In Memory of Jill Phipps

Jill Phipps was a British animal rights activist. She lived in Coventry, England. On 1 February 1995, Jill was crushed to death under the wheels of a lorry carrying live baby veal calves into Coventry Airport in Baginton, England, to be flown to Amsterdam for distribution across Europe. 10 of the 33 protesters present had broken through police lines and were trying to bring the lorry to a halt by sitting in the road or chaining themselves to it. Jill was crushed beneath the lorry's wheels and her fatal injuries included a broken spine. Phipps' brother Zab commented: "Jill was crushed and died on the way to hospital. Our mother, Nancy, was with her. The lorry driver has not been charged, not even with driving without due care and attention."

The Crown Prosecution Service decided there was not enough evidence to bring charges against the driver, Stephen Yates. Jill's family believe that the police were to blame for her death, because the police appeared determined to keep the convoy of lorries moving despite the protest.

Veal calf exports from Coventry Airport ended months later, when the aviation firm belonging to the pilot responsible for the veal flights, Christopher Barrett-Jolley, went bankrupt following accusations of running guns from Slovakia to Sudan in breach of EU rules. In 2006 he was charged with smuggling 271 kg of cocaine from Jamaica into Southend airport. The continuing level of protest was such that several local councils and a harbour board banned live exports from their localities. All live exports of calves later stopped due to fears of BSE infection. In 2006 this ban was lifted, but Coventry Airport pledged that it would refuse requests to fly veal calves.
(from Remember Jill Phipps Myspace Page)



From a Tribute to Jill:


"Jill's peaceful protests took many forms, from providing a home to a stray dog, to handing out leaflets, to sabbing a hunt, to standing in front of a lorry load of young calves destined for a short hellish life in veal crates. When Jill stood in front of the lorry that killed her, she understood the risks but typically for her she assumed that the police and the lorry driver would respect life as much as she did, unfortunately this was not true and in the end Jill gave her life for her beliefs and for others who could not defend themselves - this is the greatest act of bravery that is possible by a human being. Jill is not a martyr, she is a hero and her actions will inspire and give courage to everyone who knew her and to many thousands of people who never met her. Jill`s bravery and compassion will go down in history and she will never be forgotten."


JILL's STORY




LINKS


http://www.jillphipps.org.uk/jillsFilm.htm
http://www.myspace.com/rememberjillphipps
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Phipps
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Saints/ARHallOfFame/JillPhipps.htm
http://www.animalethics.org.uk/i-ch6-7-phipps.html



have you ever asked yourself how far are you willing to go to honour your values and beliefs?
are you willing to talk for your brothers when they might need your help?

were you brought up into this world only for passing by like a leaf in the wind, or are your actions going to make a difference for some fellow earthlings?

it is through a conscious and meaningful life that we will make the most out of this passage on Earth, and through a life that matters not only for us.

Zoos in China - when entertainment meets cruelty

The smiling children giggled as they patted the young goat on its head and tickled it behind the ears.
Some of the more boisterous ones tried to clamber onto the animal's back but were soon shaken off with a quick wiggle of its bottom.
It could have been a happy scene from a family zoo anywhere in the world but for what happened next.

A man hoisted up the goat and nonchalantly threw it over a wall into a pit full of hungry lions. The poor goat tried to run for its life, but it didn't stand a chance.
The lions quickly surrounded it and started tearing at its flesh.
"Oohs" and "aahs" filled the air as the children watched the goat being ripped limb from limb. Some started to clap silently with a look of wonder in their eyes.
The scenes witnessed at Badaltearing Safari Park in China are rapidly becoming a normal day out for many Chinese families.


Baying crowds now gather in zoos across the country to watch animals being torn to pieces by lions and tigers.
Just an hour's drive from the main Olympic attractions in Beijing, Badaling is in many ways a typical Chinese zoo.
Next to the main slaughter arena is a restaurant where families can dine on braised dog while watching cows and goats being disembowelled by lions.
The zoo also encourages visitors to "fish" for lions using live chickens as bait. For just £2, giggling visitors tie terrified chickens onto bamboo rods and dangle them in front of the lions, just as a cat owner might tease their pet with a toy.
During one visit, a woman managed to taunt the big cats with a petrified chicken for five minutes before a lion managed to grab the bird in its jaws.
The crowd then applauded as the bird flapped its wings pathetically in a futile bid to escape. The lion eventually grew bored and crushed the terrified creature to death.
The tourists were then herded onto buses and driven through the lions' compound to watch an equally cruel spectacle. The buses have specially designed chutes down which you can push live chickens and watch as they are torn to shreds. Once again, children are encouraged to take part in the slaughter.
But the cruelty of Badaling doesn't stop with animals apart. For those who can still stomach it, the zoo has numerous traumatised animals to gawp at.
A pair of endangered moon bears with rusting steel nose rings are chained up in cages so small that they cannot even turn around.
One has clearly gone mad and spends most of its time shaking its head and bashing into the walls of its prison.
There are numerous other creatures, including tigers, which also appear to have been driven insane by captivity. Predictably, they are kept in cramped, filthy conditions.


