Thursday, September 8, 2011

Vegan for ethical reasons

The way we are killing animals is absolutely discusting!!! Many people don't want to know how animals are killed. Once you know the process, you will be less likely to eat that burger again!

Birds:
1. Chickens are crammed into densely populated sheds where waste accumulates. The resulting ammonia levels commonly cause painful burns to the birds' skin, eyes, and respiratory tracts.
2. To cut losses from birds pecking at each other, farmers remove a third to a half of the beak from chickens, turkeys and ducks. This causes severe pain and in some cases they are unable to eat and starve.
3. Rapid growth rate has been accompanied by painful skeletal deformites and ascites.
4. Egg-laying hens are packed in cages and can become immobilized and die of dehydration or asphyxiation.
Pigs:
1. The pigs get depressed and won't care if their tail is biten off. To solve this problem, the tail is snipped off. It is now more sensitive and the pigs will now care if another pig is nipping at it.
2. The ends of their teeth are snipped off with pliers.
3. Males are castrated.
4. Because of improper stunning methods, many pigs are still conscious when they are dumped into scalding-hot water.
Dairy Cows: 
1. Dairy cows are killed once thier milk production declines.
2. Dairy cows are usually unable to nurse their young. Most calves raise for veal are males from the dairy industry.
3. She is kept constantly pregnant.
4. In the wild a cow would live 20-25 years but on a dairy farm they are lucky to live 4 years.
Veal Calves:
1. The calf spends most of it's time in complete darkness in a small crate, in which he cannot even turn around. Darkness keeps calves quiet and reduced the restlessness and boredom of standing in a bare wooden crate.
2. The calves are deliberately kept anemic so that their flesh is will be pale and tender.
Cattle:
1. Castration of young males is a common procedure. Branding is also a common practice.
2. Dehorning is another painful procedure. Horns just take up room in the feedlot and allow for the dangerous possibility of the cattle attacking each other.
Free-Range Farms:
1. Poultry meat may be labeled free-range if the birds were provided an opportunity to access the outdoors. This could mean 20,000 birds crowded inside a shed with a single exit leading to a muddy strip, saturated with droppings.
2. The cage-free label for eggs is not regulated by the USDA, nor does it guarantee that the hens were provided access to the outdoors.

Many people ask me why vegan and not vegetarian. In my opinion it would be better to eat meat than eggs and dairy because dairy cows and egg-laying hens are treated the worst. They have to live longer....no freedom, little movement, darkness. If you drink milk you are supporting the veal industry. Milk is meant for the young. Do we drink our mother's milk when we are 40?


*Information from Vegan Outreach, Vegetarian Society of Colorado, PETA

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