Animal welfare group vandalizes Iowa butter cow
SCOTT MCFETRIDGE, AP
DES
MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An animal welfare group intent on sending a message
in support of veganism hid until closing time then poured red paint
over the Iowa State Fair's butter cow.
But the damage was quickly scraped away and visitors never knew the
iconic sculpture had been damaged.
Iowans
for Animal Liberation claimed responsibility for the attack in a news
release emailed Sunday night, saying members hid in the cavernous
Agriculture Building on Saturday night and
emerged after the fair closed for the day. They then broke into a
refrigerated room where the sculpted cow and other butter sculptures are
displayed and poured red paint over the cow.
The words "Freedom for all" were scrawled on a display window.
"The
paint represents the blood of 11 billion animals murdered each year in
slaughterhouses, egg farms, and dairies," the group said in the
statement. "We intend this action to serve
as a wake up call to all who continue to consume meat, dairy, eggs,
leather, and all animal products: You are directly supporting suffering
and misery on the largest scale the world has ever known."
Iowa
State Patrol Sgt. Scott Bright said Monday that fair staffers
discovered the damage Sunday morning. A sculptor scraped off damaged
sections of the cow and reapplied new butter while
other workers cleaned off paint elsewhere in the room.
The
display area, which this year also features a sculpture of Abraham
Lincoln and a depiction of the Lincoln Highway that crosses Iowa, opened
as usual at 9 a.m. Sunday.
The
cow, which is made with about 600 pounds of butter covering a wood and
metal frame, has been a part of the fair since 1911. The butter is
reused for up to 10 years.
Describing
the vandalism as "more of an inconvenience than anything else," Bright
said security procedures at the 450 acres fairground in east Des Moines
would remain the same. He noted
the Agriculture Building, built in 1904, has plenty of hiding places
and is usually packed with people, many of whom gather around the butter
cow display.
"Everyone comes out to see the butter cow," Bright said. The fair typically attracts more than 1 million visitors annually.
"The butter cow looks good now and everything is back to normal," he said.
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