East of Badaling lies the equally horrific Qingdao zoo. Here, visitors can take part in China's latest craze ” tortoise baiting".
Simply put, Chinese families now gather in zoos to hurl coins at tortoises.
Legend has it that if you hit a tortoise on the head with a coin and make a wish, then your heart's desire will come true. It's the Chinese equivalent of a village wishing well.
To feed this craze, tortoises are kept in barbaric conditions inside small bare rooms.
When giggling tourists begin hurling coins at them, they desperately try to protect themselves by withdrawing into their shells.
But Chinese zoo keepers have discovered a way round this: they wrap elastic bands around the animals' necks to stop them retracting their heads.
"Tortoises aren't exactly fleet of foot and can't run away," says Carol McKenna.
"It's monstrous that people hurl coins at the tortoises, but strapping their heads down elastic bands so they can't hide is even more disgusting"


Even worse is in store for the animals of Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village near Guilin in south-east China.
Here, live cows are fed to tigers to amuse cheering crowds. During a recent visit, I watched in horror as a young cow was stalked and caught.
Its screams and cries filled the air as it struggled to escape.
A wild tiger would dispatch its prey within moments, but these beasts' natural killing skills have been blunted by years of living in tiny cages.
The tiger tried to kill - tearing and biting at the cow's body in a pathetic looking frenzy - but it simply didn't know how.
Eventually, the keepers broke up the contest and slaughtered the cow themselves, much to the disappointment of the crowd.
Although the live killing exhibition was undoubtedly depressing, an equally disturbing sight lay around the corner: the "animal parade".
Judging by the rest of the operation, the unseen training methods are unlikely to be humane, but what visitors view is bad enough.


Tigers, bears and monkeys perform in a degrading "entertainment". Bears wear dresses, balance on balls and not only ride bicycles but mount horses too.
The showpiece is a bear riding a bike on a high wire above a parade of tigers, monkeys and trumpet-playing bears.
Astonishingly, the zoo also sells tiger meat and wine produced from big cats kept in battery-style cages.
Tiger meat is eaten widely in China and the wine, made from the crushed bones of the animals, is a popular drink.
Although it is illegal, the zoo is quite open about its activities. In fact, it boasts of having 140 dead tigers in freezers ready for the plate.
In the restaurant, visitors can dine on strips of stir-fried tiger with ginger and Chinese vegetables. Also on the menu are tiger soup and a spicy red curry made with tenderised strips of big cat.
And if all that isn't enough, you can dine on lion steaks, bear's paw, crocodile and several different species of snake.
"Discerning" visitors can wash it all down with a glass or two of vintage wine made from the bones of Siberian tigers.
The wine is made from the 1,300 or so tigers reared on the premises. The restaurant is a favourite with Chinese Communist Party officials who often pop down from Beijing for the weekend.


China's zoos claim to be centres for education and conservation. Without them, they say, many species would become extinct.
This is clearly a fig leaf and some would call it a simple lie.
Many are no better than "freak shows" from the middle ages and some are no different to the bloody tournaments of ancient Rome.
"It's farcical to claim that these zoos are educational," says Emma Milne.
"How can you learn anything about wild animals by watching them pace up and down inside a cage? You could learn far more from a David Attenborough documentary."
Welfare groups are urging people not to go to Chinese zoos if they should visit the Olympics, as virtually every single one inflicts terrible suffering on its animals.
"They should tell the Chinese Embassy why they are refusing to visit these zoos,' says Carol McKenna of OneVoice.
"If a nation is great enough to host the Olympic Games then it is great enough to be able to protect its animals."


