Calif. considers banning live animal births at state fair after cow death

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The bizarre escape -- and fatal police shooting -- of a pregnant cow at the California Exposition and State Fair this summer has prompted an examination of the live birthing exhibits that have been a crowd favorite for more than 37 years.

While the fair won't resume until next year, its Animal Care and Livestock Committee already has started work with University of California, Davis veterinarians, animal welfare groups and officials from other state fairs to see what changes might be made to the area where dairy cows, goats, sheep and pigs are put on display while giving birth.

Officials say they're searching for a middle ground, one that will preserve the fair's long-standing tradition while minimizing stress to the pregnant animals.

It won't be easy.

Fair organizers argue that the program pulls spectators back to the state's agricultural roots by giving them a ringside seat to the miracle of birth.

But animal welfare groups insist the exhibits have no place on fair grounds. The birthing process should be a private moment, they say, separate from the noisy and unfamiliar environment of a state fair.

Currently, no other state fair is re-examining its live birthing exhibit, said Jim Tucker, chief executive officer of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions. Nationwide, witnessing live animal births at state fairs is not only educational, but extremely popular, he said.

"There's a demand for that type of experience by folks that go to fairs," said Tucker. "The birthing center shows the beginning of life, how important it is that we follow the practices so that it continues to occur so we can feed this rapidly increasing population on the globe."

Cal Expo is looking at revamping its exhibit after a pregnant cow being transported to the birthing pens became agitated, escaped from her handlers and ran through the grounds just as the fair was preparing to open to the public July 27.

Attempts to tranquilize and corral the animal failed. At one point, she knocked over a police officer, and fair officials became worried the cow posed a threat to several thousand employees who were setting up shop on the grounds.

With the consent of UC Davis veterinarians, Cal Expo police shot the cow to death. She was shot four times in the head and three times in the body. The incident prompted a flood of angry e-mails to the State Fair's general manager, Norb Bartosik.

"Whenever there's an incident like this where an animal loses its life, it generates discussion," he said. "I've never got a complaint before now."

Finding a balance between the concerns of animal advocates and the desire to put live births on display will be challenging because the educational value of watching live animal births is hard to quantify, and the idea of compromise varies from individual to individual.

"There's a bell-shape curve to this issue-- some on one side, some on the other and a big space in the middle," said John Madigan, director of UC Davis' Veterinary Emergency Response Team.

Madigan said that a possible solution could be in improving the facility, which houses the pregnant animals. For example, using cameras along with the exhibit could allow fairgoers to see parts of the birth up close on a digital screen without having visitors stand as close to the pregnant animals.

But animal welfare groups say that still wouldn't solve the problem of transporting the pregnant animal to the fair in the first place. Riding in a confined space is stressful for the animal, they said.

"Compromise means that the animals lose," said Eric Mills, coordinator of the Oakland-based Action for Animals. "These people are treating symptoms, not the cause of this problem, which is the birthing exhibits."

Jennifer Fearing, senior state director of the Humane Society of the United States, said her organization has always been troubled by the livestock nursery program. She acknowledged it is important to educate the public about where their food comes from, but she said there are better, more humane ways to do that, such as broadcasting the birth from a farm without moving the animal onto the fairgrounds.

While transporting expectant mothers cannot be completely without risk, many steps are taken to minimize the impact of relocating them to the fair, said Joan Rowe, associate professor at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Population Health and Reproduction. Rowe, who has assisted veterinarians at the State Fair's nursery exhibit since the 1980s, said for years she's allowed her own goats to give birth at the fair.

"For me, the quality of care they've received by the staff and vets working in the nursery have given me confidence in having my own animals on display, year after year," said Rowe.

(E-mail reporter Queenie Wong at qwong(at)sacbee.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

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