LET TERS
WORTHY SHEEP
DURD, NOT TURD
The June 23 EW provided a striking
example of how humans compartmentalize
nonhuman animals: Some species are
treated as companions, while others are
viewed as mere resources for human use.
A two-page spread (plus cover
photo) involved lovely photos being
used to increase the adoption rate of pit
bulls. Subsequent pages included two
large promotions for the “Black Sheep
Gathering,” celebrating an industry that is
anything but innocuous.
Most people mistakenly think that wool
production doesn’t involve animal cruelty
and believe that shearing sheep is doing
the animals a favor. But since shearers are
paid by volume, gentleness is ignored in
favor of speed. It’s a rough process, and
manhandling these gentle animals is the
norm.
Shearing wouldn’t be necessary but for
the fact that modern-day sheep have been
manipulated to grow massive amounts
of wool, unlike their non-domesticated
relatives who grow hair that naturally
sheds.
People are surprised to learn that
sheep are born with tails, normally cut off
without anesthetic soon after birth. Males
are castrated (again, without anesthetic)
and lambs killed for meat are slaughtered
at six months. Sheep used for wool are
slaughtered once their productivity wanes,
usually at around five to six years. During
their abbreviated lifespan, they often suffer
from skin infections, foot rot and joint
problems from being weighed down by their
In response to Janet Bevirt and Bonny
Bettman McCornack’s use of DTURD as
an acronym for Downtown Urban Renewal
District [Letters, June 23], “DURD”
would be the appropriate acronym since
“downtown” is one word, according to the
Oxford English Dictionary. Inserting the “T”
into this acronym is not an accident and what
it insinuates is clearly crass and unproductive.
But City Council passed the debated
funding measure, so whether it’s a DURD or
DTURD is a moot point now anyway, isn’t it?
Anya Dobrowolski
Eugene
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June 30, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
TRILLIUM TAKEOVER
constantly growing wool coats. They’re
also affected by weather; if sheared in early
spring, they are left naked and susceptible
to the cold. Those not sheared are subject
to heat stroke. Look around at the sheep
dotting fields around Eugene — the vast
majority have no shelter from the elements.
Sheep are just as worthy as dogs of not
being used and abused. As society becomes
more educated about animal sentience, it will
come to realize that farmed animals are no less
morally relevant than companion animals.
Barb Lomow
Eugene
The recent takeover of Agate/Trillium
by Centene raises serious questions with
respect to the Affordable Care Act.
Given the lofty cash reserves and $109
million payout to the shareholders of
Agate/Trillium, the question that is begged
is: “What percentage of their revenues
were actually spent on patient care?”
In an amendment to the Affordable Care
Act (ACA) written by Sen. Al Franken, the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
of 2010 now mandates minimum Medical
Loss Ratios of 85 percent for the large group
market and 80 percent for the individual and
small group markets. Insurers that do not
spend 80 to 85 percent of their premiums
on patient health care costs must now issue
rebates to those that paid premiums to them.
I would encourage the state of Oregon
to do an ACA audit of Trillium to see if
they met the spending requirements on