On the early morning of March 15, 1968, thousands of sheep started showing signs and symptoms of an odd, peculiar disease; they were unable to come to their feet and unable to keep their necks straight, soon after, they were dying. Locals in Utah's Death Valley, a Native American Indian reservation, approximately a 30 minute drive from Dugway Proving Ground, reached to some of the workers at the US Army facility searching for answers or help in relation to what was occurring to their herds; most of the Death Valley population income is attained from selling or breeding their animals, which they were losing to this unexpected illness. On that day, their lives will become a nightmare. This incident generated national attention at a time of suspicion …show more content…
A few days earlier, specifically on March 13, 1968, an F-4 Phantom aircraft flew a secret open air test mission over the Dugway Proving Ground with chemical dispensers containing VX, a chemical agent discovered in 1950, very persistent liquid whose lethality rely on contact rather than vapors (Mauroni, pg. 105), to this day the agent is still classified as a weapon of mass destruction and banned by the UN for use. One of the dispensers been carried by the jet malfunctioned and was not completely emptied during the open air test, as the aircraft gained altitude VX leaked out in a trail behind the aircraft into Death Valley; the wind which at the time of the test was blowing out of the northwest, later shifted to the west as a small storm front passed. These west winds started carrying the powerful nerve agent directly over the sheep herds contaminating the area where the herd feeding area, soon after, the sheep ate the grass contaminated with VX, quickly developing signs and symptoms very similar to those of the chemical
This article tells of an interview between a reporter by the last name of Vigeland and retired Lieutenant Colonel Roberts. During the interview, Vigeland and Roberts discuss the horrors of Agent Orange and Roberts’ personal experience with it. Back in 1981, Roberts was a First Lieutenant in the military. He was the facilities maintenance officer of the Futenma Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. Roberts explains that one day he was assigned to check out the high chemical readings in the water runoff from the base. The theory of the chemicals coming from a collection of underground fuel tanks, Roberts was ordered to build a gate. As the they were digging, they came across several barrels. The more they digged, the more barrels they ran across. After they were done digging, they found a total of one hundred barrels neatly placed. Some were new, some were old, some were even leaking, but they were all unmarked. The barrels only had reddish-orange markings on them. Roberts believes that this was the tell-tale marker of Agent Orange. Then, Roberts
The article, Washington wolf killing sparks rebukes, controversy discusses the local issue in Spokane Washington. Cattle ranchers have experienced a problem with the Profanity Peak wolf pack. The wolves attacked the rancher’s cattle as they grazed. It was reported that 6 cows were killed. In response, hunters grouped together and killed 6 wolves. This hunting riddled many environmental groups. They say that the wolves should not be slaughtered simply for living out their natural ways. In recent reports, Washington State University disapproved a professor, Robert Wielgus, who released inaccurate information regarding cattle rancher’s actions that rallied people against the ranchers. The misguided information resulted in death threats towards
t was 1931 when farmers from the American Plains were attacked by a silent enemy while still recovering from drought. Many farmers were already trying to recover from the lack of crops sold because of drought and poor soil. After years of continues plowing and planting of wheat with no regard for the healthiness of the soil. Then winds started to pick up and soil started to blow and the brittle wheat fell apart. The dust storms then appeared on the horizon looking like a black blizzard to sweep up the remaining crops and blind livestock.
A cemetery may seem like an odd stop on a city tour but the Old Smithville Burying Ground has been in use since before the town was officially created in 1792. The roots of the stately oak trees intertwine with the historical roots of Southport’s population. Many stories are told through the markers that populate this plot. From fallen Civil War soldiers to victims of yellow fever to memorials of men lost at sea, this stop on your tour is a hidden historical treasure revealing family life and tragedy.
