"Bill and Lou are still set for slaughter by the end of October!! We still may be able to save their lives, and send them to the Vine Sanctuary who want to provide a safe loving home for the rest of their lives, with one last push.
Bill and Lou worked tirelessly for ten years, helping the farm maintain its sustainable goals, but now, despite thousands of people signing a petition to save them from slaughter, the Green Mountain College has sentenced their long term farm workers, who happen to be oxen, to death.
For years, Bill and Lou were a near daily sight out in the fields at Green Mountain College. Bill and Lou's big brown eyes, their curving horns and gentle, but massive girth have made them minor celebrities on campus and beyond. Many say that's what makes it so hard to believe that the college wants to slaughter and eat them. Miriam Jones is co-founder of Vine, an animal sanctuary in Springfield. "These two individuals have become veritable mascots for the school," she says. "They are the profile picture on the farm's Facebook page. They are known by name." She says "this is why the outcry has been so significant all over."
Vine offered to transport Bill and Lou for free to their farm to live with other rescued animals. Vine's Pattrice Jones, says they were stunned when the college said no and cited sustainability as one of its reasons. "We do not believe that the way to conserve resources is to kill the elderly and disabled," she says; "to prevent them from using up resources because they're not useful anymore. We just find that ethically repugnant."
BILL and LOU are gentle sweet boys that don't deserve the cruelty that the GMC ( GREEN MOUNTAIN COLLEGE ) want to inflict upon them by sending them to slaughter, then feeding them to the schools students in their Cafeteria! Sounds like a family who decide they want to be sustainable by eating their pet dog or cat!! When we have a choice between "sustainability" and compassion, compassion should win every time.
VINE Sanctuary in Vermont have offered the boys are new loving home, so why doesn't GMC not let them go? Are they just trying to prove a point at the expense of their compassion and humanity?
"They (Bill and Lou) would plow and cultivate, and spread their manure and the manure of other animals," said Ben Dube, a research assistant.
The oxen are part of the farm's plan to be fossil-free. Instead of tractors, Bill and Lou do the work. But this summer, Lou suffered an injury and can barely walk. And Bill can't pull the plow alone. "Doing any work with them is a question. Even putting them in the yoke and not pulling anything," Dube said. The school already bought replacements, but kept Bill and Lou as pets until they could collaborate with the students, who were on summer break, about Bill and Lou's fate.
"Because it is an educational, sustainable farm, we think we've got to help students understand how to make farms work ecologically, socially and economically," said Bill Throop, the provost at Green Mountain College.
The consensus: to slaughter Bill and Lou for meat. This would save the school from purchasing meat from a factory for at least a month.
(GMP Publisher: Sustainability is an admirable goal, but in this case, it is at the sacrifice of our humanity and compassion, and not a worthy choice. These animals have helped to make the farm sustainable for ten years. Haven't Bill and Lou earned their lives and a little respect?)
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VINE Sanctuary is ready to take these animals in for a peaceful life after all their contribution to their human owners. And despite many voices from around the world calling for the release of Bill and Lou to the sanctuary, the college authorities have remained determined to send the two retiring oxen to slaughter.
Indeed this heartless decision makes no sense because no one is starving at the college hall and these hard workers who shared the workload of their human companions on their back now deserve to live their natural life, whatever of it is left, in peace.
Below is an excerpt from a recent article about Bill and Lou from the New York Times here (With comments like the ones below, you have to wonderful how evolved, or indeed, how compassionate and ethical, some people of this world are? So when someone has outlived their usefulness at GMC, do they recycle their body parts? Maybe the retiring professors at GMC should be a little nervous! Soylent Green burgers anyone?!)
“It’s about sustainability, and I’ve been a vegetarian for three years, but I’m excited to eat Bill and Lou,” said Lisa Wilson, a senior. “I eat meat when I know where it comes from.” (GMP Publisher: Obviously this student doesn't know that an oxen is not a vegetable? That doesn't sound they are teaching them the difference at GMC? This girl certainly doesn't understand that she is NOT a vegetarian if she is excited to eat meat!)
Andrew Kohler, a senior, took a course in which he learned how to drive the oxen team.
“They start listening to you, and they become your friend,” Mr. Kohler said. “I feel honored to eat them.” (GMP Publisher: I'm sure the honour would NOT be mutual here. I wonder if Mr. Kohler eats ALL his friends?! Maybe anyone considering befriending him on facebook should rethink the idea?)
Voicing a rare opinion on campus, Lilly Byers, a junior from Albany, joined a group of about 20 protesters who gathered near campus on Friday and faced down a counterprotest of her fellow students. (GMP Publisher: Good for you Lilly!! You go girl!!)
“I come from a family of dairy farmers,” Ms. Byers said. “When you’ve worked an animal this long, they usually go into retirement, so I come to it from that perspective.”
Meanwhile, Emerald Hardiman, a freshman, confronted the protesters.
“Why aren’t you at factory farms right now?” Ms. Hardiman said. “They’re going to taste delicious!” (GMP Publisher: Factory farming is certainly hideous, however Ms Hardiman's statement is also hideous! If poor Bill and Lou are indeed killed, maybe a healthy dose of ongoing indigestion may be a suitable karmic payback, Ms Hardiman?)
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