By Danny Penman (Daily Mail 5th Jan.2008)
Full article HERE
and more related ones HERE




Animal Abuse at Zoos in China - CLIPS:

CLIP 1
CLIP 2
CLIP 3
CLIP 4


IMPORTANT RELATED LINKS:

- China Prepares For Olympic Games
- China Unbelievable Cruelty
- Another Chinese Dog Extermination Day
- Asia - Hell on Earth for Cats and Dogs (many important links!)
- Bear Farming
- Boycott China for Animal Cruelty

What kind of future is there for China if its children think this kind of cruelty is normal?

RODEO - A Legalized Abuse of Animals

Rodeo, has been promoted as "great family fun", is in truth nothing more than a blatant exhibition of animal abuse which has no more place in a civilized society than cock-fighting or bear-baiting. It is impossible to have a "humane" rodeo, or one which does not pose serious risk of injury or death to animals. Far from being exercises of human skill and courage over wild beasts as their supporters would have us believe, they are manipulative displays of human domination over frightened and hurting animals.
Around 4000 horses and bulls are used in the over 600 rodeos held around Australia each year, in addition to an unknown number of calves and steers. Rodeos in most states are self regulated, meaning that only a small fraction of animal injuries and deaths ever become public knowledge.

While a horse may buck for fun, rodeo horses buck uncontrollably from torment. The secret is the flank strap, which is tightened painfully around the horse's sensitive flank area as the chute gate is opened. The horse bucks in a futile attempt to escape the discomfort. Rodeo horses do not stop bucking when they have thrown their rider, but only once the irritating strap is loosened. Bucking events cannot be held without this strap. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, banned the flank strap over a decade ago and has not held a rodeo since. The strap can cause bloody and painful open wounds which investigators have found at virtually every rodeo. In addition, bucking horses often suffer back and leg injuries from repeated pounding on hard ground.

Rodeo organisers like to play on the fallacy that bulls are tough skinned and impervious to pain. The absurdity of this is obvious when it is remembered that the skin of cattle is sensitive enough to detect a fly alighting. Bucking bulls not only suffer the same flank strap, spur, muscle and skeletal injuries as horses, but they also typically receive the worst abuse from electric shocking. Cattle are particularly sensitive to electricity, and abusers use this to their advantage to make normally docile animals appear wild and dangerous. A Chicago rodeo organiser is quoted as saying, "Bulls today have been bred to be docile. You can't make an animal buck if you don't do something to it".
Rodeo promoters argue that they must treat their animals well to keep them healthy and usable. A statement from a former steer roper comes closer to the truth: "I keep 30 head of cattle for practice. You can cripple 3 or 4 in an afternoon".
Dr C G Haber, a vet who also worked as a meat inspector, saw many discarded rodeo animals. He described them as so extensively bruised that the only areas in which the skin was attached to the flesh were the head, neck, legs and belly. He saw animals with 6-8 broken ribs, sometimes puncturing the lungs, and as much as 2-3 gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin.


CALF ROPING

Most people with an ounce of compassion can see that there's something wrong with jerking a 3-4 month old baby animal to a halt with a rope around its neck, slamming it to the ground and tying its legs so that it can't move. The frightened calves are usually travelling at high speed when lassoed and hit the end of rope with great force. They may become airborne before crashing to the ground, with a high probability of breaking their back, neck or legs in the process. Tearing of ligaments, disc rupture, damage to the thymus gland, trachea and subcutaneous tissue, and haemorrhaging is also common. If they can still breathe, calves will cry pitifully as would be expected of any terrified baby.



Incredibly, rodeo people have no problem with committing an act of cruelty and cowardice against a baby cow during calf roping. A roping calf is only three to four months old. After that, they become too heavy for the "macho" cowboys to handle.
Calf-roping on the range bears no resemblance to calf roping at the rodeo. In the rodeo, it is a timed event, and indefensible abuse to the calf is the price paid for a competitive time. On the range, calves are roped carefully, and slowly brought to a halt.
On the range, calves are roped for care, or to protect them from danger. In rodeos, calves are endangered for amusement. This "sport" violently and specifically preys upon baby animals, and then calls itself "family entertainment!"


STEER WRESTLING AND ROPING














Steer wrestling requires the rider to throw the steer by jumping onto him from a galloping horse and twisting his neck until he falls to the ground. Not unexpectedly, this can cause muscle, tendon and spinal injuries and well as considerable pain. In the related event of steer roping, the rider lassoes the horns of a galloping steer, then circles him on horseback to pull the rope tight around his legs until he crashes to the ground.


