Sutherland Receives Cattle Call From Peta
By WENNFriday, February 5, 2010
Animal rights activists are pleading with 24 star KIEFER SUTHERLAND not to replace the cattle he recently lost in an alleged scam.
The actor allegedly handed over $869,000 (£543,125) to help fund Michael Wayne Carr’s plans to provide him with steers from Mexico.
But, according to prosecutors, there is no record Carr ever bought the steers. He is also accused of selling steers that didn’t belong to him.
Carr is charged with 12 felonies, including grand theft, forgery and embezzlement, and is scheduled to be arraigned on 8 February (10).
And PETA bosses have reached out to Sutherland, a former rodeo rider, asking him not to seek more Mexican cattle.
A spokesman for the group says, “While financial woes are never pleasant, what’s worse are the abuses that cows suffer at the hands of the meat industry.”
A letter from PETA boss Michelle Cho to the actor reads, “We implore you not to replace the cattle you were purchasing.
“Cattle on factory farms spend the majority of their lives in dark, cramped metal sheds surrounded by their own faeces, and they are branded with hot irons, castrated, and dehorned without painkillers. They are fed an unnatural diet consisting of high-bulk grains and other fillers and are pumped full of drugs in order to make them grow faster and keep them alive in these miserable conditions.
“At slaughter, cattle are often hoisted upside down by their hind legs and are skinned and dismembered while they are still conscious. According to one slaughterhouse worker who was interviewed by The Washington Post, they die piece by piece.”
But Sutherland and his 24 producers have won praise from PETA officials for using hybrid vehicles on the set and buying green energy for all on-stage production work.
