issue-goats

Monday, September 13, 2010

ANIMAL INTUITION

Friday, September 3, 2010

It appears that the administration of the tax payer purchased and supported Wagner Farm has noticed that they had no pigs. They and their Glenview Clovers 4H group did have 10 of them, but sold them to slaughter on July 31 -  despite humane placement and higher payment being offered to them by Wagner Farm Rescue Fund. Apparently wanting some for public display, they have now brought in more pigs. At least two pigs have been observed.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Wagner Farm hosted an event called Monster Machines with tractors and other kinds of farm implements for working the land.  It shows that Wagner Farm can host non-animal related events that are very successful - animal exploitation isn't needed to draw a crowd. 

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The water looks much cleaner in the tub for the geese today.  We are hoping they changed the water and it's not just cleaner from the rain.

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Thomas and Jerald (the 2 geese Wagner Farm calls Tom and Jerry)...
Unfortunately today, the chickens and geese are not in any better situation.
See our video on YouTube to show you after a morning of hot sun and no shade, how the geese are breathing.  Also notice how the right side of the pen had no shade at all ever. Those chickens are inside the small space in the building.  Note the filthy water condition.

Another situation concerns Sprint (bull-calf), Boo's baby....
Sprint was born on Aug 2 and at 11 days old, Sprint was separated from Boo and has been ever since. Every time we go by the farm, Sprint looks like he does in the video. We are told that Boo (at 2-4 months) will be sent to a farm in Wisconsin to be used as a foundation bull (meaning for sperm). Why can't the mother and son be kept together like nature intended? 
Click her to see a video of Boo, the mother and Sprint, the baby.

Please call TODAY to let these individuals know this is NOT acceptable. The animals cannot speak for themselves, so we MUST! Please also forward this email to anyone you think can help the animals. Thank you.

(1) Todd Price, Wagner Farm Director
1-224-521-2187
todd.price@glenviewparks.org

(2) Charles T. Balling, Executive Director of Glenview Park District
1-224- 521-2250
chuck.balling@glenviewparks.org

(3) Kerry Cummings, Village of Glenview Board President
1-847-904-4370
cummingsvillage@ameritech.net
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Monday, August 30th, 2010

The temperature will be 90 degrees today, and the two Wagner Farm geese still have no access ramp to get into their tub of water. The water itself is also dirty - green, stagnant, and full of feathers.
Yesterday, when we were in nearby Evanston, we saw that the Evanston Park District is providing a ramp in at least one of their lakeshore ponds for WILD geese to have easy access between land and water.
What is the reason for the Glenview Park District not to provide a ramp for our tax payer owned geese?? It would take the skills of a junior high wood shop class to make such a ramp. Geese are water birds and they can easily hyperventilate in this extreme heat. There are no valid excuses for Wagner Farm not to be humane and provide these geese with swimming access to their water tub!
In addition, the geese have no shade from the summer sun for most of the day! The adjacent tree does not provide shade for them in the hot sun when they most need it.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

The rallies that Eye on Wagner Farm / Wagner Farm Rescue Fund are hosting to raise awareness of the animal welfare situations at Wagner Farm are also raising awareness of the stark contrasts between constructive and non-constructive dialogue.
Click here to read more!
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Yesterday morning, one of the 4-H cows, Boo, gave birth to a baby boy, named Sprint.  Boo is owned by the 4-H but has been living on Wagner Farm and is part of their milking program.  We need to stay on top of what is going to happen to this baby calf.  Historically in farming, male calves are often sent off to slaughter since they cannot be used for milk.
This is Park District property - taxpayer funded property - and we have a right to know what is their intended outcome for Sprint.

Please call Wagner farm to find out.  Remember to be polite and respectful. (847) 657-1506
You may also contact the media or any of our contacts, such as the park district or 4-H,  listed under the "How you can help" tab.

Thank you for your continued support to help these animals in Glenview!
______________________________________________________________________________________________

UPDATE:

The auction of the lambs and pigs which will lead to slaughter of these animals is this Saturday, July 31.
Please contact the Glenview Park District and express YOUR support of animals. Contact info is on our "HOW YOU CAN HELP" tab.

____________________________________

Supporters of animal welfare,

A meeting on July 20 between one of our committee members and Wagner Farm Director Todd Price did not yield anything more than the reiterating of the same agenda for Wagner Farm and their Glenview Clovers 4H group. The out come of the following of the same agenda each and every time will result, as it already has in the past, in the deaths of many animals, including the 17lambs and 10 pigs currently at Wagner Farm who are slated to be taken to the Lake County (IL) Fair which begins on July 27 and be sold at auction for slaughter.

Whether one is a vegan, vegetarian, or a meat eater, the primary points are:

- Any kind of program involving slaughter must not continue to be a fundamental part of Wagner Farm, which is TAX PAYER SUPPORTED.