BABY GOAT TYING


Goat tying is an event created to apparently mimic calf-roping, but intended for female contestants. At the National High School Finals Rodeo, terrified baby goats are chased down by contestants on horseback as an appalling excuse for "sport" and "family entertainment".
A goat that is already tethered to a rope is approached by a girl on a galloping horse. Terror-stricken, the goat frantically tries to escape the oncoming horse and abuser. The roper jumps off the horse, slams the tethered goat down and ties its legs. It's a little like tackling someone who is already in handcuffs.


WHAT CAN YOU DO

- Do not attend rodeos or any other events where animals are abused for human entertainment, and tell your family and friends why.
- Encourage as many people as you can to not attend rodeos otherwise it is supporting animal cruelty.
- Boycott rodeos from performing in your area
- Contact your local congressman and urge him/her to ban rodeos from performing within your state area. Many states have already banned rodeos because it is a form of animal cruelty on display as "entertainment."
- Get yourself informed - the following links will provide you with more insights on the real face of "Rodeo Cruel Entertainment":

- SHARK - Animal Cruelty Investigations & Campaigns
- SHARK - Videos
- SHARK - Videos on You Tube
- FAACE - Fight Against Animal Cruelty in Europe
- Rodeo: Cruelty for a Buck
- Charreada: Bone-Breaking Cruelty
- Buck the Rodeo
- Rodeos @ www.animal-lib.org.au
- Rodeo Pictures


Watching frightened and defenseless animals being tortured and humiliated is not "entertainment." There is nothing to be proud of when it comes to rodeos. These animals are terrified and people actually laugh at their pain.
What kind of humanity is that? Mocking and laughing at another living creature's pain, suffering and humiliation? That is not "family fun" or "entertainment."
That is animal cruelty.

Milk, Veal & Dairy Cows

"Like humans, all dairy cows must give birth in order to begin producing milk. Dairy cows are artificially impregnated while they are still lactating from their previous birthing, so their bodies are always producing milk. The calves that are born female are raised to replace exhausted dairy cows. The calves that are male are slaughtered and used for veal."

Regardless of where they live, all dairy cows must give birth in order to begin producing milk. Today, dairy cows are forced to have a calf every year. Like human beings, cows have a nine-month gestation period, and so giving birth every twelve months is physically demanding. The cows are also artificially re-impregnated while they are still lactating from their previous birthing, so their bodies are continually producing milk during their nine-month pregnancy.

With genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies, it is common for modern dairy cows to produce 100 pounds of milk a day — ten times more than they would produce naturally. As a result, the cows' bodies are under constant stress, and they are at risk for numerous health problems.

Approximately half of the country's dairy cows suffer from mastitis, a bacterial infection of their udders. This is such a common and costly ailment that a dairy industry group, the National Mastitis Council, was formed specifically to combat the disease. Other diseases, such as Bovine Leukemia Virus, Bovine Immunodeficiency Virus, and Johne's disease (whose human counterpart is Crohn's disease) are also rampant on modern dairies, but they commonly go unnoticed because they are either difficult to detect or have a long incubation period.

A cow eating a normal grass diet could not produce milk at the abnormal levels expected on modern dairies, and so today's dairy cows must be given high energy feeds. The unnaturally rich diet causes metabolic disorders including ketosis, which can be fatal, and laminitis, which causes lameness.

Another dairy industry disease caused by intensive milk production is "Milk Fever." This ailment is caused by calcium deficiency, and it occurs when milk secretion depletes calcium faster than it can be replenished in the blood.

In a healthy environment, cows would live in excess of twenty-five years, but on modern dairies, they are slaughtered and made into ground beef after just three or four years. The abuse wreaked upon the bodies of dairy cows is so intense that the dairy industry also is a huge source of "downed animals" — animals who are so sick or injured that they are unable to walk even stand. Investigators have documented downed animals routinely being beaten, dragged, or pushed with bulldozers in attempts to move them to slaughter.

Although the dairy industry is familiar with the cows' health problems and suffering associated with intensive milk production, it continues to subject cows to even worse abuses in the name of increased profit. Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), a synthetic hormone, is now being injected into cows to get them to produce even more milk. Besides adversely affecting the cows' health, BGH also increases birth defects in their calves.

(taken from http://www.thenazareneway.com/vegetarian/milk_and_dairy_cows.htm )

This photo was taken inside a "milking parlor" where cows are milked and fed a high energy diet. Up until recently, this food contained the processed remains of other animals, which led to mad cow disease. Cattles eat only plant foods, but some humans thought they knew better.

The udder on this cow is so distended that she has to spread her legs apart, and she even defecates on her swollen udder because it extends so far to the rear. We also surmise that her pain is so great that she can't even lie down, as the other cow is doing. If farming causes animals to suffer, then we shouldn't be farming them.


