Texas museum kills mules for farm exhibit
A century ago, wealthy explorers - and even legitimate biologists - were known to travel the world and wontonly kill animals for study and to put on exhibit at museums.
Texas museum kills mules for farm exhibit
Amy Worden, Inquirer Staff Writer
A century ago, wealthy explorers - and even legitimate biologists - were known to travel the world and wontonly kill animals for study and to put on exhibit at museums.
Seems a Texas museum is bringing back that tradition.
Two live mules were pulled from an auction pen, slaughtered and stuffed for display for a new exhibit at the American Museum of Agriculture in Lubbock.
The museum couldn't have found two stuffed mules on Ebay? Or constructed fake mules?
The Humane Society of the United States is condemning the museum's action.
“The killing and stuffing of animals solely for museum exhibits is frivolous and unnecessary,” said Katie Jarl, Texas state director for The Humane Society of the United States. “These two mules apparently served their owner well for decades, and should have had the opportunity to be re-homed and live out the rest of their lives at a sanctuary.”
The museum defended the killing of the mules, saying it was advised by another museum against using fiberglass models. It said actual mules would realistically show how the equines pulled farm equipment.
“To complete this exhibit, Museum Arts strongly recommended that we obtain professionally preserved mules in full harness to allow our visitors to understand how essential animal power was to this stage of American agriculture,” the museum said in a press release.
The museum also said rather than sending the aged mules to slaughter they were humanely destroyed by a veterinarian and will be enjoyed by visitors 'for years to come."
Word of the mules' fate prompted outrage across the country and inspired a Facebook page "Save the Lubbock Mules," according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal newspaper.
The mules were apparently purchased from what is known as a ‘killer buyer’ who ships healthy horses – often obtained at auctions outbidding horse rescue groups -- to Mexico and Canada for slaughter so their meat can be exported to countries that consider horse meat a delicacy.
The U.S. Congress is considering the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S. 1176/H.R. 2966,) which would ban the slaughter of horses, including export for slaughter in other countries.
So, Tony, do two wrongs make a right?— BarbaraM- What makes it OK to kill and eat cattle, pigs, poultry and sheep but an outrage to kill and eat a horse or mule?
I have an equestrian background, have owned (and meticulously cared for and was emotionally attached to) several horses over the years. While I would never send a horse I owned to slaughter, I have no problem with others doing so.
One species of animal should not be above another on the "do not eat list" because of it's cuteness or the warm and fuzzy appeal of it. While I am certain the museum could have found mules that died of natural causes to have mounted, I see no big difference between killing a mule to mount for a museum and killing a cow for the "plush leather seats" in your SUV.— Keith C - Except they didn't kill the mule to eat them. They killed them merely for the exhibition and convenience of a museum. This is disgraceful. — tsdguy
- @Tony Stark I sent in an abuse report since you are a)wrong and b)an as@ho@le. I'm also sure you're one of the unwashed right-wing masses that couldn't give a darn about anyone other than you.— tsdguy
- Thank you tsdguy for making Tony Stark's point so vividly. You did an excellent job of driving home the point that the Left values a mule's life over a human life. I guess that mules get to vote in Philly, while a dead fetus is just a choice.— Beethoven987
- Human life? There's enough of that already. Spay/neuter all human and non human animals, all life, incl. the mules', would become precious.— bucky95
- Equine differ from livestock as they have been bred and raised to be companion animals much like our canine and feline counterparts. As so, they need to be protected as such. NO equine are bred for the purpose of consumption....period. These mules were killed for no purpose other than to stuffed and mounted in a display. The director was offered $3000 for their bale and the mules sactuary at a local rescue...he declined. Civilized nations do not kill animals for the purpose of display. This act was barbaric and should be treated as such. For those who feel the same way please join the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/SaveTheLubbockMules/ and let your voice be heard.— Dbeal659
- So Tony, do you also advocate cutting the social programs that would help feed and clothe these unwanted children? If not, you are not 'pro-life- you are simply 'pro-birth.' And since I already know the answer to my question, which is a 'yes' from you, I will commence calling you a moron. Moron.— 1972bline
- Timothy?— towman
- I live here in Tx and found out about this from a friend who lives in Lubbock and is intimately acquainted with this. The story started out being a matched pair of mules that were 10 & 12 years old and now they magically aged to 28 & 32...nothing we can do for these animals but since 2 museums were invovled 1 in Dallas and this one, the American Museum of Agriculture in Lubbock, Tx, I would like to make any museum considering killing animals to make their exhibit "more authentic" think twice - there is also a petition to stop the display of these animals http://www.change.org/petitions/please-stop-display-of-murdered-mules-in-museum-exhibit— FarrenTBrown
- I agree with my friend Marjorie Farrbee 100%. The museum had the opportunity to create a living display for the museum. These mules were well trained and could have been used in parades, which would have been much more financially beneficial to the museum and to Lubbock.
And I quite frankly agree with FarrenTBrown, the way the story kept changing on the ages of these mules, just doesn't add up. Also, the claim that they were old and headed for slaughter. Really? And so you paid $3,000 for them? The director of the museum is simply trying to justify a very unwise and heartless decision to kill two perfectly healthy animals. Mules, horses and donkeys made it possible to settle this great nation we call home. They have carried us into battle, they hauled our wagons across country, they pulled our plows so as to put food on our table. They provide companionship and friendship. They are NOT raised as animals for slaughter. And no, I do not eat cows, pigs, sheep or chickens for that matter. I think the museum is going to find out it made a very, very bad error in judgment. We in the equine advocate community have named them Liberty & Justice. They will not be forgotten, and the museum and its directors haven't heard the last from us.— Rhonda Lanier
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