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Why Vegan? Animals are not “ours”. They are individuals with lives of their own not to be dominated or controlled by humans. Society objectifies animals and makes the irrational conclusion that animals cannot feel pain, think, or even possess emotions. This misconception allows people to carelessly continue consuming flesh, eggs, dairy and other “products” from sentient beings without questioning where, how and who it came from. Objectification authorizes abuse and killing; people are no longer required to think of animals as individuals, but rather products to be exchanged, priced and consumed. In addition, the greedy demand of consumers along with the profits industry rakes in is what perpetuates the murder, exploitation and abuse of non-human animals.
By demanding the flesh, eggs, dairy, skins, honey, etc. of animals, the consumer is also purchasing an animal's pain, agony and suffering. Most people are not innocent by-standers but directly participate – with their purchasing power – in the murder of billions of land animals and sea animals every year. Buying flesh, eggs, dairy, honey, and skins is an investment in and approval of murder, torture and cruelty. In addition, when a consumer purchases these “products” they perpetuate the so-called “normality” of mass slaughter waged against non-human animals and ignore the animals' pain. Each time a greedy dollar is laid down to buy a slab of flesh, a block of molding lactate, or a jar of bee vomit, the demand for the animal death toll increases. Consumers are hiring assassins to do their “dirty work” so that they may enjoy the “luxury” of eating or wearing someone else's flesh (etc). But what about the animal's luxury to life? The most precious thing we hold for ourselves – life – is so easily taken away from another being just as long as it doesn't affect us, or so people falsely believe.
Contrary to this misinformation, the meat industry has caused thousands of human illnesses and deaths every year (such as influenza outbreaks) due to the harboring of dangerous bacteria and viruses that spawn during slaughter. Moreover, humans are killing animals, only to kill themselves. Heart disease, high blood pressure and/or cholesterol, cancer and obesity are directly linked to the consumption flesh, dairy and eggs and more humans are dying from these diseases each year. Pharmaceutical companies that excuse the torture of sentient beings for “human health” and drug safety are killing us faster . One out of every seven hospital beds are due to the failure of pharmaceutical drugs – tested safe on animals.
It should also be noted the Earth is destroyed due to factory farming and the slaughter of animals. Animal fecal matter and blood run-off from factory farms causes mass detriment to the environment such as contamination and poisoning (i.e. E-coli). In order to build the mass “feed lots” and buildings where animals are held captive, forests are demolished (also know as deforestation). In addition, animal agribusiness creates more greenhouse gas emission than cars and pollutes rivers, lakes, and oceans. In conclusion, veganism is an ethical code and commitment to a life without flesh, dairy, eggs, honey, skins, furs or any other “products” derived and exploited from non-human animals. It is the rejection of the commodification of animals and respects each individual being to live without human constraints. Veganism is the commitment based on the rights of animals to live a life free of murder, abuse, enslavement and objectification. Although veganism benefits human health, we should adopt a vegan lifestyle for the animals and the Earth – not ourselves. It is time to abolish all animal exploitation and never compromise in the face of a perceived “threat”. There is no larger threat than all the animals who are abused, exploited and murdered every minute of the day. Animals count on you to act completely on their behalf, and there is no time for excuses. Honestly stand up for all animals. Go vegan. The notion of “humanely” killing an animal is often a spin projected by those who profit off the exploitation of non-human animals in order to comfort the consumer. “Humane” animal slaughter is the fairy tale version of a factory farm. There is no way to “humanely” murder an individual. Most people would agree when applying this concept to a human life but do not consider the implications of “humane” meat, eggs or dairy exploited from non-human lives.
All animals are sent to a slaughterhouse, no matter how “good” they were treated beforehand (which entails being beaten and kicked around by factory farm/“free range” farm employees). In a word, “humane” slaughter may make people feel better about where their flesh, eggs or dairy comes from, but it will never change the fact that these animals suffer from cruel and needless deaths. The most common method of killing inside the slaughterhouse is slitting the animals' throat while they are still conscious. Sometimes bolt guns are shot into the animal's (typically cows) head in order to stun them. However, the device is very inefficient – 1 out of every 20 times – and the animal remains conscious, and in excruciating pain. Seizures are also induced from the bolt gun as they are dragged to their deaths. When their throat is slit with a dulled knife, the animal is “bled completely” by severing all major blood vessels connected to the heart. The animal is left to “bleed out” for two minutes, kicking, crying and screaming while their lives are drained from them, still conscious of the pain they endure and struggling to stay alive. This is the “ideal” situation of slaughter, but many cows and other animals facing the knife for human greed suffer from many more sick and heinous crimes (as seen in Earthlings and Meet Your Meat).
