Many animal-rights and welfare organizations pose serious threats to all animal agriculture, the livestock sector and production agriculture in general. Altogether, they have combined annual budgets of $300 million.

The ones that pose the greatest threat are the Humane Society of the United States, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Sierra Club, Citizens for Decent Agriculture, the Dust Police, and the Animal Liberation Front. This group actually supports elimination of all animal agriculture, turning all domestic animals loose to roam, and even goes as far as to advocate assignation of people to free all farm animals.

This group has been active in various locations around the country in sabotaging, dismantling and burning medical labs where research is done to cure communicable diseases and perfect cures for cancer, heart and brain disorders and many others, such as nerve, vascular, muscular and joint function and replacement. Without these research and treatment facilities, our society as we know it would be much less able to treat, rehabilitate and offer us a sense of comfortable affordable health care.

Unfortunately most of the consuming public today does not realize that we have the safest supply of nutritious food on the grocery shelf that has ever been produced by our agriculture industry, not just the farmers, but all the processors and distributors in the food industry. All of these organizations that profess to be a friend of the consumer are a driving force to eliminate all poultry and livestock that are housed and grown for human food and nutrition. They support ballot initiatives to shutter any animal-feeding facility that puts nutritious milk, meat and egg products on the table. They have accomplished this in California, Arizona and Florida. They advocate care for poultry, swine, cattle and any other livestock used for meat, milk or eggs as you would your pet. They also have no concern for putting nutritious portions and satisfying food on the family table.

If these organizations get their way in regulating farm livestock production, all food production will be imported from foreign countries. Then we as citizens of the USA can look forward to the same problems we have with foreign imports of cars, clothing, household goods, electronics, shoes and other consumer goods, and do we dare even mention crude oil.

For instance, the Humane Society of the United States implies that a cow producing milk is jogging six hours a day. I guess they have never seen a cow chewing their cud while making milk of meat. I forgot they want all cows to be treated as pets. They also abhor the fact that a cow has to go through cycles of artificial insemination giving birth, and are tormented by a mechanical milking machine for milk production. HSUS now is focusing on federal legislation, since only half of the states have provisions for ballot initiatives to accomplish their terrorist tactics. With their expenditures of $300 million a year and 10 million members in the organization, their intent is creating havoc for all production agriculture. Not just animal agriculture but also food production from plants will decrease as an extreme amount of animal waste from animal production is now recycled to increase the food produced by the plant.

HSUS asks its members to e-mail President Obama to nominate an animal welfare person for secretary of agriculture. This may have worked, since apparently Charlie Stenholm, a former Texas congressman, was sidetracked for the secretary’s job, as he is for the humane slaughter of horses. As Stenholm stated, HSUS has a goal of eliminating animal agriculture in the U.S. They are winning, and win they will unless our animal industries educate the public about the domestic food industry.

We also absolutely must avoid the mistake of inhumane treatment of our livestock in the packing plants that have been featured on TV newscasts. Those events unfortunately add fuel to the HSUS cause. We must tell everyone in all ways possible that HSUS is an extreme group, with no connection to the local animal shelters or humane societies that care for unwanted or adoptive pets.

Darrel Robertson lives in Lamar.