I came across the most disturbing thing on the Internet today. Watch the video Here.
I almost cried.
I was once a vegetarian for two years. Now I am seriously considering it all over again. It is ridiculous and disgusting how those poor animals are treated. It makes me seriously second guess the quality of the meat that I have eaten in the past. I don’t want to eat anything with a face.
Tens of thousands of chickens are smashed into a pen and remain there for their entire lives. With all the antibiotics and hormones injected into the birds daily, they often develop too quickly for their own legs and become paralyzed. As shown in the video, the farmer just beats the affected birds and lets them die in the corner. They will never receive medical attention even if they have bloody sores. Infected and dying the birds are taken to a slaughterhouse where their throats are slit and their feathers scorched off–a process in which many of the birds are still conscious.
Female Hens’ beaks are burned off without anesthesia so that they cannot harm eachother. 20 birds can be placed in one tiny cage where there is no room to even lift a feather. When egg production slows, farmers starve their birds and pump them full of hormones. Any hens that die from starvation are left in the cages to decompose with the other birds of which humans will consume in the future.
Pork its the other white meat and the conditions in which that pork lives is horrendous. Piglets are castrated, have their teeth pulled and their tales cut off without anesthesia shortly after birth. The cages in which the pigs live are too small for them to even turn around.
Dairy cows produce milk for the same reason that people create milk–to feed their young. The normal amount of milk for a cow to produce in a day is about 16 ounces or so. The antibiotics that are being given to cows makes them produce 50 lbs of milk a day! It causes a painful disease of the mammary glands of the cow called mastitis. The cows are then sent to the slaughterhouse and consumed by humans, infection and all. Male cows are castrated, branded and their horns are cut off without anesthesia when they get to the certain age. They too are then sent to the slaughterhouse.
And so on and so forth. All in all the animal meat business is cruel and uncalled for! I don’t mind eating meat and I don’t mind others eating meat, but they need to change their methods..its above all sad and dangerous to our health.
Paul
February 26th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
I went vegetarian last year for health and curiosity reasons. Once I made the transition, I did research on the physiological, environmental, and spiritual effects on being vegetarian. Now that I’ve experienced the clarity after my body detoxed (and the icky when I accidentally consumed beef broth), I don’t think I’ll ever go back to eating flesh. I still have dairy, mostly cheese and I always try to go organic with dairy products. I just don’t think it’s practical for me to go full on hardcore vegan… avoiding honey and gelatin is difficult!
Caesi
March 4th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
@ Paul:
I completely agree. I have found that I am unable to become a hardcore vegan. I consume a lot of cheese and yogurt. It is a great way to increase your protein intake if you dont like tofu all that much.