THE HOT JOINTS » Animal Cruelty

Video: Undercover Video Shows Hatchery Grinding Up Live Baby Chicks

Chris Jones — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:55:34 +0000

I love to eat meat, but the brutal and inhumane methods that companies use to give us meat are outrageous and sick. Companies could use much more humane methods of killing cows, pigs, and other animals — but they choose not to.

It’s as if many companies go out of their way to be as cruel as possible to the animals they process. I can’t imagine how the CEO’s of these companies can look themselves in the mirror knowing they run an outfit like this.

I love to hunt deer, but the deer I hunt for food die instantly. Imagine if my preferred method for hunting deer was to snare them in a net, then skin them alive while they screamed. Yeah, I would belong in jail.

So, why then is it okay for companies to throw a live pig in a vat of boiling water? Why is it okay for a hatchery to throw live baby chicks into a grinder? The answer is — it’s not.

I can’t stand these left-wing Berkeley types that are always crusading for global warming all that crap, but the animal cruelty issue is one I agree with them on.

Organizations like PETA often do over-the-top things to get their message out (many of which are counterproductive), but I applaud their efforts to get videos like this out.

I don’t agree that people should become vegans (I’m certainly not) but I think we should research and choose wisely the companies we support with our food dollars.

Torturing animals makes me sick, torturing terrorists — not so much.

-Chris Jones

Video: Teens Sentenced For Gruesome Cat Mutilation

admin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:48:18 +0000

I would not want my child to come back home with me if I knew he was responsible for savage acts of cruelty like this. It’s a scientific fact that kids who treat animals that way are emotionally disturbed and usually treat humans in a similar fashion as they get older. I would insist that my kid be remanded to psychiatric facility for at least a couple of years.

You simply cannot let the little bastard run wild, because any person capable of that kind of savagery would think nothing of bashing someone’s head in. His crocodile tears in court are simply an act. Some people are born without the ability to feel impathy or compassion and they’re the most dangerous people in the world.

Video: Blind Horse Tortured And Dragged To Death

Chris Jones — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:34:56 +0000

Anyone who would do something like this to an animal should be killed.

Marines Investigating Video Of Puppy Being Thrown Off A Cliff

Chris Jones — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:17:30 +0000

Slaughterhouse Video Prompts Largest Beef Recall In U.S. History

Chris Jones — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:18:20 +0000

This video is only a piece of the slaughterhouse video that prompted the massive beef recall. Even putting aside the fact that sick cattle were allowed into food supply, what’s more important is the way we continue to allow the barbarism that goes on inside these slaughterhouses.

I enjoy eating meat, but with every passing month I get closer and closer to giving it up. The way these animals are treated is becoming an issue that is impossible to overlook or sweep under the rug.

It simply doesn’t make sense for meat companies to kill cattle in such a grotesque and inhumane manner. It would not cost the company more money to put the animal down humanely. Yet it seems as though these companies actually prefer to kill cattle in the most gruesome and savage ways possible.

These slaughterhouses are nothing more than assembly lines of torture and mass murder. I say this not as a PETA nut, but as a lifelong meat eater and hunter.

The difference between these meat companies and hunting is quite simple. When I shoot a deer I kill it with one shot and it dies immediately. If I were to employ the same tactics to hunting as are employed by slaughterhouses, I would shoot a deer in the leg and then chain it to my truck and drag it to death.

The public was rightly outraged over the Michael Vick dogfighting case and his torture and killing of dogs. Why then is there not similar outrage over the torture and killing of cows? Or Chickens? Or any other meat Americans consume?

Why are cows considered throw-away animals that don’t deserve even an ounce of compassion or sympathy? Why is it okay to kick and electrocute a cow, but not a dog? I can assure you that cows feel the same sense of terror and agony when they’re tortured as dogs do.

The bottom line is that the American meat industry needs to be reformed and new regulations need to be put in place, both from a consumer safety standpoint and an animal cruelty standpoint.

-Chris Jones

Dead Dog Found Tied To Barbed Wire Fence

Chris Jones — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:15:21 +0000

Humane Society Auctions Off Vick’s Note to Self From Press Conference

Chris Jones — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:23:13 +0000

On August 27, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick plead guilty to a dogfighting charge, and the following day held a press conference in Richmond, Virg., apologizing for his involvement in the Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting ring.

After Vick’s four-minute speech, a rep with the Humane Society of the United States went up to the podium to retrieve his microphone, and found the note left by Vick containing his talking points.

Vick’s big idea: apologize, apologize, apologize. The six-point speech calls for him to “apologize for what I’ve done;” apologize to his coach and team; tell young kids that “I acted immature;” ask for “forgiveness and understanding;” “take full responsibility for my actions;” and remind people that “we all make mistakes.”

At the very bottom of the note was a reminder that “dogs have suffered.”

“Watching video of the event, I recall Vick reading through his talking points. I don’t recall him getting to those words at the end. No, for some reason, he didn’t get to the dogs on whom he inflicted such tortures,” wrote Humane Society blogger Wayne Pacelle on A Humane Nation. “The biggest apology of all was left unspoken-to the dogs who suffered and who died so horribly at his hand.”

The Humane Society has put the note up for auction. Proceeds will benefit the Humane Society’s Animal Cruelty Response and Reward Fund.

[TMZ]

Vick Issues Apology After Guilty Plea

Chris Jones — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:19:55 +0000

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Michael Vick apologized Monday for “using bad judgment and making bad decisions” and vowed to redeem himself after pleading guilty to a federal dogfighting charge.

“First I want to apologize for all the things that I’ve done and that I have allowed to happen,” the star quarterback said at a news conference following his appearance in U.S. District Court to formally enter the plea.

Sentencing was set for Dec. 10 and Vick could be sent to prison for one to five years. Vick was suspended indefinitely by the NFL last week.

