Mercy for a Man Who Beat Cows
COMPLETE THE CIRCUIT – July 2010
Mickey Weems
Billy Joe Gregg, Jr. is in a world of shit.
A video released by Mercy For Animals (MFA) shows Gregg hurting helpless cattle, including calves, at Conklin Dairy Farms in Plain City, Ohio. Gregg (and other men) have been caught on tape beating the animals, kicking them, hitting them in the head with a metal object that looks like a small crowbar, and stabbing at them with a pitchfork (www.mercyforanimals.org/ohdairy/).
Just under 4 minutes, the video was made from over 20 hours of undercover footage. Gregg is not the only person on tape, but as of June 3, he is the only one who has been arrested. He was arraigned in court and released on $100,000 bond. In Ohio, his actions do not constitute a felony, but are considered criminal offenses.
A more severe punishment for Gregg and Conklin Farms has been issued from the court of public opinion. The Conklin family has received death threats, even a call for people to gather at Conklin Farms on Memorial Day to tear the facilities down, an event that was cancelled by the presence of some 200 police officers.
It’s not everyday that livestock farmers and animal rights groups agree on anything, but they all condemn Billy Gregg. Some of those who support the farmers industry say the video is a set-up, and they accuse Gregg of being a paid stooge of MFA. Those who are passionately against animal farming see him as the typical sadistic cowhand. The Internet is filled with invectives against him, including the following:
Piece of ****…I would LOVE to use a pitchfork on the SOB. Throw the book at him and lock him up forever!!! Next, it will be a child…he’s cold and heartless.
This evil sack of shit needs punishing severely for his disgusting acts which he clearly enjoys.
Esos tipos deberían estar muertos.
Burn in hell Billy Gregg Jr.
My first thought when I saw the video was, “If he’ll do this to helpless farm animals, what would he do to a fellow human being?” But then I learned something else about the man. He had actually saved a Gay person from being attacked by a couple of guys who were verbally abusive and on the verge of Gay-bashing. Despite threats against him for getting involved, Billy would not back down.
I told a free-range cattle rancher in the Southwest about the video, and about the good side I had seen of Gregg. The rancher (who wants to remain anonymous) had not yet seen the video. We talked about how farmers treat their animals. He said that raising cattle involves inflicting pain on them, as in the practice of “polling” or removing their horns. The act causes the animal to bleed profusely, and it is obvious that the animal is hurting. But polling is necessary, he said, to keep the animals from hurting each other and hurting people. It is done swiftly, and medication is applied to stop the bleeding. He also added that it hurt him to do it, and that ranchers consider their cattle like their children. (I pointed out to him that the big difference is, of course, we do not eat our children.)
I sent him the link for the video. This was his reply:
I could only stand to watch the first minute of the video. The man who did that deserves the upper limit of whatever the law allows. It’s one thing to do the things necessary to raise and sell cattle – It’s quite another to do the things this idiot is doing… The Cattlemen’s Association of Ohio should condemn in the strongest terms what this guy did.
God says in Genesis 1:26 that He gave man dominion over the cattle – It doesn’t say that we should beat them up for no reason whatsoever.
Most ranchers like their cattle as tame as possible, so that they won’t charge them and hurt them when they get out of their pickup or off of their horse. When a rancher feeds his cattle, he usually drops feed off of the back of the pickup, and he calls the cows to come in from the pasture with a yell that they know. If the cows are scared to death of him, they will never come to his call. Beating them up with a crowbar is sick, sick, sick.
But before we pass judgment, let’s learn a bit more about the man in the video.
Cowboy
I did some further investigation and here is what I learned, off the record. Nobody wanted to be identified in print.
Gregg has been nicknamed “Cowboy” for his tendency to wear cowboy boots and hat. He is a Straight man and a veteran. He talks a lot, and some people suspect that he may be psychologically disabled, perhaps as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder.
I forced myself to watch the video over and over so I could get the full effect of what he had done. Gregg appears to vent a lot of anger on the animals, but also seems to think that they do not feel pain easily, thus what he does is necessary to get their attention. He talks a lot, which matches what others had told me about him. And he acts like what he is doing is normal.
I also watched a video of Billy Gregg in court, telling the judge that he needed to get out of jail because he was applying to become a police officer, and that he had animals at home that needed his care. The media had a field day with his statements. But not one of the commentators or any one I had read on the blogosphere reported what I saw: he simply did not know that what he was doing to those animals was wrong.
