Goatlady--The troubling thing about Unregistered's post in my mind was how inflammatory it was:
id like to get my hands round your throat. You ought to be left in the sun all day ta cook ya idjut! Do you really agree with that?
Awhile back I got some turkeys. I thought they weren't due in for awhile, and I had a good turkey book on order . . . the turkeys arrived before the book. Fortunately, as always, folks helped me out by giving me some good pointers and all my turkeys are still living.
What seems like a "duh-uh" to experienced poultry people is sometimes not at all clear to a newbie, even one who is trying to learn. I have three books on raising chickens. Of those three, all talk about the need for frequent watering--only one specifically mentions that you need to provide shade. Now, it does seem self-evident to me that animals need shade, but I've had plenty of my own "duh-uh's." Like when I traveled for a few days this spring and my neighbor graciously agreed to take care of the poultry, horses and dogs. I had poults in the greenhouse, and they were doing quite nicely. While I was gone, the temperatures climbed unexpectedly, and I never even considered the possibility that the greenhouse would get too hot while I was gone. Fortunately, my neighbor quickly moved them out into the main chicken area, figuring that henpecking was preferable to broiling. I felt terrible, though--I hadn't even considered the possibility and certainly didn't give her any instructions on what to do.
Our mare got pregnant "accidently." (We sent her off to board while we reseeded the pasture, and the person boarding her deliberately got her pregnant, thinking that my daughter was going sell the horse to him.) So, we brought home a pregnant mare. We immediately bought books and tried to learn what we could. It was only dumb luck that someone mentioned to us that a pregnant mare shouldn't be on fescue her last months. If I hadn't heard that (and it wasn't in my books), we might have had a mess on our hands seeing as our pasture is fescue.
We will all make mistakes, even the best-intended of us--even those who do try to prepare. Mistakes may result in cruelty to animals, but it's rare that that was the intent. In J.R.'s case, we have a man who is typically very careful and doesn't take responsibility lightly. To flog a man like that for a mistake seems pointless and, yes, cruel. To do it anonymously is even more reprehensible.