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PRESS RELEASE
RELEASE DATE: Immediately (July 6, 2006)
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Gene Baierschmidt
(801) 261-2919 - cell phone
GREASED-PIG CHASING: A BRUTAL ANACHRONISM
The Humane Society of Utah today responded with a mixture of incredulity and disgust to reports of Independence Day activities in the rural hamlet of Liberty, Utah (and other small communities), which included chicken chases, grabbing live trout out of a shallow pond with the hands, and the pursuit of young pigs smeared with lard. The Society finds it particularly disturbing that these events were primarily geared for children as young as three years old, except in cases where "some overzealous dads took over for the little ones, proudly displaying their catches as their children screamed," according to one eyewitness account.
"We’re aware that there are pockets of rusticity all over the country where holdovers from the 19th century like this still take place," said HSU Executive Director Gene Baierschmidt. "But we had hoped that in the Year of Our Lord 2006 more people would have realized that there are lots of ways to have community fun without terrifying, brutalizing, and very possibly injuring or even killing other living beings."
The Humane Society points out that the pigs used in these chases, for example, may appear to be hardy creatures, but are in fact at great risk of sustaining serious injury when subjected to the inevitable rough handling of an organized pursuit. "In actuality, pigs’ leg bones are very thin and fracture easily. Their eyesight is poor, and that increases their fright and panic when a swarm of yelling children charges at them. Pigs have no sweating mechanism in their skin, and, when they’re further handicapped by having those skins coated with a thick, waterproof layer of grease, then heat stroke, exhaustion, and seizures are highly likely occurrences," said Mr. Baierschmidt. He cites a recent report of one such activity where a 12-year-old boy jumped directly ONTO a pig and the animal was crushed to the ground and started bleeding from the mouth. "I wouldn’t want either of my own two children to see that and be told that they were supposed to enjoy it," he added.
"If sponsors were aware of the suffering they’re sanctioning, they’d probably think twice before scheduling these archaic events," he continued. "Exposing a new generation to these callous, outdated attitudes toward other life forms is the thing we object to more than anything else. Such perceptions in much older people might be understandable, if not excusable, but we pride ourselves on raising educated, aware, knowledgeable children to lead the new millennium. We are all hoping that our offspring will be better people in every way, even in the small things of life, than everyone who has gone before them; that they will shape a world in which pointless suffering, at ANY level, is not acceptable, and is certainly not considered a source of entertainment."
The Humane Society suggests any number of family-oriented competitive activities that do not involve non-human animals, such as three-legged races, frisbee contests, greased-pole climbing, maypole weaving, horseshoe-throwing, wall-climbing, or mini-marathons. "Tradition doesn’t have to be synonymous with ignorance," says Mr. Baierschmidt. "Let’s keep having good old-fashioned fun, but let’s try to look at it with new eyes - wiser, more compassionate eyes."
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