a case in point.
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An animal protection officer found 116 deer dead at Last Chance Fallow Ranch. Another two had to be put down and 54 were removed to a safer place. A former employee who led authorities to the ranch, said he had complained to the owner about improper supplies of feed.
The owner lived far from the ranch and employed inexperienced people to look after the deer.
The incident, coupled with another recent case where 50 bison died at a different farm, has sparked outrage from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which says there is an “epidemic” of cruelty and abuse on Saskatchewan game farms.
The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation said the game industry needs a major review and the executive director of the Canadian Wildlife Federation went further, calling on the province and federal government to shut down the industry nationally.
But such extrapolation ignores the reality that animal abuse is a failure of personal responsibility. Industries don’t abuse animals, certain people do.
The vast majority of game farms are well run despite years of difficult market conditions caused by chronic wasting disease and now the wider bovine spongiform encephalopathy difficulties.
The only way that game farming might have been a special factor in these incidents is that game farms are still fairly few and far between. A case of neglect on a cattle farm might be more quickly noticed and reported by experienced cattle-owning neighbours than on a game farm where the animals are more skittish, reclusive and hard to assess from a distance.
While animal abuse is not the fault of any one industry or community, a community – neighbours – can help prevent it. The coming winter might be particularly difficult for prairie livestock producers contending with the fallout from BSE and, in some cases, dry pastures.
Some might find they don’t have the resources available to properly look after livestock. If so, they have a responsibility to ask for help.
And neighbours can help by keeping a friendly eye out for problems and offering help if needed. If the neglect or misuse continues, authorities should be notified. Together, we should be able to keep our animals safe and protect the livestock industry from indiscriminant criticism.
