“It’s easy to identify what’s a horse and keep it off the premises,” Mr. Wells said. “That’s not true with nonambulatory animals.”
Susan K. Smith, a deputy California attorney general, disagreed. “When an animal becomes nonambulatory, it is readily apparent,” she said.
I'm a vegetarian for lots of reasons. But even if I gladly ate meat every day, I would feel much better about it knowing there were no cattle in my food that couldn't even stand up moments before they were turned into said food.
This can be a tense issue, easily made into a "meat is murder" versus "no it's not" argument. But the Supreme Court is focused on whether the California law banning the slaughter and use as food of "downer" cattle infringes upon federal statutory territory.
The quote above summarizes the two conflicting philosophical positions being presented to the Court. Again, I'd prefer that downer cattle were kept out of the food supply because it seems like a sign that something may be wrong with them, and therefore that their meat may be dangerous.
If the California law is found by the Court to step on the toes of federal law and regulation, hopefully Congress will consider adding the downer ban to the federal law.
Image via Ethical Vegan.
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