In Atlanta, the Falcons said they would not cut Vick immediately because of salary-cap issues. The team intends to pursue the $22 million in bonus money that he already received in a record $130 million contract signed in 2004.

“We cannot tell you today that Michael is cut from the team,” owner Arthur Blank said.

Saying he was speaking “from the heart,” and looking somber, Vick made his first public statements on the dogfighting ring:

“I made a mistake of using bad judgment and making bad decisions. Those things just can’t happen. Dogfighting is a terrible thing, and I do reject it.”

He singled out NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Blank, coach Bobby Petrino and his teammates for personal apologies, saying “I was not honest and forthright in our discussions.”

He also apologized to “all the young kids out there for my immature acts and what I did – and what I did was very immature. So that means I need to grow up.”

“I totally ask for forgiveness and understanding as I move forward to bettering Michael Vick the person, not the football player,” he said.

He concluded by saying, “I offer my deepest apologies to everyone. And I will redeem myself. I have to.”

Vick took no questions.

He said little in court, standing erect and softly answering “Yes, sir” and “No, sir” to U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson’s questions. Family members occupied the front row of the packed courtroom for the 15-minute hearing.

The plea by the suspended quarterback was accepted by Hudson, who asked: “Are you entering the plea of guilty to a conspiracy charge because you are in fact guilty?”

Vick answered yes.

Hudson emphasized he is not bound by sentencing guidelines or the recommendations of prosecutors and can impose the maximum sentence. Prosecutors proposed a 12- to 18-month prison term.

“You’re taking your chances here. You’ll have to live with whatever decision I make,” Hudson said.

“A first-time offender might well receive no jail time for this offense,” U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said in a statement. “We thought, however, that the conduct in this conspiracy was heinous, cruel and inhumane.” Vick is one of four defendants in the case.

The first defendant to plead guilty left the conspiracy in 2004 and is not as culpable, Rosenberg said.

In his written plea filed last week, Vick admitted helping kill six to eight pit bulls and supplying money for gambling on the fights. He said he did not personally place any bets or share in any winnings.

Shortly afterward, the NFL suspended him indefinitely and without pay. Merely associating with gamblers can trigger a lifetime ban under the league’s personal conduct policy.

The case began in late April when authorities conducting a drug investigation of Vick’s cousin raided the former Virginia Tech star’s rural Surry County property and seized dozens of dogs, some injured, and equipment commonly used in dogfighting.

A federal indictment issued in July charged Vick, Purnell Peace of Virginia Beach, Quanis Phillips of Atlanta and Tony Taylor of Hampton with an interstate dogfighting conspiracy. Vick initially denied any involvement, and all four men pleaded innocent. Taylor was the first to change his plea to guilty; Phillips and Peace soon followed.

The details outlined in the indictment and other court papers fueled a public backlash against Vick and cost him several lucrative endorsement deals, even before he agreed to plead guilty.

The Falcons were to play an exhibition game at home against the Cincinnati Bengals later Monday. This will be the first chance for the team to see what effect Vick’s case has on attendance at the Georgia Dome. Vick wears the biggest-selling jersey in team history and is given much credit for its 51 consecutive sellouts.

[AP]

Michael Vick Pleads Guilty in Dogfighting Case

Chris Jones — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:07:30 +0000

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – A judge accepted Michael Vick’s guilty plea Monday to a federal dogfighting charge and scheduled a Dec. 10 sentencing date that could send the fallen NFL superstar to prison.

The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson.

“Are you entering the plea of guilty to a conspiracy charge because you are in fact guilty?” Hudson asked.

Vick replied, “Yes, sir.”

Hudson also emphasized that he is not bound by sentencing guidelines and can impose the maximum sentence of up to five years in prison.

“You’re taking your chances here. You’ll have to live with whatever decision I make,” Hudson.

In his written plea filed in federal court Friday, Vick admitted helping kill six to eight pit bulls and supplying money for gambling on the fights. He said he did not personally place any bets or share in any winnings.

The NFL suspended him indefinitely and without pay Friday after his plea agreement was filed. Merely associating with gamblers can trigger a lifetime ban under the league’s personal conduct policy.

[AP]

Michael Vick Pleads GUILTY in Dog-Fighting Case

Chris Jones — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 19:43:56 +0000

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to a dogfighting ring, according to a statement from his attorney.

In the statement by attorney Billy Martin, Vick agreed to plead guilty and accept a plea deal and will “accept full responsibility for his actions and the mistakes he has made,” ESPN and Fox News reported Monday.

Vick is expected to be sentenced next Monday at US District Court here. He could face up to five years in prison and fines of more than 250,000 dollars as a result of the charges, although a lesser sentence is likely from the deal.

“After consulting with his family over the weekend, Michael Vick asked that I announce today that he has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors regarding the charges pending against him,” Martin’s statement said.

“Mr. Vick has agreed to enter a plea of guilty to those charges and to accept full responsibility for his actions and the mistakes he has made.”

“Michael wishes to apologizes again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter.”

A grand jury was hearing evidence Monday on more possible charges that could have been filed against Vick, including racketeering gambling charges that would have greatly raised the stakes and possible prison term Vick might face.

The agreement also brings into question Vick’s National Football League future. Vick had been banned from the Falcons’ training camp by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell until his role in the scheme was more fully explained.

Goodell was expected to inform Vick about any possible banishment because of the guilty plea later on Monday, according to reports.

Three co-defendants of Vick had agreed to plea deals in exchange for contributing evidence to the case against Vick, who was charged with taking animals over state lines as part of a dogfight gambling ring.

Graphic details of his abuse of the dogs, including brutal methods of killing the animals, led to protests against him outside the courtroom and the club’s headquarters.

[AFP]

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