The next time an MLB manager makes a moove to the bullpen, he will anger a large group of PETA activists who think the term bullpen is insensitive to cows.
In a statement issued Thursday by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the animal rights organization made it clear they find the term “bullpen” to be mocking towards the “misery of sensitive animals.”
Instead, PETA would like MLB to begin referring to the bullpen as the “arm barn.”
HOUSTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 27: Jose Urquidy #65 of the Houston Astros warms up in the bullpen prior to Game Two of the World Series against the Atlanta Braves at Minute Maid Park on October 27, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
“As the World Series turns into a pitching duel, PETA is pitching a proposal to the baseball world: Strikeout the word ‘bullpen,’ which references the holding area where terrified bulls are kept before slaughter, in favor of a more modern, animal-friendly term. PETA’s suggestion? The arm barn,” the statement reads.
“Words matter, and baseball ‘bullpens’ devalue talented players and mock the misery of sensitive animals,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman explains. “PETA encourages Major League Baseball coaches, announcers, players, and fans to changeup their language and embrace the ‘arm barn’ instead.”
One of the cows of Syrian cattle farmer Saleh Farah, also known as “Abu Ahmed,” looks on while at the farm in the village of al-Hayjana in the Badia region southeast of Syria’s capital Damascus on April 20, 2021. – The Badia, a desert and steppe region which runs from the countryside around Syria’s capital Damascus to the border with Iraq, was once a popular stretch of rangelands. But the decade-long conflict has turned it into a no-go zone, denying livestock farmers their main source of grazing. The region used to supply 70 percent of feed for livestock across the country before the war according to Syria’s agriculture ministry. Now it is a hideout for IS jihadists who use it as a launching pad for their attacks, despite losing their last patch of territory in the country in 2019. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)
Of course, barns are where livestock are kept and forced to live against their will. So, it’s hard to see how a switch to “arm barn” is significantly less insensitive to the plight of livestock.
But hey, you do, you PETA.
The statement further stated, “cows are hung upside down and their throats are slit in the meat industry, while in rodeos, gentle bulls are tormented into kicking and bucking by being electro-shocked or prodded—all are typically held in a ‘bullpen’ while they await their cruel fate.”
“Bullpen” refers to the area of a “bull’s pen” where bulls are held before they are slaughtered—it’s a word with speciesist roots & we can do better than that.
Switching to “arm barn” would be a home run for baseball fans, players, and animals 💪⚾️ pic.twitter.com/2FzSpDG9mQ
— Arm Barn (@peta) October 28, 2021
MLB has not yet commented on PETA’s suggestion.
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