Well here I am again, only on my 6th post and already 3 months in when I would have hoped to have written at least double that amount. However, time is proving elusive, not helped by my technological NOT know-how, and by my need to write SUCH long posts! I actually started this post many weeks ago, it has taken a long time to complete, not really because of it's lengh but because of the challenge of finding some time to dedicate to it. But it's here, ready to post and whether or not anyone reads it, I feel somehow complete and relieved to have expressed out of me what are my extremely strong views and feelings about this emotive subject which evokes such an emotional response in me that I am reduced to tears daily becasuse of it.
There have been alot of tears along the way during the composition of this post as I have considered what I wanted to highlight.
Further posts, when I write them, will no doubt come back to this issue, but for now, I feel I have bought to the attention of cyberspace, the issue that burns a hole in my sole, fuels a ferocious fire in my heart and creates an anger, frustration, terrible sadness and incomprehension within me that no other subject could EVER do.
This post explains why I have chosen to follow a VEGAN lifestyle and the websites of the following ANIMAL WELFARE organisations also serve to explain this lifestyle choice.
http://jakartaanimalaid.com/
We make choices every day. What to wear, where to go, who to see, when to be somewhere, and........"What to eat"?
Life is about striving to be the person we want to be and recognising that the choices we make will cause a ripple effect not just in our lives, but in the lives of others, humankind and animal kind, and to the natual world and our planet; If our choices are based on knowledge and fact rather than routine and the status quo, we can make them with a clear conscience.
We are lucky in our modern society that we have such choices. As I have touched upon on my last post, there are many communities and individuals throughout the world who do not have the luxury of choice, and I am eager to highlight their plight in many future posts.
Today I want to write about the plight of the other living beings we share this planet with.
Writing this blog is permitting me to give more consideration to issues that I feel passionately and strongly about and I am inspiring myself just by typing out my thoughts! This is a record of what fuels my fire and fans those flames, those issues that make me determined to act differently and challenge my attitudes and beliefs; and if, along the way, I give
any(?!) readers some food for thought, that can only be a bonus.
This post has taken rather a long time to write as will become obvious, so apologies for it's lengh and the time it will probably take to read, but I hope any readers
will find the time...........!
Did you know that somewhere between 150,000 and 250,000 male calves are shot at birth each year because we have no use for them, and that cows suffer great distress when their newborn calves are taken away from their mothers immediately, so that milking machines can extract up to 50 litres of milk a day whereas her calf would only suckle a few literes daily.And Did you know that pigs are highly intelligent, social animals (usually compared to dogs in the animal IQ stakes) but are often reared with no respect for their wellbeing. A sow would naturally give birth to around 5 piglets a year, but with today's inensive breeding programmes, 25 is not uncommon. They are kept in
cramped, barren, dimly lit indoor conditions, sometimes, without even straw for them to rummage.
And did you know that after a broiler chicken has spent it's short life standing and sitting in it's own filth in the space of an A4 piece of paper, it is transported by a crowded truck to a slaughterhouse and processing plant where it is hung upside down by its feet alive and then dipped into an electrified pool before having it's throat cut by a spinning blade, and that organic and free range chickens are subjected to EXACTLY the same fate.
And did you know that beagles and other dogs are commonly used in laboratories worldwide for force feeding or inhaltion of all manner of industrial, cosmetic and household chemicals which lead to agonizing and painful deaths.3727 dogs (of which 3704 were beagles because of their docile, gentle and trusting nature) were used in experiments in the UK alone in 2010. Each year 3 MILLION animals in the UK are gassed, poisoned or mutilated in the name of research. That's 100 MILLION worldwide and MANY MORE ARE KILLED AS SURPLUS.
And did you know that more than 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises did in fishnets annually, and that billions of fish are killed every year by being dragged out of the oceans when their eyes often pop out of their head due to the rapid change in pressure and they are crushed amonst the thousands of other unfortunate fish and then gutted alive.