The energy was being exploited towards substituting individual work. Nevertheless, while the Central Valley developed into the worldwide center for farmed mass production, which started a new set of distresses surrounding poisonous insecticides resuscitated environmental beliefs in those settlers which had to do with health appearing in
“We were told, ‘it’s totally safe and it won’t hurt you at all,” he added. “We were told you can drink it, you can brush your teeth with it, or you can bathe in it. It won’t hurt you. Those were lies.” (“U.S. Soldiers Sprayed Agent Orange across Korea” 1) Agent Orange was an herbicide used by the United States military forces in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to destroy their enemies’ food supply, land, and protection. Twelve million gallons of this toxin were sprayed. (Department of Preventive Medicine 1) It affected the Vietnamese and the American troops who were fighting in the same jungle. Little did the United States military know the effects of this dangerous herbicide. It caused many long-term complications, including health problems
The film Death on a Factory Farm, emphasizes on the politics of sight as a vital component in distance and concealment to establish power, laws, and social values within our society that allow human beings to inflict pain on livestock. This film focuses on Ken Wiles’ farm where pigs are being exploited on a daily basis and employees practice hanging as an alternative to euthanasia to kill sick sows. Although Pete, the undercover animal right’s investigator, tries to bring some justice to these pigs by collecting video footage of abuse, filth, disease, cannibalism, violence, death, and executions during his time of employment in Ken Wile’s farm the court fails to convict all defendants with the total of ten counts of animal cruelty because of
About the author (1) In his article, “Lethal gift of livestock” from his book Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond shares his opinion on why and how diseases play a vital role in the degrees of power that different peoples obtain. Between teaching geography to UCLA undergraduates, doing field research on birds , writing books, and promoting sustainable environmental policies, Jared Diamond is the director of the international environmental organizations World Wildlife Fund, as well as the writer of Guns, Germs and Steel which was awarded the awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He lived in Europe for several years after graduating college, and perused a doctorate in physiology. In 1958 While at Cambridge University, Jared experienced the aftermath of World War II that lead him to learn about the society of Germany, Finland Yugoslavia and other countries.
This so-called balanced view was presented in a program in which the “most misrepresented issues concerned the economic impact of wolves. Ranchers were allowed to claim unsubstantiated losses, with no attempt to validate the accuracy of these claims” (Laverty, par. 2). In granting the balanced view sought by the legislature, the “program portrayed the salt of the earth rancher as a poor victim of the federal government’s whim to restore the ‘killers’” (Laverty, par. 2).
As of today, 5 more cases of CWD have been found in the state of Missouri, bringing the total confirmed cases up to 38 (KTTN News, 2017). Though the Department is doing everything it can to help stop the spread of the disease, it is crucial to maintain the support of local hunters. When the rule change came to vote concerning hunters’ abilities to bring game animals across state lines was proposed, it was met with resistance from some individuals (Crider, 2017). Though the resilience to the rule change did not stop the momentum of the proposed change, it is this kind of backlash that can lead to bigger problems in the future. The public relations campaign aims to focus on deer hunters. This large group will then be subcategorized into three groups, those in the affected area, out-of-state hunters and businesses affected by CWD.
The Government felt the need to deny any involvement in the situation, initially blaming the local population for the damage, while accusing them of using an illegal organophosphate pesticide on their crops, which then shifted to the herd feeding grounds. After medical staff conducted hundreds of autopsies on a sizeable amount of the deceased sheep, traces of the chemical agent VX were found in their blood, stomach and liver, large enough concentrations to deduce that the agent was responsible for Death Valley’s livestock
Murder and abuse cases never fail to startle society. Moral codes are flouted with unmatched rigorousness by these indubitable egregious crimes. Sufferers in these cases are often people. Nonetheless, these callous obscenities should not be seen as less important when animals are the victims. Animals undergo horrendous abuse due to barbaric individuals, greed, and unnecessary lab testing.
One case of animal abuse in the U.S. food industry is the Central Valley Meat Co, located in Hanford, California. Employees at the Hanford Slaughterhouse were caught on video killing cows violently and inhumanely, neglecting to render cows unconscious before slaughter, and other forms of abuse. Many of the cows appeared to be sick and unable to walk as well. Under federal rules, sick animals can’t be slaughtered for human consumption. (Nidever)
A problem that arises from this is that animal abuse can take place without any consequences, simply because it goes unseen. Therefore, the installation of video cameras to monitor behavior inside of farms will help in the process of finding those who are guilty. Undercover videos of the animals being killed in such a brutal fashion only gives the farm a poor reputation, not to mention the ethical issue of animals suffering unnecessarily when euthanasia is available. Incidents similar to the aforementioned will only continue to happen if the government does not step in. Security cameras, proper training of new employees and regular examinations to ensure all FDA regulations as well as animal welfare laws are being practiced should be implemented in farms.
In 2010, investigators went into a zoo and filmed sick animals that were just left on the floor to rot at the Tweddle Farm Zoo. When they were all done they had to take sick rabbits to the vet to have their infection cared for. Along with their discovery of this zoo they found a monkey who was fed