If School Will Not Retire Bill and Lou, Educators Should at Least Show the Public What Happens at Slaughter, Says Group
For Immediate Release:
November 5, 2012
Contact:
Kaitlynn Kelly 202-483-7382
Poultney, Vt. -- Despite an international outcry—including pleas from thousands of PETA members—administrators at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt., are still planning to slaughter Bill and Lou, the beloved oxen who have labored for the school's agricultural program for 10 years, and serve their flesh in the school's cafeteria. PETA sent an urgent e-mail today to school administrators asking them—if they refuse to accept VINE Sanctuary's offer to provide Bill and Lou with a peaceful retirement—at least to allow students and the public to witness the slaughter of the animals so that they can see the terror in Bill's and Lou's eyes right before a bolt is shot into their foreheads and they are strung upside down and bled to death.
"We live in a changing world, where animals are afforded considerations that they might not have had in the past," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Bill and Lou worked hard for Green Mountain College for 10 years, and they have more than earned special consideration and a peaceful retirement—but if Green Mountain won't give them that, perhaps witnessing their needless deaths will remind people that all animals' lives are precious and that the best thing they can do for other animals, their own health, and the environment is go vegan."
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA's letter to the administrators of Green Mountain College follows.
November 5, 2012
Kenneth Mulder
Farm Manager, Green Mountain
College
Bill Throop
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Green Mountain College
Dear Drs. Mulder and Throop,
I'm writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 3 million members and supporters, including thousands across Vermont, to request that if you insist on carrying out your cruel and heartless plan to send the school's beloved oxen, Bill and Lou, to a slaughterhouse, you do not hide the killing behind closed doors but allow the students and the public to witness their deaths.
We urge you with great urgency to make the compassionate decision to spare the lives of Bill and Lou. But if you move forward with the slaughter, you should, as educators, at the very least use this injustice as a learning opportunity. Everyone who knows Bill and Lou knows that they are individuals with personalities and desires of their own. Anyone who eats meat should be allowed to witness the terror in Bill's and Lou's eyes right before a bolt is shot into their foreheads and they are hung upside down and bled to death.
We live in a changing world, one in which animals are afforded considerations that they might have been denied in the past. It is time to acknowledge this and give Bill and Lou the opportunity to live out the rest of their lives in peace after having worked at Green Mountain College for 10 years. They deserve at least that.
Sincerely,
Ryan Huling
Manager of College Campaigns and Outreach
PETA