The "IT" Parade: Crossbow Attack

[The "It" Parade.]

Crossbow attack sickens

A Motueka Valley farmer was "sickened" by the sight of a steer shot through the head with a crossbow.

Martin Gorrill was feeding a small herd of friesian/hereford beef cattle on his father's neighbouring property on Big Pokororo Rd on Sunday afternoon when he saw the steer, which was not with the rest of the herd of 11.

"The sight of the one walking around with two inches of the arrow sticking out of its head just below its eye was sickening," he said.

The steer was "very sad looking" but still walking, said Mr Gorrill.

He did not realise how deep the arrow was at the time, but said it had "gone right down through its throat. You could hear it gurgling as it was breathing".

He called the emergency vet from Tasman Bay Vets, hoping the animal could be sedated and the arrow removed, but the case was judged too risky and it was put down the following day.

A second steer was dead, and Mr Gorrill thought at first that it had been poisoned. It was getting dark and it was not until he rolled it over while moving it to an offal pit with a tractor on Monday morning that he saw that it too had been shot with a crossbow.

It had been shot in the side of the head and also through the brisket, leading Mr Gorrill to believe that the killer was trying to shoot the steer through the heart. It had probably bled to death, he said. Based on where the steer was lying, he estimated it had walked about 100 metres from where it had been shot.

"I'm disgusted that anybody could do that sort of thing," said Mr Gorrill.

The steers belonged to his father Dave Gorrill, and were about 18 months old. Due to be sent to the freezing works at the end of winter, they were worth about $1500 to $2000 each, said Mr Gorrill.

Neither man had heard anything on Saturday night, when they presume the steers were shot. They had been fine when they fed them on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Gorrill saw tyre tracks on the road and because the stock usually gathered at night near the road, thought they had probably been shot from or near a vehicle.

Constable Donna Bower, of Motueka, said police did not want to disclose too much about the investigation yet, but said they had no specific leads. They have the 500mm crossbow arrows and are trying to trace them.

She said the offence was cruelty to animals as well as theft, and she had not seen any other cases like this involving a crossbow. "He's lost three grands worth of cows for some senseless use of a crossbow," she said.

[Jordan Wyatt]

Just to make it clear, "Freezing Works" are a New Zealand slaughterhouse based on export, we practically invented "meat export", all the way from New Zealand, bottom of the world in refrigerated ships (powered by coal!) to Mother England....

www.invsoc.org.nz/southlandshistory/ 

[Carolyn Bailey]

I think it can be a sobering reminder that this is precisely how most of society views other animals - as little more than "three grands worth of cows". 

When I read comments that suggest we may have to wait for a few decades to see significant societal changes in the way most humans view and respect other animals, such as in this article:

"Recognizing and accepting this situation for what it is, and realizing that other successful social justice movements faced similar resistance and criticism over spans of decades, can help us persist in our efforts over decades as well." [http://gentleworld.org/opposition-confirms-my-purpose/] 

It makes me wonder which world those making such ridiculous suggestions are living in. 

[Jordan Wyatt]

I'm not sure on timespan Carolyn.

New Zealand was the first nation in the world to grant women the right to vote, a full half the population, absolutely essential to survival of the world - youd think women would be respected equally from the very beginning of existence, right?

It took America 27 years to catch up and grant voting rights, recognition as being an equal minded citizen of the nation, that's basically thirty years, three whole decades. I'm 24 years old, if I were alive and spending my time in the USA at the time NZ got equal gender voting rights, I'd have been 51 by the time USA had them.

I would think it would be "easier" for people to agree women have equal rights to men, than say, an ant being worthy of respect for *his* or *her* life.

It depends on when the starting point is, but however long it took the first nation to get equal votes, then it was basically three decades longer for the largest English speaking ex British colony to also have them.

Think of equal rights for homosexuals, a few European nations have full marriage rights, but NZ, USA etc do not. How much longer will that take? At least a decade I would think? A couple years from now minimum?

If we say Animal Rights in the western world started in the 1980s in the UK, and the word Vegan only became known mainstream in the late 2000's, then we have longer to go still for a majority Vegan world.

My goal is that my immediate area will have significantly more Vegans when I die than before I were born, just five years ago, I was not vegan, there were no vegans I know of living in this city of 50,000. Now there are about ten, with people coming and going all the time. All around the world Veganism is growing.

In five years time, ten years time, what will things look like? Vegan restaurants, soy cheese, available everywhere, all cities in the developed world? Invercargill currently lacks both, much of America has a variety of both.

