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Editorial on Issue 2: What does it mean to care for an animal?

White's chickens

A cage of chickens at White's Livestock Auction and Flea Market in Brookville, IN

It’s not a question that’s receiving much attention in the debate over whether an Ohio “Livestock Care Standards Board” should be formed, as per Issue 2.  But concerned humans should pay attention to the phrase “animal care” this week, since the two sides of the battle refer to different modes of caring.

To some, animal care means doing what is needed to make animal operations as efficient as possible–generally focusing on “herd health” and output over the health of individual animals.

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Issue 2: What, Who, and Why?

What does Issue 2 propose?

Issue 2 would amend Ohio’s constitution to place future decisions about the treatment of livestock animals, in the hands of a government-appointed “Livestock Care Standards Board.”

The resolution does not define “livestock,” so it is unclear whether dogs raised on large-scale intensive breeding facilities–known by detractors as “puppy mills”–would be affected by this legislation.

An employee at White's Livestock Auction in Brooksville, IN, moves pigs into a waiting pen.

A White's Livestock Auction employee moves pigs into a waiting pen, in Brookville, IN.

Why has Issue 2 been proposed?

Issue 2’s proponents have been clear about their motive: to prevent animal welfare reforms backed by the Humane Society of the United States. An HSUS-supported referendum passed this year in California, which requires that all caged farm animals be given enough room to stretch their wings and legs, and turn around in a circle.  While small farms often meet this requirement, the large, industrialized indoor farms that provide most of America’s meat and eggs, often do not.

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An Episcopal Blessing of the Animals

Blessing 1

St. Francis of Assisi, an Italian monk who died 783 years ago, may be the most celebrated Christian voice to embrace the moral relevance of animals.  According to stories, he often spoke of humans’ sacred relationship with other animals, and addressed those around him as “brother hare” or “my sisters, the birds.”

In honor of his feast day (Oct. 4th), churches around the world included a Blessing of the Animals in their Sunday service.  At Cincinnati’s Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, a 5 PM service was held on the church’s front lawn beneath a bright evening sky, to the jaunty tunes of the city’s Celtic Ensemble.  Sunlight raked across the faces of several dozen (mostly calm) dogs, a few cats who appeared anxiously outnumbered, and three fish traveling in Mason jars.

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Animals and the Law

pitty on a train

The American Bar Association has devoted its latest issue of GPSOLO Magazine to the blooming field of animal law.  In ten articles, lawyers describe how they are adapting legal concepts such as guardianship and ownership, to reflect Americans’ evolving regard for animals.

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“When I got a dog I became a human again.”

"Bump!" Last month at Cincinnati's Everything Pet Expo, Amy Hoh showed how her service dog, Cortez, opens doors for her.

"Bump!" Last month at Cincinnati's Everything Pet Expo, Amy Hoh showed how her service dog, Cortez, opens doors for her.

Amy Hoh, 51, is a Hamilton County employee with a strong voice, a glowing face, and degenerative disk disease that landed her in a wheelchair 5 years ago.

Cortez is a five-year-old German shepherd with bat ears that flicker constantly toward Hoh, waiting for a signal that she needs his help.

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Seen at the Pet Expo: Fuchsia Femmes

Regina and Priscilla

Regina (l) and Priscilla (r) waited in line Saturday to strut their colors at the Everything Pet Expo.

Under fluorescent lights reminiscent of an industrial animal farm, last weekend’s Everything Pet Expo nonetheless hummed with celebration. On display were died pom-poms, blurry terriers obstacle-coursing over astroturf pitches, prisoner-trained service dogs, and unsung heroes of several species. I interviewed a few handfuls of organizations that help humans and other animals assist each other through life’s trials.

Over the coming months I’ll be posting more photos, as I profile the most innovative and interesting of these groups. Stay tuned, to read what strokes of hardship and luck can befall unwanted foals, banned pitbulls, wheelchair-bound adults, retired racedogs, disabled children, and feral cats in the Tri-State area.

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Heard on Thursday: jazzmen at The Redmoor

Hot damn. Tonight I heard a group of musicians billed as The Eddie Bayard Quintet, fill Mt. Lookout’s capacious Art Deco music hall, The Redmoor, with virtuosic and heartful improvisations. Without added showmanship or jazzy theatrics, their notes sang, sultered, and pressed upon me in the way notes do, when musicians say what they have to say with clarity.

Onstage were tenor saxophonist Edwin Bayard, drummer Melvin Broach, trumpeter Mike Wade, guitarist Wilbert Longmire, and standing bassist Eddie Brookshire. Enjoy the sketches, and keep your ears peeled for their next show.

Mike Wade on trumpet at The Redmoor, 3.26.09

Mike Wade on trumpet at The Redmoor, 3.26.09

Eddie Brookshire on bass at The Redmoor, 3.26.09

Eddie Brookshire on bass at The Redmoor, 3.26.09

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Seen on Sunday: Ganesh

ganesh

I joined some Hindu friends on Sunday for a trip to the Hindu Temple of Greater Cincinnati, at the end of a rural road in Union Township. They began their worship service seated cross-legged atop ornate rugs beneath plain, soaring ceilings, chanting call-and-response songs before a row of 10 or 15 painted, bejeweled, Paul Bunyan-sized god sculptures.

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Sourcing the crowd: your input requested on Cincinnati’s meat-reduction initiative

A new and terribly cutting-edge phase of this blog begins tonight, whereby. . . I will share the fruits of my reporting with you as I spot and gather them–before they have become steaming, fully-baked articles.

I am not usually enthusiastic about the information superhighway’s perpetual expansion, but there is an element of journalism’s “new media revolution” that thrills me, and that is crowd-sourcing.

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Former show dog lends her ear to young readers

Kid 1 looks at a doggy book with StellaYesterday afternoon at downtown’s Main library, Jan McCollain, 51, volunteered the calm demeanor and ruffly ears of her dog Stella, 8, to kids in need of reading practice. In Stella’s youth, said McCollain, she was a prize-winner among Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, a breed known for its sociability and eagerness to please.

Across the country and beyond, therapy dogs (whose imperturbability has been certified), visit young readers in libraries and schools.

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