sending a chicken/cow/goat schemes..

[powpowpow]

i was wondering what you all thought about those world vision (and other charities) "send a chicken to the third world" schemes? the ones where you donate money that goes towards buying a goat/chicken/cow for a third world family.. it seems like a good idea from a human angle, but what of the animals? am i nitpicking too much? i'm not even entirely sure what i'm asking, but whenever anyone mentions those "give a chicken" thing, i end up thinking endlessly about the chicken..

[snowpea]

My church gives to a program like that (it's called the heifer project, or at least the one we do) and all the little kids bring spare change to add to the heifer project fund. Usually, animals are bought for the families who take great care of them, like cows for the milk and calves (which they might sell for slaughter, granted), chickens for the eggs, and goats for milk. They don't tend to slaughter the animals because they're expensive and a gift and the families really appreciate them. These people are ridiculously poor and the animals make their lives a million times better (or so say the letters we get from the families we help). I've got mixed feelings about it, being an "aspiring vegan" and all, but i've decided that a lot of times a cow will save these families from starvation and sometimes allow them to make enough money to send a kid to school. I'm all for animal welfare, but i think people welfare is important too. (not more important, just important).

[Irizary]

Reconsider your stance on HPI...

http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/heifer-opp.html
http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/heifer-anpeople-may03.html
http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/heifer.html
http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/heifer-ffecp.html

There are no laws for transportation, slaughter, and care of animals in most of these countries, there is no vet care, and people can't afford food for themselves, much less adequate feed for the animals when some natural source isn't available. Animals may be crowded on ships (think slave ships - same story) and sent to these countries in which the climate may be so different, and the care is likely less than inadequate...


A. Harm to Animals

1. Attitude:

Animals as tools, used for profit without regard to their needs, life, spirit, purpose. No value in and of themselves. Not a partnership. More exploitation.

HPI brochure quotes

Pictures in brochure

HSUS alarmed

2. Shipping Conditions: No regulations for care and welfare of animals during shipping from US or foreign countries.

HPI: 1-5% shipped from US, not optimal to change climates from where raised. Shipment between and within foreign countries. No regulations on shipping conditions (food, water, space, temperature).

[Just because they arrive alive, is no guarantee that they didn’t suffer]

FARM, HFA, FFECP, FACT, API, all raised this issue as a reason for opposition.

3. Care:

No long-term follow-up to ensure adequate care

Dr. Roger Ellis, veterinarian, HPI Board of Directors:

HPI provides 22 species of animals. Current presence in 35-40 countries of 110 where a project has been started, 17 of 35 US states; no guarantee that people passing animals on will also pass on the training.

Lack of trained veterinarians, shortage of drugs and supplies

Dr. Ellis, HPI:

Have only two veterinarians employed by HPI in US. Knows of only two others: one in Uganda, another is the Project Coordinator in Asia. Some volunteers. Follow-up is done by local animal husbandry people, not really trained as veterinarians, often don’t have many drugs, use folk medicine, often works. Mastitis strip course. [mastitis is associated with over-milking]

HPI can’t ensure vet care. So few people in the field; deliver and give information and get out.. No follow-up. In past, coaches served as advisors; not now, because don’t have enough people.

Grazing pens that facilitate manure collection suboptimal for health.

Dr. Ellis: Sheep and goats are raised in "zero grazing pens": cost $200 per family (about a year’s income). This is an intensive (small) pen aimed at facilitating manure collection. (Manure is collected for fertilizing gardens.) [Animals are more susceptible to parasites and contagious diseases in overcrowded pens.] Ticks are a big problem, so don’t allow long grass.

...

A lot of the breeding is by AI [No information was given about how semen is collected, but historically, in the US and developed countries, painful electro-ejaculation is used]

[Although the families may "value" their animal for what she can produce, their desire to keep the animal alive and productive does not mean they keep the animal comfortable or meet her natural instincts and needs. This has been proven dramatically in American factory farms: high production and profit does not equal animal health and happiness.]

...

Saving Baby Ubuntu is the gently narrated story of how several African animal advocates rescued just one newborn calf from the traffic in calves between the factory dairy farms of South Africa and the shantytowns where poor people struggle mostly unsuccessfully to raise livestock of their own, on inadequate land and improper diets. Most of the animals die miserably.

Among all the illusions afflicting poor people around the world, among the most insidious is the notion that anyone can build wealth by trading upon the fecundity of animals. Surplus dairy calves, "spent" hens, and other cast-off factory farmed livestock are indeed dirt-cheap, because to the factory farms these animals are merely waste products, whose continued life is an inconvenience--and healthier animals can sometimes be obtained free, or almost free, from do-gooder organizations like Heifer Project International.

Yet even if there is little or no initial investment to acquire the animal, raising livestock successfully takes a great deal of know-how...

[Kiz]

Personally I donate other things.

[powpowpow]

irizary, thanks for the links, certainly enlightening..

[bethann]

Does anyone know of a charity that we could donate, say the money to plant a field with a sustainable crop, or something along those lines, instead?

[FreshTart]

You can donate towards fruit trees, olive trees, and grain seed through World Vision Canada (I assume other countries as well). WVC has a catalogue that you "order" from; it's on their website.

[Kiz]

Donating towards wells and pumps is also a very good idea. There are so many water bourne diseases out there, and some regions you have to walk miles to find the water to begin with. A well would help an entire village.