is this animal cruelty?

I would have to question the police officers statement and opinion. Was the officer familliar with goats????

But I will say again, to leave the goat in the trunk while the car was being serviced was IMO uncalled for. For transport for a short distance a trunk really is no different from being stuck in a large carrier. Much safer than on the back seat and loose.

If being transported in a trunk is cruel, just how would you propose that an animal be transported from one location to another?

I'ld tar and feather anyone who tried to lock one of my goats in a trunk! I would shoot them if they bound its feet! Just kidding of course; but I would certainly feel like doing it.

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Have you ever seen police/ sherriff folk try to round up livestock that ends up loose? It's hoot - those town officers have no clue about handling livestock.

I'd trust that particular comment about as much as I'd trust the officer to make a cancer diagnosis on the Jiffy Lube techs. There is no basis for that person to make that determination, unless he knows goats?

I guess that's the root of my question - who determined this was cruelty? From what I could read in the local area news, it is all just based on some city folk with some books in front of them - not anyone who actually knows anything about livestock.

I agree with many of you who are a bit on the fence about this whole issue, and really have enjoyed all discussion in this thread.


We are trying to nurse 2 late summer kittens through a very cold wet fall. When moving them from building to building, placing a hand over their head and restraining their feet is about the calmest, most humain way to 'transport' them. Likewise with calves if I need to carry them across the farm.

I'm not sure how to humainly transport an animal in a better way than in the dark & with some sort of restraint?

You try riding in an open air caged wagon without solid sidewalls and see the ground move by your feet at 50 mph - see how calm & happy you feel after a couple miles. Or will you be heaving with motion sickness? The trunk sounds pretty good to me!

BUT I agree, there was likely more going on here, & the time with the repairs, and so on makes a difference.

It is exactly the policeman's comment there when I read it in the paper that got me to wondering tho about this, what qualification does he, or the others working this case, have to determine this was a bad thing? Scared & lethargic are often opposite expressions in critters, how'd he observe both at the same time? By the time he got there, did the tech folk have the goat out already, or had worked with it? Doesn't add up for me.

--->Paul

No, I don't think it's "good, clean fun".

I said in an earlier post that I didn't think it was a great idea. There are better ways to transport. I just don't think it's cruel.

my lamancha doelings came home, 3hr drive,in the back of a pick up with a topper. a pile of straw and a wooden box to contain them. very dark. very confined. and very comfortable. we stopped several times to check on them and when we popped the top there they were quietly laying down and seemed no worse for the wear when we arrived home. they were certainly alot less stressed then my herd who made a 2 hour trip to our new place in a stock trailer with half of them scrambling and hollering all the way.

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A mystery is not an explanation..... on the contrary....no sooner is a myth forged than, in order to stand it needs another myth to support it.

When I was a kid, bob calves were commonly taken to auction in a feed bag. You slid the calf in the bag butt first and tied the neck of the bag around the calves neck. The calf simply was laying there as normal with its head out, able to look around. It didn't thrash and generally rode on the seat on a piece of cardboard or down on the floorboards. About 30 years ago they started saying not to do it anymore. It's silly as the calf was not hurt at all by this, and were only in the bag for an hour at the most. It's not like a calf doesn't lay down for that long!

Don't think you should have any animal in a trunk in the summertime. Too hot. I don't have anything against transporting an animal in there for short distances, though. It's all common sense to me. If the goat came out of the trunk terrorized it would be one thing, but it probably was fine.

Jennifer

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-Northern NYS

Cruelty, no. Best thing for the goat? No again.
I wouldn't report someone for hauling a goat in the trunk for *short distances*. But would I sell you one of my goats if you intended to shove it in a trunk for the commute?? No, you'd be going home without one of my goats.

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Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Nubians & Lamanchas
www.ozarkjewels.net

"Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends" -Clarence

i can assure you that 2 girls & a guy can fit in the trunk of a Ford LTD w/ enough room to move around freely and enjoyably.

Tying goats legs together so they cannot throw themselves around and get hurt is very common, and it is obviously a lot safer than transporting an unrestrained animal in a car or truck.

SINCE the recommendation of veterinarians, when an animal is panicking, is to enclose it in darkness or blindfold it (we all remember that barnfire scene from Black Beauty, right?) I don't see how putting a restrained animal in a dark place is in any way cruel and is in fact quite the opposite.

I immediately thought it was painting the goat that brought about the cruelty charges.
Coloring animals is illegal in some jurisdictions.


Bless up.
Love,
Natty

I was going down the freeway and was passed by a pickup.. In the back there was two kids about 10 and 12 and a dog . I called the cops and they pulled them over and gave them a tag for haveing the dog in the back , they had to put the dog in the cab ,, 40 miles down the road the kids were still in the back , dog was in the cab

I transported a goat in my trunk once. She was in labor and needed a C section. I hated to put my poor laboring queen in the trunk, but she would have died otherwise, and would not have fit in the back seat. I did put a blanket and hay in there, and didn't tie her, but I still felt bad about it....