Their names are Bill and Lou, and by the end of the month, they are to be slaughtered and turned into hamburger meat for the dining hall.  Their fate has prompted a barrage of criticism from townspeople, animal rights supporters and tens of thousands of online petitioners, perplexing many at the college who say that using Bill and Lou for food is an appropriate, if awkward, execution of the school’s mission.  “Our choice is either to eat the animals that we know have been cared for and lived good lives or serve the bodies of nameless animals we do not know,” said William Throop, the college’s provost, who specializes in environmental ethics.  Last July, Lou stepped into a woodchuck hole and worsened an injury in his left rear leg, which in combination with other medical problems has rendered him unable to work. His partner, Bill, is not injured, but he is aging too, and probably could not work without Lou.  Now permanently out of the yoke, Bill and Lou reclined in their pasture on a recent afternoon. Lou lay stretched out and still — a sign of ill health for cattle, which usually chew cud to pass the time — his leg joint still swollen from the injury. But he raised his head as Baylee Drown, the assistant manager of the farm here, approached him to scratch his back.  “His quality of life is rapidly deteriorating, and this is the logical time to use him for another purpose,” Ms. Drown said of Lou. “But I would like to take him home.”  Philip Ackerman-Leist, the farm director, said the college had three options for Bill and Lou: euthanasia, sanctuary or slaughter. On Oct. 12, after extensive campus discussion, the college posted its choice to its Facebook page.  “It makes sense to consume the resources we have on campus,” said Mr. Ackerman-Leist, who pointed out that the farm’s purpose is to produce food in a humane and sustainable way, not to shelter animals. “We have to think about the farm system as a whole.”  But the decision incensed animal rights groups, which posted online petitions that have amassed thousands of signatures and took to the college’s Facebook page to call for a reprieve. An animal sanctuary in Springfield, Vt., known as Veganism Is the Next Evolution, offered to take Bill and Lou into retirement.  “We thought, ‘We can solve this problem,’ ” said Pattrice Jones, a founder of the sanctuary. “It just shocks the conscience of anybody who believes in kindness to animals.”  But the college has not taken up the offer, which it says does not align with the values of a sustainable, production-based farm, further stoking the aggravation of its critics.  “It’s overwhelming,” said Ali Putnam, a senior who says she spends an hour a day reading and responding to vitriolic commentary on social media sites. “It’s really bizarre. We’re this small environmental college.”  Many locals here have struggled to accept Bill and Lou’s fate, filling newspapers with editorials and discussing the issue at length in town. Pam and Rich Mikkelson run an inn near the farm and used to watch as the oxen pulled a cart of produce down Main Street to the farmer’s market.  “We watched them train them, we watch them till the fields, plow the snow,” Ms. Mikkelson said. “They’re not just animals, they’re Bill and Lou.”  The critics, Mr. Throop said, have not fully grasped Bill and Lou’s role in the school’s sustainable farming mission.  “Bill and Lou are not pets,” he said. “They’re part of an intimate biotic community on the farm, in food webs and relationships of care and respect.”  On campus, support for their consumption is strong, even among the 30 percent of students who are vegan or vegetarian.  “It’s about sustainability, and I’ve been a vegetarian for three years, but I’m excited to eat Bill and Lou,” said Lisa Wilson, a senior. “I eat meat when I know where it comes from.”  Andrew Kohler, a senior, took a course in which he learned how to drive the oxen team.  “They start listening to you, and they become your friend,” Mr. Kohler said. “I feel honored to eat them.”  Voicing a rare opinion on campus, Lilly Byers, a junior from Albany, joined a group of about 20 protesters who gathered near campus on Friday and faced down a counterprotest of her fellow students.  “I come from a family of dairy farmers,” Ms. Byers said. “When you’ve worked an animal this long, they usually go into retirement, so I come to it from that perspective.”  Meanwhile, Emerald Hardiman, a freshman, confronted the protesters.  “Why aren’t you at factory farms right now?” Ms. Hardiman said. “They’re going to taste delicious!”
The fate of two oxen at Green Mountain College has sparked an argument over sustainability versus animal rights.