Mercy For Animals
I am not an expert in raising cattle, nor am I well versed in animal rights, so I contacted pro-cattle farmer and pro-animal rights organizations. The two sides don’t appear to get along very well.
I called the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association. They categorically denounced Billy’s actions, and referred me to the Ohio Dairy Producers Association (ODPA), who say the same thing on their website, www.ohiodairyproducers.org. But I did not have the chance ask them about inflicting pain in raising livestock. ODPA did not return my request for an interview. I figured they had received so much negative press; they were probably not in the mood.
Conklin Farms didn’t even answer the phone. Animal rights activists, however, were more forthcoming. Especially MFA.
Mercy For Animals, the group that sent in the undercover person, is open about their agenda. For them, animal cruelty of any kind is unacceptable, and this includes eating meat or raising animals for food. They encourage people to become vegans, and the video of Conklin Farms is the first thing on their website. When I contacted them, I was directed to their founder and president, Nathan Runkle.
I prepared myself for a possibly confrontational interview, but I was already softened up by descriptions of the staff online. My gaydar went off almost immediately. Nathan confirmed my suspicions, telling me that the organization marches in Pride parades, and that many of his staff are LGBTQ. The sympathy that Gay members of MFA have for animals comes from having been targets of human cruelty. Nathan, in fact, had been savagely beaten in 2008 for being Gay.
I explained to Nathan that I wanted to defend Billy Gregg. I think what Billy did was wrong, and that he should be penalized, but that public condemnation of him is far too severe. And I told Nathan why. Although we did not see eye to eye on everything, Nathan agreed that demonizing Billy was not the solution. “Mercy For Animals strongly opposes cruelty and violence to both people and animals,” Nathan said, “including Billy Joe Gregg.” MFA also told those who wanted to tear down Conklin Farms on Memorial Day to back off. Nathan’s full statement is given at the end of this article.
PETA
The other organization that took the time to speak with me was People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Bruce Friedrich, Vice President of Policy for PETA, could not understand why I wanted to defend Billy Gregg. “The fact that someone does something good doesn’t exonerate them from the horrible things they’ve done,” he told me. “It’s a sad day when someone in the gay community defends such a horrid animal abuser because of one anti-homophobic action.”
He also said it was frustrating to see me defend Gregg on the basis of a single issue, an interesting statement coming from somebody who works with PETA. My response was that, if I knew that somebody had defended a helpless person (such as a child), regardless of the helpless person’s orientation, I would count that deed in the defender’s favor.
I asked Bruce if those who are mentally disabled should be held to the same level of responsibility as those who are not. We both agreed that, if there is a culture of animal abuse at a farm, a person might lose sight of ethical behavior. “Billy is not anomalous,” said Bruce, “these places beat the humanity out of a man. Every time we go undercover on one of these factory farms or in one of these slaughterhouses, we encounter workers who have had their humanity destroyed by their hideous jobs.” As with Nathan, all of Bruce’s comments are reprinted at the end of this article.
Common Ground
After speaking with Nathan and Bruce, I am filled with admiration for both men and their dedication to a cause in which they believe. I agree with them completely that factory farming is (or should be) criminal, slaughter should be done as humanely as possible, and that certain practices such as cutting off cattle’s tails should be eliminated if not necessary for the safety of the animal. I am envious of Nathan and Bruce’s ability to see the issue in clear-cut terms, and I applaud their fierce compassion.
For me, however, other issues of animal rights are not so clear-cut. I eat meat, I have friends who hunt, and there are people close to me who raise animals for food. I was also initiated in Brazil into a House of Candomblé, an African religion that practices animal sacrifice. In my initiation, the fresh blood of animals sanctified me, and allowed my soul to be linked with the Gods that lay dormant within me.
I realize that cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, etc. are animals that, in nature, are prey. I need only open my mouth and look at my teeth – they reflect my genetic heritage as an omnivore. Our ancestors hunted other animals long before they planted crops. In addition, I recognize that farm animals have a huge advantage over other animal species when it comes to avoiding extinction precisely because they are farm animals produced as food.
And I will continue to call for a lighter punishment for Billy Gregg simply because he put his own life at risk for one of my people.