And did you know that each year in the UK, about 18 million ducks are farmed and killed for food without ever seeing the outside world, and crucially having been denied their most basic need, access to water. Can you imagine how these mostly aquatic animals who have never been able to dip their head under water or swim, suffer?
And did you know that around 420 horses are raced to death EVERY year and that monkeys are captured in their natural environment in the wild, torn away from their family groups and imported and imprisoned in barren cages which will be the only home they know until they are experimented on and killed. Can you imagine their fear and confusion.
If we were asked the question "if you had a super power, what would it be?", many of us would probably
say that we would wish for world peace.
However, a great many of us deny that peace to the living beings we share this planet with. We take the life of other senient beings for their flavour and the the belief that by experimenting on them, we can find a cure for disease or for a dirty oven.
Most of us are aware of the harsh reality of factory farming, but choose to ignore it for the sake of an easy life munching on a steak.
Michael Pollan, author of the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" says:
"eating industrial meat takes on an almost heroic act of not knowing".
We think we are a civilised society, a compassionate people who see suffering and want to help somehow.
However, ALL our great achievements are clouded by the suffering of billions of animals, from the rats that suffer miserably as they take 2 weeks to bleed to death internally from poison in the name of scientific research; to the elephants performing tricks out of the fear of the violence meted out by their trainers, in the name of entertainment; to the foxes being hounded to death in the name of sport; to the Badgers being culled to control bovine TB in cattle, when all the scientific studies show that this will be of little help in reducing the disease and could actually make it worse it some areas; to the horses being whipped and raced until they collapse from exhaustion, again in the name of sport and entertainment.
I write this and feel ashamed to be human.
We have a choice, the animals DON'T. We must exercise our choice as consumers and stop blaming everyone else. If you choose to go to KFC or McDonalds, then know that the cow that goes into that beefburger and the chickens that supply your bucket of crispy chicken, sufferend for YOU.
If you have to have that new face cream or new perfume, or that cleaning product that promises to leave your bathroom shiny and sparkling, or your oven clean and germ free, please ensure that no part of that product has been tested on an innocent being, and REMEMBER, although the final product may not have been tested on animals, the individual ingredients that make up that product probably have.
Every day, up to 38,000 animals are used to test cosmetics such as toothpaste and shampoo, and products such as detergents and cleaners.
THE LIFE OF AN ANIMAL IS AS IMPORTANT TO IT AS YOUR LIFE IS TO YOU. IT DOESN'T WANT TO BE CAGED, HURT OR KILLED ANY MORE THAN YOU.
IT ISN'T A CHOICE BETWEEN ANIMAL OR PEOPLE, IT'S A CHOICE BETWEEN GOOD SCIENCE AND POINTLESS CRUELTY.
FREE RANGE AND ORGANIC ARE NOT THE ANSWER - THE ANIMALS ARE STILL KEPT IN CROWDED CONDITIONS WHERE THEY GET STRESSED AND DISEASED. AND THEY, LIKE THEIR BATTERY AND INTENSIVELY FARMED COUSINS, STILL GET PUT ON A TRUCK AND TAKEN TO A KILLING FACTORY. ALL ANIMAL FARMING, WHETHER IT'S CALLED INTENSIVE, ORGANIC OR FREE RANGE INVOLVES TREATING SENTIENT BEINGS AS MERE COMMODOTIES OR MACHINES TO BE MASS PRODUCED, MUTILATED, TRANSPORTED, EXPLOITED AND KILLED FOR FOOD PRODUCTS.
IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY, YOU CAN BE RESPECTFUL AND SHOP WITH COMPASSION NEXT TIME YOU ARE IN THE SUPERMARKET BY NOT PICKING UP ANY PRODUCTS THAT CONTAIN BY PRODUCTS OR BODY PARTS OF ANIMALS.
The way we treat animals is embedded in our past when most people found it easy to justify the abuse of animals, believing they were without feelings or intelligence, that they were put on earth for our "use", that in the "order of nature" animals were somehow inferior to us, the "dominant" species. It is a troublesome argument that we can do what we like.Our Morals and Ethics are not worked out properly; why do we exploit some species while treating others as companions? and yet animals bred for their flesh, milk, coat and eggs experience pain, fear and distress in the same way as any dog and cat. Farmed animals have as much right to a life without exploitation and human interference as any man, woman or child.