Excerpt taken from veganTHIS “The floor of a pig slaughterhouse is equally as gory and the treatment of the animals is equally as morally offensive. Replace the captive bolt gun with an oversized pair of tongs that are fitted upon the faces of the pigs. An electric shock is delivered through the tongs in order to render the animal into a "passive state" (aka. violent seizure). Slaughterhouse workers are known to "cheat" and reduce the legally mandated duration of the electric shock in order to boost efficiency making an already horrifying and painful process even worse. The animal is then sent off hanging upside down still alive and suffering greatly to face the same treatment from a dull knife...” Most chickens are slaughtered after just weeks of their lives, hung by their feet and “stunned” before they reach an automated cutting blade. Again, like the case of cows and pigs, chickens are inefficiently stunned and remain conscious while their throats are cut open. However, many chickens flail around out of fear and shock, trying to break free of the device that holds them. Since chickens throats are not “properly” cut open and drained, the animal still maintains consciousness before being dunked into scalding hot water, thus chickens are boiled alive. In addition, chickens are the most frequently bred and murdered animals in factory farms due to the large demand of the “whiter meat” from consumers. Due to the increasing demand, industry speeds up the processes in which animals are murdered, meaning less oversight and more chickens maimed and boiled while they are still alive.
For more information on animal slaughter visit: http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp
Excerpt taken from Vegan Outreach “A growing number of people are looking to free-range products as an alternative to factory-farmed animal products. Poultry meat may be labeled “free-range” if the birds were provided an opportunity to access the outdoors. No other requirements—such as the stocking density, the amount of time spent outdoors, or the quality and size of the outdoor area—are specified by the USDA. As a result, free-range conditions may amount to 20,000 birds crowded inside a shed with a single exit leading to a muddy strip, saturated with droppings.
The free-range label applies only to birds raised for meat, not eggs. There is a cage-free label for eggs; but it is not regulated by the USDA, nor does it guarantee that the hens were provided access to the outdoors. Neither label requires third-party certification. Even for USDA Organic, the most extensively regulated label, minimum levels of outdoor access have not been set and specific rules do not apply to stocking density or flock size.” Even if the mythical “free-range” farm did exist as it is suppose to function, it would not be acceptable nor morally justifiable. A chicken's flesh or eggs are not “ours” to take and eat. We must remember animals are lives not products, and reject the notion that animals are here for our pleasure at any cost. For more information on “free-range” visit:
Chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys live in tightly packed and populated buildings, and confined to cages their entire lives before slaughter. Due to tremendous amounts of waste inside the cages and buildings, ammonia builds up and burns birds' skin, eyes and respiratory tracts. Egg-laying hens die of asphyxiation and dehydration since they are packed so tightly in wire cages, typically 4-5 chickens crammed into a space the size of a half sheet of paper. Once the hens' “use” for producing eggs is deemed finished by industry, hens are sent to slaughter. Male chicks, of no value to the egg industry, are killed at birth – ground up alive by a process called maceration and thrown away like trash. Female chicks are debeaked at the hatchery and inherit the dismal lives of their mothers bound to a cage or building to produce eggs for human consumption. In addition, many chicks starve to death since they are unable to eat due to the deformation of their beaks.
Ducks and geese who are used to make “Foie Gras” are force fed when a pipe is jammed down their throats in order to “enlarge the liver”. Many of the ducks and geese vomit all over themselves and their cages after being force fed and constrained to these cages until slaughter. For more information on birds visit: Pigs never see the sunlight like most animals enslaved in factory farms. Sows live in narrow cages where they are unable to even turn around. Pigs spend their entire lives over a metal grate or wooden slats, with their own waste piled below them. At one time or another, many pigs will get their legs caught in between the wood slats, and are trampled to death when other pigs try to move around. Many investigations have exposed workers hitting sows with metal rods, slamming piglets on concrete and jamming rods into the backside of pigs. In addition to abuse, industry employees castrate piglets and perform tail docking with no anesthesia.
