You Can't Believe Everything You See.

The HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) has had ahold of my email address for 7 months now. When I received my first email from them I was upset that they would have the nerve to email me newsletters as someone who promotes agriculture. I eventually got over the anger, and realized that this could keep me up to date on the activist side of agriculture. Today, that proved beneficial to me. Matthew Prescott of the HSUS sent out an email today with the subject header reading: Unbelievable. Of course this subject header caught my attention and my first thought was, now what?

The email read:

Hi there. As I’m sure you’ve seen by now, yet another video was released today in which Tyson Foods contract workers are seen just blatantly beating up pigs. You can view the video here. This is some of the most shocking footage I’ve seen, and I’d welcome your thoughts on it. Additionally, as you may recall:

·Just three weeks ago, another disturbing video showed a Tyson supplier abusing animals on tape.

· Last year, after an investigation at a Tyson supplier in Wyoming, several workers who were caught abusing animals were charged and convicted of criminal animal cruelty.

Thanks, and looking forward to hearing what you think about this video.  

Best,

Matt

I clicked the link to see what type of Youtube Video was produced this time. And not to my surprise it was a video of harsh abuse to pigs produced by Mercy for Animals. Curious, I searched Tyson Foods and the HSUS to see if a statement had been released in regards to the video; however, after reviewing the video and seeing that the views was only at 250, I assumed that Tyson was still doing research and working on a press release. According to this article, Tyson has previously investigated the abuse on the farm shown in the video. In result, Tyson had no association with the farm that the video was filmed at, and this may be another exam of that. 

As an agriculture student, I have taken classes on proper techniques of castration and docking, which is not done in this video. Many classmates and friends of mine own pig farms and care deeply for their animals and actions such as these do not take place on their farms and do not take place on many farms across the United States.

Secondly, I believe if Mercy for Animals, the HSUS, PETA, and other animal activist groups truly care for these animals, why would they not be going to farms such as these to put an end to the abuse rather than become a bystander and videotape the abuse. Seems a little controversial to me. Which brings me to further believe that maybe these videos are not ‘undercover’ videos. I may be wrong, but it does cause my mind to wander to all possibilities. As a student with a background in videography and photography I understand the ability to alter images and make something seem like one thing, when it is not. In my mind, it would not be hard to put together a video portraying animal cruelty, when in fact no harm is being done to animals – they do it in Hollywood all the time.

I will be curious to see what research brings up on this production. My final statement is that you cannot believe everything you see and not all your sources may be reliable. Do your research before you are in full belief.