Symposium Reflections

Since I just got home not too long ago from the 2nd Annual Animal Welfare Symposium at the wonderful State 4-H Center on Ohio State's campus, I thought I'd take a few minutes to share my reflections on the afternoon in a semi-sequential format.

1) The people and the atmosphere were much less hostile than last year, given the passage of Issue 2 and the HSUS deal struck over the summer to allow for the Livestock Care Standards Board to operate as it was intended. I felt like the questions were much less heated and much more focused on actual learning. It was a nice change, even from the meeting this summer. It was also really nice to work a short standards board update into the afterlunch. Interesting to note is the discussion about how Ohio will probably not make it by the December deadline for a referendum on some current housing systems. However, we were also told that HSUS has been doing a lot of meeting with other involved organizations relative to the summer deal and that there was a good understanding of how much work had been put forth to get where we are currently.

2) The people running the symposium are great. It was well organized, in a great facility, and attended by over 300 people this year. As anticipated, the food was almost the best part of the day and Mike did a great job keeping the technology up and running so the day went off without an obvious hitch. Awesome.

3) The first speaker had some good information about opinions of Ohioans related to Animal Welfare. She just struggled severely with expressing anything clearly or in any consideration of time. She mentioned early that as an Easterner she spoke very fast. Frankly, I thought she might've spoken a bit fast, sure, but she didn't say a whole lot more than if she'd spoken more slowly and deliberately. The Q and A also helped clarify a lot more of her work, but some questions which I thought were fairly important to the research and the presentation were not answered at all and the audience was left questioning the value of the first presentation, of which I am sure there was some but it was difficult to sort through some poor representation of her hard work. It's always tough to elaborate thoughts to the satisfaction of your audience in such a short time period.

4) All the rest of the speakers did a fine job and spoke about relevant information, doing a good job of holding the audience's attention. If my chair hadn't been so uncomfortable, I could've sat there all day. There was little that wasn't worth hearing, even the information that I've already heard a few times. Hearing discussions does a good job of keeping issues current in my mind.

As the week rolls on, I'll be taking study breaks to give short synopsi of different speakers, the topics they discussed and my related opinions. However, in the near future the presentations will be posted. I encourage you to follow the link and watch the powerpoints yourself. It's always better to do your own thinking.

The taste of victory...

... is bitter in my mouth. I started today on the kill floor at school, frustrated, and like a lot of people who are starting to post onto the OFBF press release, I feel sold out. HSUS is allowed to walk away with a compromise, and as one person said on the Humane Watch release comments: HSUS has their foot in the door now. And that's about all there is to this. That and the fact that we really did sell out on the pet owners. Trent Loos particular captured my attention via facebook with an especially depressing article on Feedstuffs.

I went looking for more positive and encouraging opinions and found them at the Humane Watch site. After reading the actual draft which is circulating now and which I found on Humane Watch's website, I feel better about the issue. Sure, it looks like we sold out pet owners, but these pet and exotic animal bills are already in the legislature now. Frankly, I have trouble getting worked up over the reduction in small animal production since there are so many animals abused and/or abandoned now.

Veal crates by 2017, well, American Veal Association is already planning on this anyhow. And does this deal leave the door open for HSUS to come back? Yes, but then the deal is negated as well. All of this is reversible and strongly resembles a truce. I can deal with this, but it's going to be a massive PR miracle to not leave the public feeling betrayed by the OFBF after last years Issue 2 campaign and the results from a OFBF compromise. The fight is not over yet.