PETA comes to pig roast at Mass local

[hoosier]

Frat care of pig pre-roast raises PETA concerns

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By CHERYL B. WILSON Staff Writer
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Tuesday, November 25, 2003 -- ( AMHERST ) Tales of a live pig being kept in a University of Massachusetts fraternity house basement before being slaughtered for the annual pig roast during Homecoming Weekend last month led to complaints to the Amherst Police Department and the national organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

No charges have been filed, but the animal-rights group is awaiting a report from the police.

Leighton Allenby, president of Alpha Tau Gamma, the fraternity for the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, said Monday the incident has been blown out of proportion; even his professors have been talking about it, he said.

Allenby said he slaughtered the pig at an area farm. ''I slaughtered it personally,'' he said. ''I grew up on a farm and I've done it lots of times before.''

Allenby declined to comment on whether the pig had been kept in the fraternity house basement at 375 North Pleasant St. before the pig roast Oct. 18.

''We are concerned with specifically how the animal was housed and in what manner the poor animal was slaughtered,'' said Stephanie Bell, a Seattle-based cruelty case worker for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. She said their informant reported the pig had been kept in very poor conditions ''that reeked of feces.''

''At this point it looks as if no criminal charges are involved,'' said Detective Brian Johnson of the Amherst Police Department Monday. A police spokesman said last week that they have yet to find any violation of criminal law or the health code.

Bell added that an initial police investigation had targeted the wrong fraternity, where another roasted pig had been bought ready for the spit. The animal rights organization demanded the investigation be reopened and is awaiting the final report, she said.

''It is important that this case be thoroughly investigated,'' Bell said. ''Crimes against animals must be taken seriously,'' she added.

Michael Wiseman, director of fraternities and sororities at UMass, said he witnessed the roast. ''I did see the hog on the spit ... I did see that up close and personal.''

Wiseman some students not connected to the fraternity felt the captivity constituted cruelty to animals and notified authorities.

Wiseman said UMass wouldn't take any action on the report unless there were violations of criminal law or health codes.

Paul Tierney. director of the food protection program of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, there were no apparent health-code violations, and that his department only has jurisdiction over food that is prepared for commercial sale.

''Persons who raise meat and poultry for personal use, and slaughter and process the animal may do so without first obtaining a permit from the Department of Public Health or the local board of health. The product generated may not be sold or given away and is solely for the use of the owner of the animal,'' according to the state health code, Tierney said. As long as the fraternity members didn't charge for the meal, it is assumed they used the pig for their own use and for non-paying guests, Tierney said.

If there was cruel or inhumane treatment it could be an issue for the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and if the slaughtering or housing of the pig created a nuisance it could be under the jurisdiction of the local board of health, Tierney added.