Veal - The By-Product of the Dairy Industry

Calves born to dairy cows are separated from their mothers immediately after birth. The half that are born female are raised to replace older dairy cows in the milking herd. The other half of the calves are male, and because they will never produce milk, they are raised and slaughtered for veal.

The veal industry was created as a by-product of the dairy industry to take advantage of an abundant supply of unwanted male calves. Veal calves commonly live for eighteen to twenty weeks in wooden crates that are so small that they cannot turn around, stretch their legs, or even lie down comfortably. The calves are fed a liquid milk substitute, deficient in iron and fiber, which is designed to make the animals anemic, resulting in the light-colored flesh that is prized as veal. In addition to this high-priced veal, some calves are killed at just a few days old to be sold as low-grade 'bob' veal for products like frozen TV dinners.

(from http://farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/dairy/ )

These are downed calves at a stockyard where they were awaiting transport to slaughter. They are a testimony to the abomination of this farmed animal industry, and everyone who eats animals or their by-products contributes to this evil.


So... what are you gonna answer to your kid when he's gonna ask you:
"Mum... where does milk come from..?!?"

- Milk Sucks
- Milk Sucks - Find Out More
- Milk - Peta's Factsheet
- Veal - Peta's Factsheet
- Cows used for their milk
- Milk Myths
- Not Milk
- Dairy Cows are Tortured Cows
- No Milk Page
- No Veal
- Farm Sanctuary
- Story of a Downed Cow
- No Downers

Meat : A Euphemism of Murder

Animal flesh comes to us in a nice neat package we call meat without the face attached, but each piece of flesh an individual consumes represents the death and misery of another animal. Their stomach essentially becomes the final resting place for a decaying corpse... a once living, feeling, being.

Every year, countless farm animals are murdered in the United States, usually in modern day factory farms, where the animals are treated like disposable machines. Like any other factory, factory farms are geared for mass production and use machinery and assembly line-type techniques to achieve it. This means disregarding any of the animals natural needs and tendencies, including genetics, diet, digestion, sexual behavior, and their ability to move about. In this system, animals have been reduced to tools, slaves, and commodities, that can be bought, sold, and simply tossed aside to rot when not profitable.

A LIFE SENTENCE BEGINS

On todays modern farms, death begins at birth for the majority of animals. The day after calfs are born, they are separated from their mothers so that they will not drink the precious milk nature intended for them and are instead shipped off to veal farms where they will spend their premature lives in crates too small to turn around in or they will face the same fate as their parents: the horrific dairy farm or the feedlot where they will be raised in misery only to be murdered.

In egg factory farms, so-called useless male chicks are literally weeded out and are thrown in plastic bags, as though they were garbage, and either die from suffocation or starvation. Then the useless chicks are ground-up dead or alive, decapitated, or put in a machine which causes the bodies of the baby chicks to explode. They are then used for fertilizer or feed. The female chicks have their sensitive beaks cut off without any anesthesia and are transported to a cage, slightly larger than a folded newspaper with four other egg-laying hens for the rest of their lives. After the chickens become useless, they are taken to the slaughter house where they are hung by their feet on a conveyor belt and await their fate as they systematically have their throats slit.

A large majority of the pigs born in the United States will spend their entire lives in cramped factory conditions from day one of life, never seeing the sun, until they finally meet their bloody death. Sows are forced into small slated stalls where they are injected with progesterones or steroids to increase the number of piglets in their litter. As soon as they are born, newborn pigs receive injections, their teeth are clipped, their tails are cut off, and their ears are notched, all without anesthetics, causing excruciating pain for the newborns. After the sows are no longer useful, they join their male counterparts in the slaughterhouse where they are either stunned with an electric rod or knocked unconscious with a hydraulic sledgehammer. They are then hung by their feet and have their throats slit to drain the life out of them.

Other species of animals are also meeting this fate. Sheep, rabbits, emu, turkeys, alligators, and even green sea turtles are raised in intensive conditions similar to these where the main goal is to make more money from more animals with less labor, time, and money spent. This is just where the misery begins for these animals.

These animals, living, feeling, breathing like people, are born with a natural need and instinct for companionship with other animals. But, in the industry where money is more important than life, and butchering innocent beings and then consuming their decomposing carcasses is the norm, these animals lives are completely regulated and destroyed. Their food, laced with antibiotics, is formulated to make them grow as quickly as possibly. Animals are artificially inseminated (RAPED, often mechanically) and fed chemicals to make them produce more offspring more often so that those babies may too be killed. All instinctive desires and needs are ignored, and the entire life of these animals is determined by machines controlled by the callous human who is claiming power over their lives.

