Australia Currently Debating if Swearing At Sheep Constitutes Verbal Abuse
By
Australians, you better think twice before dropping the F-bomb in front of a flock of sheep, because if PETA has its way, you could be charged with verbal abuse.
In September 2014, PETA reportedly obtained testimony and footage showing verbal abuse against the animals from an undercover operative working at Boorungie Station.
Sheep don’t speak human, so who cares, right? The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) cares. A lot.
Steve Coleman, CEO of the New South Wales branch of the RSPCA, told ABC that the organization would investigate “an allegation that puts at risk an animal, that would cause it unnecessary suffering.” However, he did add, “I don’t know if it matters what language is used. An animal is not going to understand it.”
For his part Ken Turner, who operates Boorungie Station, told ABC, “The basis for the concerns was the rights of the animals, that they might have been harassed by viewing things they shouldn’t have seen or verbal abuse by people using bad language. To my knowledge, there was no actual cruelty on the job. The allegation was that bad language was used by an employee on the property in front of the sheep, and that they could have been offended by the use of bad language.”
But Nicolah Donovan, president of Lawyers for Animals, disagreed with both men, saying the animals do in fact understand and it can negatively affect them. She told ABC:
“I think it is conceivable that verbal abuse of an extreme nature against an animal, whether it be human, sheep or otherwise, could constitute an act of violence. We have accepted that domestic violence can certainly be constituted by acts of extreme verbal abuse, particularly when the victim of the abuse is especially vulnerable – if they have a low fear threshold or they lack understanding that the verbal abuse isn’t going to proceed to a physical threat against them. This might be the case with children or farm animals, and the level of abuse needn’t be that extreme to cause that kind of fear in an animal.”
Although the formal PETA complaint has been dropped, the conversation is ongoing in Australia among pastoralists. At this month’s Pastoralists’ Association meeting, members noted that sometimes off-colored language may be necessary during sheep sheering.
RYOT NOTE from Stacey
It may seem funny to force people to stop dropping F-bombs in front of sheep, but animal welfare is no laughing matter.
Share this story with your friends then click the action box below to lean more about the ASPCA, an organization dedicated to helping animals everywhere.
rspcaanimalcruelty 