I looked up the definition of livestock just for giggles. By definition, any animal raised for profit on a farm or ranch is "livestock". Seems simple enough.
Imagine my surprise (and sadness) when I read about a judge ruling that the nine billion birds killed each year for consumption aren’t actually livestock and don’t need to be rendered insensible to pain prior to their throats being slit.
Let’s back up a second - stunned insensible? According to the federal Methods of Humane Slaughter Act, livestock must be knocked unconscious before the final killing blow. This usually translates to a physical blow to the head for cattle, sheep and goats and an electrical stunning for pigs. But what about the most killed species, the birds? They have consistently been excluded from this basic protection since the law’s inception. Birds do not need to be stunned into an unconscious state - that is nine billion animals who can legally have their throats cuts open while conscious.
Poultry processors generally submerge birds in an electrified water bath, which just doesn’t sound like much fun. Studies show that, if improperly electrified (and they often are), an electric water bath only renders the bird immobile but not unconscious. She can feel every thing done to her, but she cannot physically move away from the pain - what a sad, scary way to die.
I know it’s oft-repeated here, but you have the power to implement change. You can certainly choose to contact federal and state officials, imploring them to implement basic standards of welfare when killing farmed animals. Better yet, you can choose to step out of the system and refrain from eating any product that resulted in the suffering of another feeling, sentient being.
-Marji Beach, Program Coordinator
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Helping animals is easy
By now, you've probably read or seen one of the over 2,000 media accounts involving the cruel treatment of cows sent to slaughter and the subsequent recall of 143-million pounds of beef. Cruelty charges are being laid, schools are making sure their beef isn't from the Chino, CA slaughterhouse and legislation is being proposed to close a loophole that permits downed animals from entering the human food chain.
We are duly impressed with the coverage this industry-standard cruelty is receiving. It's about time. We don't want it to overshadow the fact that this slaughterhouse is not unique, and the treatment of these animals not aberrant within animal agribusiness.
A big thank-you to the Humane Society of the United States and their dedicated undercover investigator for exposing this cruelty.
Times are changing, and we believe it will be for the better.
How You Can Help:
1) Press Pause: That's right, pause and consider your dietary choices.
If the time isn't right for a vegan diet, reduce your consumption and nominate a day of the week as your Meat-Out day.
If the time is right (and we hope it is!), go vegan!
There are a plethora of mouth-watering and tasty-recipes available on the internet and at your local bookstore!
Try Veganomicon, Vegan with a Vengeance, Vegan Planet, How it all Vegan, and the very important Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.
Becoming vegan is a fun experience - it is a kindness we extend to the animals, our bodies and the planet. A win-win situation for all, really.
2) Contact the USDA: Contact USDA secretary of agriculture, Edward Schafer.
Ask him to:
- close the loophole permitting such blatant cruelty to animals.
- stop allowing downed animals to enter the food chain.
- require USDA inspectors spend more time present at federally-inspected slaughterhouses.
Email: Edward.W.Schafer@usda.gov
3) Change the Menu: Here's a truth animal agribusiness doesn't like to share: the beef that ends up in government-funded school programs come from sick, diseased, overworked dairy cows.
Why? It's cheap.
And the solution shouldn't be to just buy meat from other slaughterhouses. It should include a serious reflection on what we do and do not want to teach our children. If we want to imbue a sense of compassion, of what is right and what is wrong, then perhaps we should encourage a trend of vegan menu options, instead of replacing one cruel product with another. After all, there is no escaping this fact: in order to produce cheap meat at a fast pace, animals must be mistreated from birth to death.
What you can do: Visit CHOICE, a website that will assist you in getting vegetarian menu options available in your child's school. If you're a teenager, advocate on behalf of the animals and encourage menu changes at your school.
We are duly impressed with the coverage this industry-standard cruelty is receiving. It's about time. We don't want it to overshadow the fact that this slaughterhouse is not unique, and the treatment of these animals not aberrant within animal agribusiness.
A big thank-you to the Humane Society of the United States and their dedicated undercover investigator for exposing this cruelty.
Times are changing, and we believe it will be for the better.
How You Can Help:
1) Press Pause: That's right, pause and consider your dietary choices.
If the time isn't right for a vegan diet, reduce your consumption and nominate a day of the week as your Meat-Out day.
If the time is right (and we hope it is!), go vegan!
There are a plethora of mouth-watering and tasty-recipes available on the internet and at your local bookstore!
Try Veganomicon, Vegan with a Vengeance, Vegan Planet, How it all Vegan, and the very important Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.
Becoming vegan is a fun experience - it is a kindness we extend to the animals, our bodies and the planet. A win-win situation for all, really.
2) Contact the USDA: Contact USDA secretary of agriculture, Edward Schafer.
Ask him to:
- close the loophole permitting such blatant cruelty to animals.
- stop allowing downed animals to enter the food chain.
- require USDA inspectors spend more time present at federally-inspected slaughterhouses.
Email: Edward.W.Schafer@usda.gov
3) Change the Menu: Here's a truth animal agribusiness doesn't like to share: the beef that ends up in government-funded school programs come from sick, diseased, overworked dairy cows.
Why? It's cheap.
And the solution shouldn't be to just buy meat from other slaughterhouses. It should include a serious reflection on what we do and do not want to teach our children. If we want to imbue a sense of compassion, of what is right and what is wrong, then perhaps we should encourage a trend of vegan menu options, instead of replacing one cruel product with another. After all, there is no escaping this fact: in order to produce cheap meat at a fast pace, animals must be mistreated from birth to death.
What you can do: Visit CHOICE, a website that will assist you in getting vegetarian menu options available in your child's school. If you're a teenager, advocate on behalf of the animals and encourage menu changes at your school.
Rethinking the meat guzzler
A New York Times article by Mark Bittman details the effects meat production has on our environment. Health problems and animal cruelty are mentioned in passing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
If you do not have a NY Times account, get a free log-in id from www.bugmenot.com (just enter the URL in the search box).
Highlights:
- The United States comprises 5% of the world's population, yet slaughters 15% of the world's total farmed animals (10 billion).
- A third of all ice-free land is directly/indirectly involved in meat, dairy and egg production.
- Nearly 20% of all greenhouse gases are produced by the livestock industry.
- Two to five times more grain is required to produce the same caloric amount through livestock than direct consumption of grain.
- Americans consume twice the maximum, suggested allowance of animal protein a day! Humans only need about 30 grams of protein a day, yet Americans consume around 110 grams.
The production of animal products is a burden to the environment, our bodies and necessarily cruel to animals.
Reduce and eliminate - it isn't hard to do!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
If you do not have a NY Times account, get a free log-in id from www.bugmenot.com (just enter the URL in the search box).
Highlights:
- The United States comprises 5% of the world's population, yet slaughters 15% of the world's total farmed animals (10 billion).
- A third of all ice-free land is directly/indirectly involved in meat, dairy and egg production.
- Nearly 20% of all greenhouse gases are produced by the livestock industry.
- Two to five times more grain is required to produce the same caloric amount through livestock than direct consumption of grain.
- Americans consume twice the maximum, suggested allowance of animal protein a day! Humans only need about 30 grams of protein a day, yet Americans consume around 110 grams.
The production of animal products is a burden to the environment, our bodies and necessarily cruel to animals.
Reduce and eliminate - it isn't hard to do!