Factory farmers simply call this management or maintenance, as if they are overseeing the production of machinery. The animals are kept in conditions so crowded and confined that the entire living space reeks of ammonia and other gases from the animals wastes. The animals are treated as a collective whole, not as individual lives that need specialized attention. Despite the fact that crowding the animals induces problems such as fighting amongst the animals and increased death rates, the profits still rise and the animals that arent profitable are simply sold to stockyard auctions, where their almost lifeless bodies are sold for a mere dollar. And the animals who remain unwanted are discarded and left to die.


After a short miserable life of crowding, physical abuse and deformation, and deprivation of natural instincts, farm animals are forced onto trucks via beatings, electric shocks, prodding, kicking, and dragging to be transported in extremely overcrowded conditions to a building where they will be hoisted upside down on meat hooks connected to conveyor belts and have their throats slit while fully conscious. Even if the animals are stunned (which is extremely painful) before they are slaughtered, they often remain conscious and are thus slaughtered as they scream and struggle in terror for their lives. Often times animals do not die for several minutes after they meet the knife wielding murderers and are often boiled or skinned alive or left to die in a pool of their own blood.

The entire slaughterhouse is filled with the stench of blood and death and the screams of animals struggling in vein for their lives echoes throughout. But the producers keep raising these animals in the same miserable conditions, the butchers keep murdering the animals, and the consumers continue to purchase and gorge themselves with the decomposing corpses of innocent animals despite the cries.

How can anyone justify reducing animals to mere commodities that we can simply force into miserable conditions and murder to satisfy the appetites of selfish human beings? How can we call this society and its inhabitants humane or civilized when we are engaged in so much misery and killing? Animals are not simply things or food. They can feel pain, stress, and fear.

The choice of consuming animals is of consequence: a miserable life and terrifying death for animals, poisoning of the Earth and her inhabitants (including you, the consumer), and the continuation of world hunger. Consuming meat is condoning the death of an innocent life for which there is no excuse.

The meat industry thrives off the worlds hunger for a bloody, cruel diet while 90 percent oats, 85 percent corn, and 80 percent soybeans grown in the U.S. are fed to livestock. Lets not forget about all the grains that are imported from poor and starving third world nations, grains that could have been used to feed the starving children of those poor nations. If everyone consumed plant foods instead of animals, there would be enough food to feed the entire world several times over.

Raising animals for food: consumes one-third of all raw materials, causes more water pollution in the U.S. than any other industry, consumes more than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S., and consumes 87 percent agricultural land. Not only is an animal-based diet bad for the animals and the environment, it is harmful for people. The animals are pumped with antibiotics, hormones, and medication. And so as you consume their flesh, those chemicals go right into your system. We are pushed by the meat and dairy industries to believe that flesh is a natural and necessary part of our diet. These ideas are pushed on us by groups such as McDonalds, which thrives off the dairy and meat industries.


Ask yourself: when you are hungry, do you have the urge to, using your bare hands, kill and rip apart another animal? Does your mouth water at the sight of a screaming, struggling, animal being slaughtered? Eating meat is not natural or healthy for the human body. In fact, those who do choose a non-animal based diet have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, some cancers, osteoporosis, obesity, and many other diseases.

When you consume the flesh of an animal carcass, you are consuming the drugs and hormones fed to the animal during its miserable life, as well as the adrenaline that surged through the body of the animal in its last moments of life before the slaughter.

In school and at home, we are socialized to believe that animals are a commodity, easily grown and harvested, just like the corn we grow and eat. But how many times have you heard a vegetable scream in pain? How many times have you seen a vegetable try, with all its strength, to escape a knife wielding murderer?

Animals in slaughterhouses can hear the screams, smell the stench, and often see those ahead of them being murdered. All of these animals fight for their lives and struggle to get away. But to no avail: societies bloodlust keeps the slaughterhouses thriving on death.

When you pick up a package of meat, think of the cruelty and suffering that comes along with it. That steak is not just another piece of food-it is a chunk of bloody flesh and muscle. It is edible suffering, pain, struggle, and misery of another being. We each have the capability to choose a vegan (animal free) diet and life-style and end the misery and suffering of countless animal beings raised in a miserable environment only to be ultimately murdered.