I grew up on a small hog farm in northeastern South Dakota. But when I first heard about this story, all I could think of was, "Good thing nobody was around to hear what was being said at our place!" I know it doesn't sound the nicest, but face it - you know swearing is going to happen on a farm.

Just when you think you have heard it all, the animal rights group, PETA, has issued a complaint saying that workers on an Australian sheep ranch have been abusing the animals. But the type of abuse that was reported just might surprise you.

A PETA supporter filed the complaint with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New South Wales, after going undercover and taking a video of shearers swearing at the sheep. According to the complaint, the basis of the complaint states,

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.

Nicolah Donovan, president of Lawyers for Animals says that many animals do have a low fear threshold and they do lack the understanding that verbal abuse isn't going to proceed into a physical threat, therefore verbal abuse could be considered an extreme act of violence.

But according to the animal behavior expert Mary Temple Grandin, animals and people see and hear the world differently. She says that the cognitive part of animal brains, like dogs, sheep or cattle, is sensory-based and not word-based. In other words, animals don't truly understand WHAT people say, it's more HOW the words are said. For example, she says,

Animals are really tuned in to tone of voice. If you walked up to your dog and yelled “GOOD DOG! GOOD DOG!” it’s going to be cringing because the tone of voice was not friendly and nice.

But PETA says that the tone of the shearer's voices and what was said to the sheep is only part of the problem. According to the report by PETA, the sheep were also punched and hit with objects.

The case was eventually dropped against the sheep farm because of lack of evidence, but it is yet to be determined if swearing at your animals will be an issue in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

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