Citation:
Funes Monzote, Reinaldo. (2016). The Rise and Fall of Dairy Cows in Socialist Cuba. Global Environment. 9. 342-375. 10.3197/ge.2016.090203.
In The Rise and Fall of Dairy Cows in Socialist Cuba, a comprehensive historical account of the environmental history of Cuba and the shift in the agricultural industry from cattle raising for meat consumption to its transition to its dairy production. The author Reinaldo Funes-Monzote is actively involved in the history of Cuba with a specialization in the environmental history of Cuba. Funes-Monzote, beside his studies and research in Cuba and its history, serves as a professor of history at the University of Havana. His credibility is reinforced by his established works in historical accounts of Cuba and other Latin American countries, his service as a professor at the prestigious Yale University, and his active involvement in the Council of Latin American and Iberian Studies. Funes-Monzote reports the unsustainable relationship between the consumers of meat in Cuba and the animals being raised for slaughter and meat consumption. The vast history Funes-Monzote recounts reveals the relationship between Cuban society and nature. This chapter includes several scopes in the environmental history of Cuba, as environmental, economic, political and social factors are taken into account. The United States and other world powers maintained secular control over Cuba’s economy and supported their agricultural industry and cattle industry. The Cuban government developed their agricultural industry through modernization and diversification of their livestock. Until the late 1980’s, Cuban agriculture relied heavily on artificial insemination. When Cuba lost the support of the Soviet Union, the Cuban economy suffered and they needed to find new ways to supplement their agricultural industry.
The author was clear through the use of precise and thoroughly explained examples to argue certain critical points. Overall the author was clear to point out how the entire cattle population in Cuba was able to be altered through selective breeding with cattle of high milk production rates. This resulted in a community in Cuba that only cared for the milk production rates of their cattle resulting in a decline in the rights and respect for these animals. The author Funes-Monzote was clear to note that the human diet plays a key role in the treatment of animals due to its ability to completely alter food production, through the use of the example in which the people of Cuba desired and needed a diet of less meat proteins and more dairy proteins. This need for the dietary change of an entire population resulted in the complete restructuring of the cattle industry in Cuba resulting in the slaughter of healthy cattle and a reduction in the quality of treatment of these animals. Political movements were also shown to alter the treatment of animals. In the reading the author states that the tariffs imposed on the import of dairy from the U.S. to Cuba was the reason that Cuba had to begin producing their own dairy resulting in the restructuring of Cuba’s cattle industry. In general the author did not analyze the points argued in the article, he used facts and examples that indicated his beliefs on the subject.
The author was very neutral in his statement of the history of Cuban cattle but some major points were reflected in his writing. Through the use of selective breeding of the cattle population in Cuba Funes-Monzote was clear to show the major influence the government and the economy has on the treatment of animals. Funes-Monzote proved that in times of need a population can be completely altered for a high price by choosing certain animals with desired traits and using them as the main source for reproduction in a population. In this example in Cuba, cattle that were producing small quantities of milk were killed off in attempt to purify the gene pool. It was clear to see that the rights of the animals were not considered. The desire of the human population in Cuba to increase their dairy production resulted in mass slaughter of cattle and forced breeding. Proving that in our society today, human’s needs outweigh the rights of animals, which Funes-Monzote supported using the example of the restructuring of the cattle industry in Cuba.
The article, The Rise and Fall of Dairy Cows in Socialist Cuba, conveys the the gruesome horrific treatment of cattle in Cuba. The cattle of both the dairy and meat industry were objectified and used merely for the production of products for companies to sell. This treatment is consistent with the treatment of animals today and is a complete violation of animal rights. More importantly, this article, written by, Reinaldo Funes-Monzote, parallels articles that were previously analyzed earlier this month. One such article is, Animal Rights a Very Short Introduction, written by David DeGrazia in which DeGrazia writes about how female hens are prioritized over male hens. This occurs because the female hens are more valuable than the male counterparts and as a result the male hens are slaughtered. DeGrazia writes, “Having no commercial value, male chickens are gassed, ground up alive, or suffocated.”(DeGrazia, 67). Similar to the cows that were slaughtered for not producing enough milk, the male chickens were slaughtered for not being valuable enough to the companies that owned the chickens. This portrays a larger problem of animals rights and their expansion throughout the world. The objectification of animals makes it harder for humans to connect to them and thus makes it harder for animals rights to make an impact.
Does the genetic modification of animals aid towards their objectification?
If selective breeding were to be used to make the animals safer in their environments would it be moral?
Citations
Yale Educational Travel, ivy.yale.edu/yet/faculty_members/1511.