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THE MONKS – On August 9, Wheaten Mather and a friend had just gone for a walk at the Iowa State Fair when they decided to examine the animals.
Mather, 40, said he took some pictures with a calf inside the stable when he returned and heard a concussion. Beside them, he said, a pig lying outside the pigsty was making a "squeaky sound of madness" while he was being pushed by a boy who seemed to have about 11 or 12 years old.
Hearing the animal in distress, Mather began recording with his mobile phone. The boy, accompanied by a man, was hitting the animal in the face, trying to force the pig to get into a trailer, said Mather.
"When that pig went back, I could see that he had lash marks on his face and my heart sagged," Mather said.
Mather, a Michigan native who left Los Angeles two years ago to settle in Des Moines, said he was unfamiliar with what kids are taught about Use of salon sticks, also called "pork whisks", at the fair. But he wanted to share his concerns with honest officials about what he had seen.
Mather said that he had never been an animal rights activist. But he told Reader & # 39; s Watchdog of his concerns about how the state fair addresses his concerns, as more and more fairs and farmers across the country are challenged by groups of defense of animal rights to treat livestock more humanly.
Mather stated that after watching the video on August 9, he approached someone wearing an Iowa State Fair shirt and asked to speak to a person in a situation. # 39; authority. This person told him to talk to people sitting on horses in the stables.
He said he asked one of these people if the pig's hitting was a common practice at the fair. The woman said, "Yes."
Now more annoyed, he showed him the video. "Is hitting a pig in the face with a whip a usual (expletive) practice?
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Mather finally left the fair that night and then consulted with family and friends about what to do.
On Sunday, August 18, Mather returned to the fair and said that he had found himself face to face with the CEO and manager of the fair, Gary Slater. Slater was concluding an interview with KCCI's marketing director, Mindy Williamson.
"I said," All I ask is a meeting. So I can share the video with you and find out what you would put in place to prevent it from happening again, "said Mather.
Mather stated that Slater was tolerant of his questions at first, but that he was disturbed the more he insisted on getting specific answers. Slater, he said, repeatedly reiterated his questions about the fair's responsibility for cruelty to police animals, saying he should have addressed pork processing with the boy's family, the 4-H and the FFA.
Mather stated that he did not think the boy could be blamed for what he had learned, but that honest employees should have intervened if an animal was abused.
"I was not aggressive at all, but very firm in my position," he said. "I told him," You run the fair, so I hope to find some one of the compassionate who will listen to me, or I will post the video. "
"(Slater) said:" Do what you need to do. "
Mather's friend, Matt West, who was there on August 18, supported Mather's description of what happened with Slater.
"Wheaton is a very passionate guy when it comes to things like that – he just has a big heart," West told Watchdog. "But it seems that (Slater) just did not want to engage with him."
West said he saw Mather's video since the first Friday of the fair and agreed that the pig was being abused. "I understand that pigs are cattle – food – but you can at least treat them with decency," he said.
A few minutes after the discussion, Mather and West said Slater had summoned the police from the fairground. An officer approached Mather, West and another friend and told them that they were being deported – for life.
"I said, it looks pretty hard. And the officer said, "You are harassing people." "Mather said." I told him, "I had a conversation."
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Mather said that he objected to the idea of giving the officer – the 784 insignia of Funk, quoted on his quote.
When the agent checked West's identity and began to search it, Mather and his friend wondered if it was legal.
The two men said that the policeman had told them that they had no constitutional right against unlawful searches and seizures on the fairground.
Mather said that he later asked Cmdr. Doug Phillips, Fair Security Manager, if there was a manual describing security procedures and policies. He said that he had been told that they would not share their policies and procedures.
He said Phillips told him, "When you're at home, you do what I say (the most vulgar)." "
On Sunday, Mather posted the distressed pig video on Facebook and then contacted Watchdog. Mather showed papers to Watchdog confirming that he had been expelled from the living room for life.
Fair: he was combative
The young people who participate in livestock competitions at the fair via 4-H and FFA sign a declaration about vaccines and other animal health care and agree to follow fair rules.
The Code of Ethics for 4-H and FFA Youth states: "I will treat all people and animals with respect and provide appropriate animal care."
The competition rules for livestock of 2019 state: "The use of practices or devices for presentation and / or manipulation, such as animal strikes, to cause swelling, the use of an electrical device or other similar practices, is not acceptable and is prohibited. "
Those who break the rules "lose rewards, rewards and auction proceeds and will be banned from future exposure." Exhibitors who violate this code of conduct undermine the integrity of all exhibitors of livestock and should be prohibited from competition."
Williamson, spokesman for the fair, called Mather's exchange with Slater more combative and said: "This was not a situation in which he was looking for ideas or was not listening. the policies and protocols in force – it was a bit threatening. "
Mather, she said, told Slater that people tended to hide behind policies and procedures and that Mather seemed to want Slater to take immediate action. She said they were in agreement that signs at the fair might help people know what to do if they saw an animal being abused.
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"We talked about the signage, and we asked why he took a video and then kept it," she said. "We have had cases where (video) can be brought to public safety so that it can be properly checked.He did not do it.He continued to come back to the same thing, saying that he wanted to schedule a meeting. "
Williamson said the fair had an animal welfare committee, and that animal abuse would be a motive for the withdrawal of a competitor and a motive for action for the board of directors. administration of the Iowa State Fair. She said anyone who is worried about how an animal is being cared for can go to the office of any henhouse or talk to a member of the animal welfare committee.
She said that the livestock control person to whom Mather had spoken was probably not receptive because he had used "swear words".
The fair displays signs indicating that all bags are subject to inspection and that they apply national and local laws.
Williamson stated that all police officers who work at the fair, either full-time or part-time, are sworn agents and that everyone has the discretion to prohibit a person from leaving the premises for different durations.
But a lawyer from Des Moines said any sworn officer working at the fairgrounds still had to comply with the state constitution and the federal constitution.
"The Fourth Amendment and Article I of the Iowa Constitution apply anywhere on public or private property," said Keith Rigg, defense attorney at Des Moines.
Although the fair has the right to expel people, Rigg asked why the officials would not prosecute anyone who was seen abusing an animal.
He also asked how he could enforce the ban on life banishing a person, since more than one million people could go to the Iowa State Fair each year. .
Follow Lee Rood on Twitter @leerood.
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