- The children participating in the Glenview Clovers 4H group have only a vague understanding, and no true knowledge, of the generalities of slaughter unless they've actually been a witness to slaughter themselves. They have no true knowledge of the violence and brutality that animals, including the ones they raised, go through not only in the slaughter itself, but the process leading up to it. If they do know in some way and are able to dismiss it, then there is something else fundamentally wrong in the way this program is being run and what the children are being taught. Our already violent society does not need to have a program where children are ultimately receiving the message that it is proper to be dismissive of the lives of others, just as long as it benefits their personal agendas.

- While 4H,despite other types of fine programs that they have, has developed in many ways into a culture of death through chosen practices in regard to animals, the 4H organization itself doesn't actually require that project animals be sent to slaughter. We have been alerted that there are 4H groups where the children are specifically NOT allowed to have their animals sold/killed afterwards and must keep them in order to qualify for participation in the animal project. Otherwise, they must choose different projects.

-The issue of animal welfare and slaughter has been known to Wagner Farm since2002.  To create a program directly tied to slaughter is a direct slap in the face to animal welfare and makes light of all these issues that they already knew were PUBLIC issues. No program run from Wagner Farm, which is a tax payer supported facility, should be permitted to hold any kind of program where slaughter is even an option given to the parents. They should also not be permitted to skirt the issue of slaughter by having the animals be privately owned by the parents. They know full well that these suburbanites are in no position to take these animals home and that auction is an easy process for them to rid themselves of these animals.

-Other options that are humane are available. Wagner Farm Rescue Fund, an organization founded in 2002 to specifically to address the welfare interests of any animal at Wagner Farm (regardless of who owns it) is well known and is available to work with Wagner Farm and the Glenview Clovers4H. However, in many regards, their overtures to Wagner Farm and the Glenview Clovers 4H have been rejected in favor of the most inhumane out come for these animals.

-The Director of Wagner Farm has stated that the money raised from selling the auction reimburses the 4H participants for their costs of purchasing and feeding their animals and/or ultimately goes to charity. Selling the animals to auction is not needed to obtain money for reimbursement or for charity. Wagner Farm Rescue Fund can be charged (at,or reasonably above, market price) for these animals. The 4H group itself can be paid directly and they can then reimburse the individual owners. They can then still pass the money on to charity. Telling animal welfare advocates to essentially jump through hoops to buy at auction, which is a difficult if not impossible solution due to logistics, plus continuing the program and same results year after year, is not an acceptable response from a director who is salaried through tax payer funds, which includes from many of the animal welfare advocates themselves.

-Recent, other animal welfare issues in Glenview, IL have resulted for a call for public action if necessary. While this is the least favorable course of action, it is required when attempts at honest dialogue by one of the parties involved are essentially rebuffed in favor of the reiterating of current practices.

-Therefore, the process of peaceable but public action has reluctantly,but necessarily, been called for and has already been set in motion and will be ongoing.

Please contact the Eye on Wagner Farm committee through our contact page at this website for more information.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Saving the Lives of the 4-H Lambs and Pigs at Wagner Farm who are scheduled to be sold at auction July 27 - August 1

Our first campaign is to help save the lives of the 4-H lambs and pigs that are at Wagner Farm.  They are slated to be sold at auction at the Lake County, IL Fair which runs from July 27 to August 1.  Please read details below and help us encourage the implementation of humane programming at Wagner Farm.

Animal welfare at the Glenview Park District’s historic Wagner Farm has been the subject of ongoing issues for almost a decade.  Since prior attempts at creating dialogue with the Wagner Farm and the Glenview 4-H Clovers' representatives have not yielded any response, we are once again attempting to reach out to them in hopes of peacefully and respectfully working together for humane solutions.

Although we believe there are many animal welfare issues at Wagner Farm that need to be addressed, one of our primary concerns right now is the lives of the 17 lambs and 10 pigs who have been raised and semi-domesticated on Wagner Farm by the Glenview 4-H Clovers.  These animals will be brought to the Lake County Fair at the end of July, where they will be auctioned off and then will most likely be sent to slaughter.  

Wagner Farm’s participation in this 4-H children’s program that may result in the slaughter of these animals is simply unnecessary.  The 4-H program does not require the sale and subsequent slaughter of the animals raised in their projects at either the state or county level.   In fact, 4-H even offers countless other projects which do not involve animals.  Wagner Farm could also create their own program where students can work with rescued animals brought in from a sanctuary.

Our community has no tolerance for the inhumane treatment of animals, as seen most recently when concerned citizens made it clear to the Village Board that peaceful protests would occur if they approved the introduction of a puppy store in The Glen.  Due to the imminent plans of the Glenview 4-H Clovers to take the lambs and pigs from Wagner Farm at the end of July to auction, we urge the Wagner Farm and the Glenview 4-H Clovers' representatives to stop this inhumane program now and to save the lives of these innocent animals!  We prefer to resolve this issue quickly and without further public action.

               

            Sincerely,

            The Committee for Eye on Wagner Farm