Wolf

More Hype than Hope

Heifer International

by Daniel Hammer | Fall 2005

Heifer International, a supporter of the “Live 8” series of charity concerts [1], is a nonprofit operation started by Dan West to provide domesticated animals to impoverished families in order to produce food and income. West, an Indiana farmer and a member of the Church of the Brethren, came up with the idea for the project (originally called Heifers for Relief) as a relief worker distributing cups of milk to refugees during the Spanish Civil War. West’s concept for ending hunger was to provide cows instead of cups of milk. In 1944, the first Heifer Project involved sending a shipment of dairy cattle from Pennsylvania to Puerto Rico. [2]

Incidentally, 1944 was the founding year of the Vegan Society. [3] The Vegan Society, started in England by Elsie Shrigley and Donald Watson, [4] is dedicated to promoting veganism as "a way of living which excludes all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, [animals], and includes a reverence for life." [5]

Heifer International currently has 525 active projects in 47 counties and in 30 states in the United States. [6] There is nary an animal that Heifer doesn't exploit as a means to its end. The project descends on camels, cows, chickens, donkeys, ducks, fish, geese, goats, guinea pigs, llamas, oxen, pigs, rabbits, sheep and water buffalo. And even if animal-based agriculture makes up the backbone of Heifer's project, a backbone isn't required. Other animals Heifer trades are bees, earthworms and snails. [7]

Recipients of Heifer International’s largesse are expected to follow the principle of passing on the gift. "Passing on the Gift embodies Heifer International's philosophy of practical sharing and caring. Heifer recipients agree to pass on one or more of their animal's offspring, training or skills to another family in need." [8]

Working to end world hunger is commendable, but exploiting animal life to do it could actually worsen global famine trends. Whereas many vegans adopt a plant-based lifestyle because of concerns for world hunger, animal-based agriculture contributes to global hunger, because it uses up half the world's grain. [9]

And nonhuman animals are not, as Heifer says, "food- and income-producing livestock," [10] but conscious beings with interests of their own. Stanley Sapon, who works on hunger relief, points out that "we must take care not to relieve the pain of one living being by inflicting pain on another sentient being." [11] Sapon directs the Maimonides Project, one of many plant-based organizations working on hunger issues. Other groups include VegFam, Food for Life Global, Food Not Bombs, Plenty International, and Eating for Peace.

Heifer International attempts to inject a spiritual theme into its work by alluding to the biblical story of Noah in its promotional materials. Religious congregations may be particularly attracted by such images. Its "Gift of an Ark" is a $5,000 package of two flocks of chicks; two sheep; two trios of rabbits; two beehives; two trios of guinea pigs; two llamas; two camels; two donkeys; two goats; two oxen; two cows; two trios of ducks; two water buffalo; two flocks of geese; and two pigs. Donors to Heifer International are obviously encouraged to treat other animals as commodities when they purchase living gifts from the organization’s catalogue in the name of a friend, family member, or colleague.

Heifer International provides funding to the Food Safety Network at the University of Guelph in California. [12] This nonprofit organization is known for promoting biotechnology and opposing the concept of animal rights. In addition to Heifer International, funding for the Food Safety Network comes from corporations and industry lobby groups in the areas of agribusiness, animal research, and the pharmaceutical industry. [13]

And recently, Heifer International supported the publication of a controversial report based on an experiment encompassing a group of Kenyan schoolchildren. [14] This experiment was cited in UC Davis Professor Lindsay Allen’s reference to the decision to raise children in a vegan home as "unethical." [15]

The British Dietetic Association said the study used meat and milk to supplement the diet of impoverished, rural children with a poor background and a diet low in essential nutrients such as zinc, B12 and iron — in short, children whose health would have improved with practically any intervention. So the study’s findings, said the Association, were far from broadly applicable.

"There is no evidence that our vegan and vegetarian children in this country suffer impaired development," an association representative said. The representative added that Professor Allen's assertion that some nutrients could only be obtained from animal sources was incorrect: Vegetarians could obtain sufficient calcium from sesame seeds, nuts and fortified plant milk, and iron from dried fruit and fortified breakfast cereals.

It seems Heifer International is on the corporate meat and dairy bandwagon, not Noah’s Ark.

Footnotes

  1. Live 8 was a global concert that took place in various cities around the world in July 2005. Money from Live 8 goes to the Band Aid Charitable Trust which has funded animal projects for Farm Africa and OxFam, among others. See Live 8 Funding Summary (2000-2005).
  2. "A History of Heifer," 2005 Project Profile, Heifer International.
  3. "History," The Vegan Society (dated 2003; last visited 12 July 2005).
  4. Ibid.
  5. Jo Stepaniak, "The Name Game: Coming to Terms," Grassroots Veganism (dated 1998-2005; last visited 12 July 2005).
  6. Joe Eaton and Ron Sullivan, "Getting Poverty's Goat," Earth Island Journal (dated Summer 2005; last visited 11 July 2005).
  7. These are "income-producing" animals; that is, people who receive animals from Heifer are selling the animal and their by-products. The Earth Island Journal notes:
    Heifer International is about much more than cattle, of course. Chickens far outnumber cows among its donated animals, and care is taken to select livestock appropriate to local ecologies and economies. Program participants work with earthworms, edible snails, bees (both standard and stingless), silkworms, crayfish, ostriches, geese, guinea fowl, guinea pigs, alpacas, grasshoppers, water buffalo, yaks, and, in one Thai project, elephants. Heifer also assists Mozambican villagers in developing the sustainable hunting of crocodiles, but does not provide the crocodiles.
    Another animal used by Heifer is the grasscutter, a rodent and popular source of flesh in Ghana where it is a preferred "bushmeat species." Hunting grasscutters has been discouraged because hunting method involving fire have led to environmental damage. The Heifer Foundation, commenting on Heifer International projects in Ghana, assures the public that "safe and organically grown grasscutter can command high prices in the local markets and from tourists traveling to the coastal areas. These are relatively new projects for Heifer, but an example of how Heifer works with recipients to assess and implement culturally-appropriate projects." Sadly, this attitude undermines Ghana's branch of the Vegan Society.
  8. "Cornerstones," 2005 Project Profile, Heifer International.
  9. George Monbiot, "Why Vegans Were Right All Along: Famine can only be avoided if the rich give up meat, fish and dairy," The Guardian (24 December 2002).
  10. Fact Sheet, Heifer International.
  11. Stanley M. Sapon, Ph.D., "Why Do Some Charities Feed Meat and Other Dubious Foods to the Poor?," The Viva Vine (dated Jan/Feb 2000; last visited 11 July 2005).
  12. "Food Safety Network Funding," The Food Safety Network, available at (last visited 11 July 2005).
  13. Ibid.
  14. “Must've Herd Her Wrong,” Spin of the Day, Center for Media and Democracy (publishers of PR Watch; 4 March 2005).
  15. "There's absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents to bring up their children as strict vegans," Professor Allen said. See Sarah Left, "Raising Children as Vegans 'Unethical', Says Professor" - The Guardian (21 February 2005).