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Practice of composting animals raises red flags for greens

Posted at 4:56 PM on 16 Nov 2007

A growing number of states are allowing farmers to bury their deceased horses, cattle, and chickens and allow the remains to decay into compost. Environmentalists are leery of the practice, concerned that livestock pumped up with antibiotics and growth hormones might leach chemicals into groundwater as they decompose. Growth hormones in the water, growth hormones in the milk -- watch out, orange juice. You're next.

source: Associated Press

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Comments: (8 comments)

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What happens to non-composted animals?

I definitely agree with the concern about hormones getting into groundwater, but I'm wondering what the other option is. Do dead farm animals usually go into landfills?

jessica elgin sewingmyshadowon.wordpress.com

by jessica elgin at 11:19 AM on 18 Nov 2007

Dead Meat

Aren't dead people the same problem? Think about 6.5 billion people to be interred, cremated, etc. What ever happened to the Swedish eco-concept of freeze-dried burial?

by jdk at 3:00 PM on 18 Nov 2007

what do the environmentalists want?

i'm sure that the antibiotics and hormones break down in the composting process to some degree. i think composting the animals is probably the best thing you could do with them. you are returning the organic matter directly to the earth, letting the microbes work for you in the decomposition process. it would be good though if the composting animals were isolated as much as possible from streams and aquifers.

we humans also get buried in the earth and we're not exactly pure of toxic substances. chemo patients?

i'm vegan so of course i'm not a fan of animal farming but I am a fan of composting.

by cosmoss at 5:02 AM on 19 Nov 2007

rendering plants

Most animal carcasses -- road kill, livestock, euthanized cats and dogs, deceased pets left at the vet rather than cremated and taken home -- go to rendering plants, where protein, fats, and any other useful chemicals are extracted for use in other products.

I find it particularly disturbing that once-loved pets -- and, sadly, very neglected but lovable cats and dogs -- are "processed" and the "products" used for cosmetics, soap, hand cream, et cetera...

http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=72

Those who don't read labels and make an effort to avoid products containing chemicals listed at the above website -- go ahead, verify what you read -- might very well by applying bits of Fluffy or Rover to their faces. Barbarians.

by wiscidea at 10:30 AM on 19 Nov 2007

hormones and antibiotics

Let not use hormones and antibiotics on farm animals in the first place! Go vegetarian, or eat less meat and only buy free range and organic animal products.

by amc89 at 8:57 AM on 20 Nov 2007

reading labels

OK, WiscIdea, we should read labels. But as the PETA page suggests, it is intentionally not easy to decipher what we read.

And, we have a moral responsibility not to make being vegan look like a chore.

And, the great majority of the animals whose bodies are rendered are not cats and dogs, but the countless animals who are raised by the food industry.

AMC, your comment is an excellent to-the-point recommendation, brief and easy to understand.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 11:34 AM on 20 Nov 2007

If you're composting meat...

If you're composting meat, you might as well get yourself a Hummer and show off how wasteful you can be. Maybe you can find a nature preserve and tranple some rare plants while you're at it. Or get yourself a .22 and go shooting raptors for the fun of it. Make sure you vote Republican too.

Or you could just not eat meat unless you raise it yourself.

Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

by John former Marine at 6:06 AM on 27 Nov 2007

Scale of Problem

This didn't occur to me until I read JF Marine's comment...

Precisely how much "waste" are we talking about? How many animals reach a point where they have to be composted, sent to a rendering plant, or sent to a landfill? I once thought most animals were "disposed" of by converting them to pet food or some sort of other useful product... say, make up or jet engine lubricant. Shouldn't most dairy cows, hogs, et cetera be converted to something such as pet food or fertilizer long long long before anyone has to consider treating them like hazardous waste?!

Is this another side of industrial agriculture that someone should shine a bright light on? How many animals die from disease and other "natural" causes -- making them unfit for some sort of practical use -- for each animal that ends up in someone's freezer or Rover's bowl?

Cows and chickens are going to landfills?! Why?

Thank you for one more reason to put more effort into going vegetarian!

by wiscidea at 7:55 AM on 27 Nov 2007

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