OLMA St. Gallen: Call to End the Animal Show

Every October, the annual trade fair for agriculture and food takes place in St. Gallen, at which so-called farm animals are among those presented in a live animal show. In the run-up to the event, PETA contacted the OLMA organisers and asked them in writing to refrain from putting animals on display.

Although the animal rights organisation pointed out that the transport, presentation, and programme items staged for the “entertainment” of the audience cause immense stress to the animals, those responsible are pressing ahead with the exhibition of sentient beings. PETA has sharply criticised this decision as contrary to animal welfare principles and is now publicly appealing to the organisers to hold the fair in future without an animal show, and to place bio-vegan agriculture at the centre of attention.

«At the OLMA, animals are degraded to mere exhibition objects, much as people once were at fairgrounds or so-called ethnological exhibitions. Putting living beings on display belongs in the history books! We urgently appeal to the fair’s organisers to remove animals from the programme entirely. Furthermore, the OLMA should in future place vegan nutrition and a more sustainable, animal-free form of agriculture in the spotlight, in order to educate visitors about animal-friendly and environmentally conscious food production and diet», says Lisa Kainz, agricultural scientist and PETA specialist adviser on animals in the food industry.

Fair Conceals the Grave Suffering of Animals

The OLMA “attractions” are intended to give trade fair visitors the opportunity, among other things, to engage with the keeping of so-called livestock. However, the fair presents a false picture of animal husbandry, as the mostly bleak lives of animals in cramped, manure-soiled stalls and their subsequent killing in slaughterhouses — sometimes without adequate stunning — are not shown. PETA points out that the entire event follows the logic of speciesism. The term refers to the view that humans are superior to other species and therefore have the right to determine their fate. The animal rights organization considers it problematic that this mindset is already instilled in children at events like OLMA, who thus learn that the exploitation of animals is normal or even desirable. «The presentation and auctioning of sentient beings are reminiscent of slave auctions,» criticizes Kainz.

Animals subjected to immense stress at OLMA

For the animals, exhibitions like this are an enormous burden. The often lengthy transport to the fair, the loud noises, large crowds and intrusive visitors, as well as the unfamiliar surroundings, place the animals under extreme stress. Even pregnant cattle and cows with their calves are auctioned off at the fair. The focus is on entertaining visitors and deceiving consumers about supposedly animal-friendly husbandry. Kainz explains: «Program highlights such as the crowning of the ‘Miss OLMA Cow’ or the piglet and cow races show that the animals at the fair are expected to serve primarily as entertainment.» Other planned performances, such as dressage acts with jumping animals, are carried out under compulsion and can cause pain, as the joints of cattle and horses, for example, are placed under considerable strain.

Further information:
PETA.de/Bio-vegane-Landwirtschaft
PETA.de/Soziale-Gerechtigkeit-Speziesismus
peta-schweiz.ch