Peter Hamilton: Don't celebrate Olympics by donating goats for gold medals
By Peter Hamilton
Several international organizations have animal-donation programs that supply goats and other livestock to developing countries. These groups include Oxfam, Heifer International, FARM-Africa, and the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.
Their ads show kids hugging the gift goats, but farming animals can be an inefficient, expensive, and environmentally destructive way of producing food. This can harm people, animals, and the environment.
Two Langley brothers have started a Goat for Gold campaign urging people to donate goats to Africans every time a Canadian wins a gold medal during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. They previously raised money for 1,073 goats through a similar scheme during the 2009 Canucks playoff run.
This goat plan is a horrible way to celebrate the Games. Winning a gold medal should be a celebration of athletic life, not the destruction of animal life. It taints the Olympic ceremonies as animal sacrifices.
Burdens on the recipients include the hardship of supplying food and water to animals when the people themselves are in need. Veterinary care, if provided, is also a financial burden. Goats are subject to health problems including scours, scabies, anthrax, mastitis, pneumonia, infectious arthritis, and mad goat disease. Some diseases can be transmitted to humans.
Africa and Asia have the highest levels of lactose intolerance, with upwards of 90 percent being unable to properly digest milk. The last thing that a hungry child needs is goat milk. Other health issues from a western-based dairy and meat diet include heart and cancer risks.
In 2008, Lifeforce documented sick, injured, and dying animals at the Fraser Valley Auction. The animal cruelties in developing countries are even worse. In war-torn countries, the burning of property includes goats and other livestock. Ritual slaughter for marriages and other ceremonies continues.
The Kenya Society for the Protection & Care of Animals has told Lifeforce that sheep and goats are slaughtered by having their throats cut. The animals are also handled roughly. Goats are often overcrowded during transportation. And while many goats are in corrals, “often they are confined in dark and dirty sheds”, according to the KSPCA.
There are still long ocean transports that are infamous for high mortality rates. For example, Heifer International is introducing Irish goats to Kenya.
The World Land Trust is a 20-year-old U.K. organization patronized by naturalist David Attenborough. In 2006, WLT said that more than 100,000 goats were given to Africans during 2005: “Now that the grave consequences of introducing large numbers of goats and other domestic animals into fragile, arid environments is well documented, WLT considers it grossly irresponsible.”
According to WLT CEO John Burton, “Claiming that goats are the only solution after cattle and sheep have died of starvation (as Oxfam and Farm Africa do), is an illogical and ill-thought out suggestion. Once a habitat is this seriously degraded goats will be the final straw. All regeneration ceases, leading to desertification. This is not an hypothesis, anyone can see for themselves if they visit the arid areas of Africa or Asia.”
For decimated ecosystems, planting fast-growing trees puts nitrogen back in the soil, serves as windbreaks, and provides food. Trees also hold water in the soil. Tree projects are essential for all life.
We must send seeds, healthy food, water filtration systems, medicines, tools, school supplies, and other humane donations that truly help those in need. There are numerous organizations working to reduce human suffering through programs that are sustainable and animal-friendly.
The world’s largest vegan food-relief organization is Food for Life Global. There is also VegFam, which funds a variety of sustainable projects. Others are Sustainable Harvest International, the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, and the Women’s Bean Project.
The marketing of developed nations’ diet of meat and dairy contributes to global starvation and global warming. We must not conspire with these industries’ continuing expansion into developing countries. Lifeforce urges people to boycott animal-donation programs. You can help stop animal cruelty and promote healthier lifestyles.
Peter Hamilton is the founding director of Lifeforce, which has set up a Goat for Gold No page on Facebook.