I'd be interested in hearing sociologist Dr Roger Yates explaining his thoughts on the five, ten and even twenty years going forward - not a prediction, but based on when he started being vegan, with no commercial products etc, and now.

Carolyn Bailey said:

I think it can be a sobering reminder that this is precisely how most of society views other animals - as little more than "three grands worth of cows". 

When I read comments that suggest we may have to wait for a few decades to see significant societal changes in the way most humans view and respect other animals, such as in this article:

"Recognizing and accepting this situation for what it is, and realizing that other successful social justice movements faced similar resistance and criticism over spans of decades, can help us persist in our efforts over decades as well." [http://gentleworld.org/opposition-confirms-my-purpose/] 

 

It makes me wonder which world those making such ridiculous suggestions are living in. 

 

 

 

[Carolyn Bailey]

I think you may have misunderstood my previous comment, Jordan. When I said this: 

When I read comments that suggest we may have to wait for a few decades to see significant societal changes in the way most humans view and respect other animals, such as in this article:

"Recognizing and accepting this situation for what it is, and realizing that other successful social justice movements faced similar resistance and criticism over spans of decades, can help us persist in our efforts over decades as well." [http://gentleworld.org/opposition-confirms-my-purpose/] 

It makes me wonder which world those making such ridiculous suggestions are living in. 

I was suggesting that the thought of significant societal change occurring in a few decades is naive and unrealistic, because, as I think you are implying, societal change takes far longer than that, particularly in a society which views other animals as little more than "three grands worth of cows"

I think it's wonderful that there may or may not be more vegans living in your city, Jordan, but I'm not sure how that equates to there being more vegans in the world, as a general matter. 

With countries like India, Indonesia and China increasing their consumption of other animals every year over the past 20 or more years, and China's meat consumption now double that of the United States', with more than a quarter of all the meat produced worldwide being consumed in China, half of the world's pigs living in China (as food sources), along with the fact that China harvested the largest grain crop of any country in history in 2011, with one third of that harvest going to feed animals to meet the growing demand for meat, milk, eggs, and farmed fishes, I think we need to consider the possibility that, despite our own personal experiences within our own social circles, the world may not be becoming more vegan, and perhaps we should start thinking of ways in which we can help that happen. 

 

Jordan Wyatt said:

I'm not sure on timespan Carclyn.

New Zealand was the first nation in the world to grant women the right to vote, a full half the population, absolutely essential to survival of the world - youd think women would be respected equally from the very beginning of existence, right?

It took America 27 years to catch up and grant voting rights, recognition as being an equal minded citizen of the nation, that's basically thirty years, three whole decades. I'm 24 years old, if I were alive and spending my time in the USA at the time NZ got equal gender voting rights, I'd have been 51 by the time USA had them.

I would think it would be "easier" for people to agree women have equal rights to men, than say, an ant being worthy of respect for *his* or *her* life.

It depends on when the starting point is, but however long it took the first nation to get equal votes, then it was basically three decades longer for the largest English speaking ex British colony to also have them.

Think of equal rights for homosexuals, a few European nations have full marriage rights, but NZ, USA etc do not. How much longer will that take? At least a decade I would think? A couple years from now minimum?

If we say Animal Rights in the western world started in the 1980s in the UK, and the word Vegan only became known mainstream in the late 2000's, then we have longer to go still for a majority Vegan world.

My goal is that my immediate area will have significantly more Vegans when I die than before I were born, just five years ago, I was not vegan, there were no vegans I know of living in this city of 50,000. Now there are about ten, with people coming and going all the time. All around the world Veganism is growing.

In five years time, ten years time, what will things look like? Vegan restaurants, soy cheese, available everywhere, all cities in the developed world? Invercargill currently lacks both, much of America has a variety of both.

I'd be interested in hearing sociologist Dr Roger Yates explaining his thoughts on the five, ten and even twenty years going forward - not a prediction, but based on when he started being vegan, with no commercial products etc, and now.

Carolyn Bailey said:

I think it can be a sobering reminder that this is precisely how most of society views other animals - as little more than "three grands worth of cows". 

When I read comments that suggest we may have to wait for a few decades to see significant societal changes in the way most humans view and respect other animals, such as in this article:

"Recognizing and accepting this situation for what it is, and realizing that other successful social justice movements faced similar resistance and criticism over spans of decades, can help us persist in our efforts over decades as well." [http://gentleworld.org/opposition-confirms-my-purpose/] 

 

It makes me wonder which world those making such ridiculous suggestions are living in.