For more information on pigs visit: Cow's milk is for calves, not humans. There is no other mammal besides the human on this planet that drinks the lactate of another mammal. “Dairy” cows are repetitively raped – which entails “a person inserting their arm far into the cow's rectum in order to position the uterus, and then forcing an instrument into her vagina”* – on what the industry calls the “rape rack”. Female cows endure recurring artificial insemination sessions in order to make more milk faster for the consumer. The excessive milk production causes udder breakdown, leading to a early slaughter at 5 to 6 years of age (Cows can naturally live up to 25 years old). Industry steals the cows' young away right after birth and male calves are either slaughtered immediately or raised for “veal”. Baby male cows are kept in solitary stalls, unable to move or turn around since they are chained by the neck and confined for 18 to 20 weeks before they are murdered. Every dairy cow will eventually be killed for their flesh and some cows are specifically raised for “beef”. Cows raised for “beef” are branded, castrated and their horns are cut off with no anesthesia. Common methods of murdering a cow include shooting a metal rod through the animal's head with a captive bolt gun, electric stunning where insufficient amperage causes cows to be paralyzed but retain sensibility and “ritual slaughter” where animals are fully conscious when their carotid arteries cut. Many cows suffer from broken bones when dragged to slaughter and after being hoisted into the air by a chain connected to one leg.
For more information on cows visit: Every year, billions of fish are killed for human consumption, and wild fish populations are being destroyed due to aquaculture (fish factory farming). When fish are brought to the surface of the ocean after being dragged through the ocean floor, they suffer from decompression – where intense internal pressure ruptures their swimbladder, popping out their eyes and pushing their stomachs out their mouths. Fish are alive and conscious when decompression happens. In addition, other victims of the aquaculture industry, such as dolphins, turtles and birds, are dragged along with fish in trawling nets or caught on hooked lines.
For more information on fish visit: Bee hives are manipulated by “beekeepers” to produce more amounts of honey than natural – to supply a consumer's demand and line the beekeeper's pockets with profit. Honey is a natural substance made by bees for bees that is suppose to sustain the hive over the winter months. However, when humans demand honey, bees are overworked to death through induced “natural instincts”. The beekeeper steals all the honey, which is replaced by bags of sugar water or corn syrup to ensure the hive gets off to a “good start”, not for the bees survival but for more profit. In addition, a process called swarming stimulates bees and tricks the hive to operate to the human's benefit. Bees start working earlier than they would naturally, and the queen bee is artificially inseminated and killed in about 2 years (although their life span is 5 years) in order to exert control over the hive.
For more information on bees visit: Many people think making wool does not hurt sheep, but rather a painless process where sheep are sheared and they enjoy it. This is far from the truth. A practice called mulesing is the cutting away of large areas of skin and flesh from a sheep's backside when the sheep are still alive and no anesthesia is used. Mulesing is often excused as a “preventative measure” against a condition called flystrike where flies lay eggs in the wool leading to infestation and ammonia poisoning. However, mulesing has been proven to be abusive, casing severe chronic pain to sheep, and highly unjustifiable since technological advances have made mulesing outdated and barbaric. In addition, it is a myth that sheep need to be shorn, since naturally they shed their coats all by themselves.
For more information on sheep visit:
Due to the fur industry's greed, animals are trapped, gassed or anally/vaginally electrocuted and then skinned alive for their fur. Gassing and electrocution are done to animals while they are still conscious. Mink, foxes, raccoons, chinchillas, rabbits among many others are imprisoned in small cages where they develop neurotic behaviors and driven to insanity. Smaller animals are often bludgeoned in the head or have their necks snapped, which does not always result in an instant death. The majority of animals are still alive as their skin is ripped of their conscious bodies with a knife.
For more information on fur visit:
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Earthlings
EARTHLINGS is an award-winning documentary film about the suffering of animals for food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research. Considered the most persuasive documentary ever made, EARTHLINGS is nicknamed “the Vegan maker” for its sensitive footage shot at animal shelters, pet stores, puppy mills, factory farms, slaughterhouses, the leather and fur trades, sporting events, circuses and research labs. The film is narrated by Academy Award® nominee Joaquin Phoenix and features music by platinum-selling recording artist Moby. Initially ignored by distributors, today EARTHLINGS is considered the definitive animal rights film by organizations around the world. “Of all the films I have ever made, this is the one that gets people talking the most,” said Phoenix. “For every one person who sees EARTHLINGS, they will tell three.” Special thanks to Earthlings.com
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