Cow dies a horrible death, but not at the slaughterhouse
October 2nd, 2008 by admin
Early last Saturday at a ranch in Indian River County, three men broke a fence, shot a six-month-old cow, cut apart the animal’s body and then took parts home with them in a truck. The calf’s head was thrown into a ditch. Sheriff’s deputies investigating the killing followed a trail of blood to the home of Caleb Julian “C.J.” Smith, in Vero Beach. Smith, along with John Richmond and Tony Strickland, were arrested and charged with three felonies, including grand theft.
The property owner, rancher Peter Holman, spoke of the horrible crime in an article in the Vero Beach Press Journal, “The mother cow was looking in the ditch. She stayed there for 24 hours. They killed the calf right in front of the mother cow. I want to see them punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
We sympathize with Mr. Holman, and we hope the three men will be found guilty and receive stiff sentences, but it’s important to remember that this cow would have soon been sold for slaughter. We say this not to lessen the brutal killing of the animal, but to point out that behavior that is criminal in one situation (cruelly killing a cow before the animal can be sold) is accepted and legal in another (at the slaughterhouse after the cow has been sold at auction).