* * *
Nathan Runkle, founder and Executive Director of Mercy For Animals:
MFA has long reached out to the gay community regarding animal rights issues, and the connection between violence to animals and violence to people. I am gay, our Director of Investigations is gay, our Texas coordinator is gay and our North Carolina coordinator is transgendered. Below are some links regarding our work in the LGBTQ community, as well as the letter I wrote about my attack, and connecting it to a call for compassion for all beings:
http://www.mercyforanimals.org/reviews/Chicago-Gay-Pride-Parade-08.aspx
http://www.mercyforanimals.org/CL4Web.pdf (see page 2)
Our investigator gained employment at Conklin Dairy Farm, and documented the egregious cruelty animals were subjected to at the facility with a covert, pinhole sized hidden camera. The abuse uncovered at Conklin Dairy Farms, including workers stabbing cows with pitchforks, beating them in the face with crowbars, and punching, kicking and body slamming calves, has struck a nerve with Americans nationwide, leading to anger, outrage and a call for justice. MFA commends local law enforcement for their swift and decisive action on this case and giving this matter the time and attention it so rightly deserves. We are currently working with law enforcement to see that justice is served on behalf of these abused animals. We urge concerned citizens to remain patient while law enforcement investigates the matter.
Mercy For Animals strongly opposes cruelty and violence to both people and animals – including Billy Joe Gregg. While we understand the outrage this case has stirred in so many, we urge compassionate citizens to be respectful and peaceful in their calls for action and justice. This case has illustrated the cruel plight that farmed animals in Ohio face and the weak laws that currently exist to punish abusers. We urge concerned citizens to support efforts to prevent farmed animals abuse in Ohio and to strengthen laws to punish abusers.
In order to prevent further egregious cruelty and violence toward animals, we strongly recommend that Billy Gregg be permanently barred from ever owning or working around animals. We feel the courts should also require that Gregg undergo a psychiatric evaluation, and be given a prison term that fits the crime.
We encourage concerned citizens to turn their anger and outrage into positive, productive actions that aim to prevent farmed animal cruelty. Our hope is that this case will motivate compassionate Ohioans to call for stricter laws and regulations to protect farmed animals from needless cruelty and violence. This issue goes well beyond one individual, and highlights Ohio’s anemic animal cruelty laws, and the fact that factory farms are incapable of self-regulation.
MFA is a proud supporter of the Ohioans for Humane Farms campaign, which aims to prohibit some of the worst abuses faced by tens of millions of farmed animals in the state each year. This modest initiative would require that cows, pigs and chickens be given enough space to stand up, turn around, lie down and extend their limbs. The measure would also prohibit farmers from strangling cows and pigs and prevent cows too sick or injured to walk from being slaughtered and sold for meat.
More details on the campaign can be seen below.
www.OhioHumane.com
Bruce Freidrich, Vice President, Policy, PETA:
People who oppose cruelty to animals should not be eating chickens, pigs and other farmed animals, and they shouldn’t be consuming eggs or dairy. All of these places abuse animals, and they do it in ways that would warrant felony cruelty charges were dogs or cats similarly abused. Our challenge to meat-eaters is this: If you wouldn’t drug up animals so that they can’t even walk, mutilate their bodies by slicing off beaks or testicles and slice their throats open, don’t pay others to slice animals throats open for you. Check out Sir Paul McCartney’s video, at www.Meat.org, to see exactly what you’re supporting if you eat meat.
So yes, Billy is not anomalous; these places beat the humanity out of a man. Every time we go undercover on one of these factory farms or in one of these slaughterhouses, we encounter workers who have had their humanity destroyed by their hideous jobs. They are trained and paid to kill and make animals suffer; that’s their job. We’ve documented workers shoving their hands into the cloacae of chickens and turkeys and laughing about it, raping pigs with metal gate rods, skinning animals alive, throwing them into walls, blowing them up with homemade pipe bombs and all manner of disgusting abuse. Billy is a symptom of a system gone mad, and the best solution for anyone who is revolted by what Mercy for Animals documented is to stop paying these industries to abuse animals – don’t eat chickens, pigs and other farmed animals; don’t consume dairy and eggs. Because if you do, you’re part of the problem; you’re paying other people to abuse animals. You’re saying, “I support what Billy did to those cows. I want him to do it again.”
That said, the only way we’re going to create fewer abusers like Billy is to throw the book at the few we catch. If not for MFA’s investigator, Billy would have never have been caught. When we catch someone treating animals so abusively, we need to throw the book at them. If he is given leniency, that will be the courts saying that his crime was not so great. The fact that someone does something good doesn’t exonerate them from the horrible things they’ve done. It’s a sad day when someone in the gay community defends such a horrid animal abuser because of one anti-homophobic action.
www.peta.org
