Green Mountain College to turn long-serving campus oxen to hamburger

An effort has sprung up to save the animals, and a Springfield sanctuary has offered space, but the college says its decision is final.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20121009/NEWS07/310090013/Green-Mountain-College-considers-turning-long-serving-campus-oxen-hamburger

Green Mountain College to turn long-serving campus oxen to hamburger An effort has sprung up to save the animals, and a sanctuary has offered space, but the college says its decision is final. The oxen have till month's end. Green Mountain College to turn long-serving campus oxen to hamburger An effort has sprung up to save the animals, and a sanctuary has offered space, but the college says its decision is final. The oxen have till month's end. 5:53 PM, Oct 9, 2012 HAY-31-C1 Students mow a field with the help of Green Mountain College's oxen, Bill and Lou, in this file photo. The animals, now retired, could become hamburger under the school's plan. / Courtesy Kevin Coburn/Green Mountain College Written by Tim Johnson Free Press Staff Writer GREEN MT COLLEGE-EM-9-C1 Purchase Image Zoom Ben Dube (right) prepares the oxen at Green Mountain College for an oxen stearing class at the Poultney in November 2011. The ox in the foreground, named Lou, and his fellow ox, Bill (back left) could become hamburger under the school's plan. / EMILY McMANAMY/Free Press file More For Bill and Lou, two oxen that plied the fields at the Green Mountain College farm in Poultney for more than a decade, the days are numbered. Unable to continue working as a team because of injury, they will leave the farm by month’s end, the college has announced, to be processed for meat. The resulting hamburger and beef will be served in the college dining hall and will last a couple of months, according to college spokesman Kevin Coburn. The animals have been an iconic image of the college and are regarded with affection, Coburn said, so the decision to slaughter them was a difficult one. That decision was made by the farm staff, he said, with support from the college administration. “It’s a very emotional issue for everyone here,” Coburn said. He said the college community was consulted, that a public forum was held to get input from faculty and students, and that “a broad majority supported the decision.” He added that the decision was in keeping with the farm’s past practices and with the commitment to agricultural sustainability. The oxen cost about $300 a month to maintain, he said. “This has been a difficult decision all around,” farm manager Kenneth Mulder said in a written statement. “It is the traditional understanding with working cattle that when they reach the end of their working careers they are still productive as meat animals. But that does not make it easy.” The decision has aroused opposition from animal-rights activists. Miriam Jones, co-founder of an animal sanctuary in Springfield, said the college rejected an offer to move the oxen there. “This is an especially cruel decision given that a reputable organization, VINE Sanctuary, has offered to provide sanctuary to both of them, for the rest of their lives, at our own expense,” Jones wrote in an email. An online petition to save Bill and Lou had gathered nearly 3,000 signatures by 5:45 p.m. Wednesday from across the United States and overseas. Provost William Throop said he has received “a fair number” of emails asking him to spare the oxen.