CSU meats center draws ire of animal rights activists

Becca Bleil has a fundamental beef with Colorado State University. 

A university that prides itself on being green should not slaughter animals on campus, no matter how noble the purpose, she said. 

Bleil, a member of the animal rights club on campus, began a petition through change.org to protest a small animal harvesting facility included in the $20 million JBS Global Food Innovation Center planned to open on CSU's Fort Collins campus in 2018.

The 1,000-square-foot harvesting plant designed by CSU's Temple Grandin, an internationally renowned animal welfare expert, is a sliver of the 38,000-square-foot facility designed to educate and train students in food safety, meat processing, animal handling and welfare and meat sciences.

While College of Agricultural Sciences Dean Ajay Menon understands Bleil's position, he said CSU is continuing to fulfill its mission as a land grant university with the addition of the center.

Now, instead of slaughtering animals elsewhere, there will be room for faculty and students to do it on campus. Some carcasses will be used for teaching; some for research. And, some of the meat will be sold at Ram Country Meats, a student-run meat market on campus.

"I appreciate their need to be heard on this, but on the other hand it is also a reality that animal sciences and meat sciences is at the historic roots of our university," Menon said.

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Like nearly every other land grant university throughout the Midwest and West, CSU will humanely harvest up to about eight animals per semester for teaching and research purposes.

It's been practice at Kansas State University for decades, said Ken Odde, head of the university's animal sciences and industry department and former CSU faculty member.

"We have had a meats program dating back to the '30s and '40s," he said.

"We consider it an important part of our mission as a land grant university," Odde said. "Livestock agriculture, animal agriculture provides a huge portion of the food supply globally and we think it's important to properly train students in appropriate and humane procedures."

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Odde said he hasn't had a question or comment about harvesting animals on the Kansas State campus in his 10 1/2 years as department head.

Bleil's objections go beyond harvesting cattle on campus. The freshman psychology and global environmental sustainability student said raising and rendering cattle goes against the university's sustainability and carbon-neutral pledge.

"It takes a lot of resources, especially with cattle, to raise them and kill them," including water to grow crops to feed the animals, Bleil said. And the methane cows expel contributes to global warming, she said.   

Bleil does not expect her petition, signed by more than 60,377 people worldwide, will halt the production facility. But it provides a platform for students to have a voice and let CSU administrators know there is opposition to the facility. 

Menon, who grew up in India, addressed students' concerns in a letter to faculty.

"I understand better than most the sentiments and arguments against animal protein from those who are vegetarians, vegans and animal rights advocates," he wrote. "However, nearly 90  percent of the global population has made a different choice.

"As the world hurtles toward 9 billion people, the demand for animal protein will only grow. I don't know how to get that protein without harvesting. CSU is in an important position to lead as our country seeks advances in sustainability, quality and safety in food production." 

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The facility will comply with all safety and sanitation regulations and no one walking or working near the center will be able to see, hear or smell anything coming from inside the processing area, Menon said.

Odde said some of the controversy around CSU planned facility may be because people are more removed than ever from the food supply and where their meals come from.

Back in the 1950s, a large percentage of the population either lived on or grew up on a farm or ranch and "had a connection with how the food supply is created," Odde said. "All the hard work and risk and everything that goes into it. As the population becomes more distant from production agriculture, they have less of an understanding of what really goes on."

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