Now, we know animals have astonishing abilities and that they share many of the emotions that we once thought were unique to people, such as the close relationship between mother and her young, the way young animals like to play and need stimulation. Animals enjoy the company of their own species and express affection toward each other. They build a stable social group in which they feel comfortable and secure. They have extraordinary natural powers that they enjoy using such as flying, swimming, jumping and swinging through the trees.
However, when the things that make life worth living are taken away, animals suffer the same painful emotions as we would if we were imprisoned and our freedom was taken away.
Factory Farm animals suffer the boredom of confinement; Those used for medical research suffer lonliness and isolation and can you imagine the fear of waiting to be "experimented" on and the depression you would suffer if you were kept alone for long periods?
Above all, animals share with us the capacity to feel pain, yet despite all the qualities we now know exsist in animals, we continue to treat them without respect or compassion.
We thoughtlessly destroy their habitats for short term profit causing death to millions of creatures; We humiliate them to provide cheap entertainment; we kill them to make coats from their fur; we hunt them for sport; we imprison and slaughter hundreds of millions each year for food; and in labs around the world, we poison them to test cosmetics, household products, chemicals and drugs......................................
We scold or burn them, or infect them with painful diseases in the name of medical research.
Yet even when it becomes obvious that animals have their own needs and emotions, those that expoit them still excuse their ill treatment by arguing that people must come first, and that the misery we inflict upon other creatures is somehow necessary for our benefit.
Similar defences have been made to justify all social evils. Not so long ago, cruelty to African slaves was justified by the argument that they too lacked all feeling and intelligence. And then added to this ridiculous illusion and immoral justification was the argument that the end of the slave trade would cause economic hardship to society.
The same sort of statements were used to exploit the use of children as cheap labour or deny the vote to women.
Do You feel ashamed to be human yet? NO? read on......................................
Nowadays, the abuse of animals is defended in a comparable way to those arguments above........
Take the argument that we need to breed and kill more and more farm animals to produce more meat. Why should we care that billions of animals are being tortured and slaughtered when billions of people are starving?
IN FACT, EATING ANIMALS, ACTUALLY REDUCES THE AMOUNT OF FOOD AVAILABLE TO PEOPLE..........................................................................................
All protein, including meat, originally comes from plant based agriculture.
The choice is whether we grow crops to feed animals which we then kill and eat OR whether we grow crops that humans can eat directly in a vegetarian diet.
When we produce meat, animals waste most of the protein and energy value of what they are fed in their digestive system. In all, we can produce as much as 5 - 10 times as much protein by growing food for direct human consumption than for growing feed that animals then convert into meat.
It has been estimated that if everyone in the world reverted to a plant based diet, we could feed 6 billion people. If on the other hand we take approximately a third of our calories from animal produce, as is the case in America, we can only feed 3 billion people.
Since the current human population is already approaching 6 billion and increasing fast, this means we simply have to rely more on a plant based diet in order to meet the growing problem of human hunger.
The benefits to the planet are OBVIOUS, reverting to a vegatarian or vegan diet WILL REDUCE YOUR IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT. In the words of Caroline Lucas, Leader of the Green Party: -
"a vegan driving a 4 x 4 actually does less damage to the planet than a meat eater on a bicycle".
CLIMATE CHANGE IS HAPPENING WITH THE INCREASE OF MEAT CONSUMPTION. The massive number of animals being bred is poisoning the planet, causing pollution of land, water and air.
Animal farming uses much more land, energy and water and has a far greater impact on climate change than plant based agriculture.
There are those that argue that if we stop animal experimentation, it will mean millions of people will die from dreadful diseases and that they can only find new safe drugs by testing on animals.Yet a growing number of Doctors and Scientists believe that Animal Experiments are UNRELIABLE as a guide to treating disease and illness.
This is because, animals are different to us in the way their bodies work and in the way their bodies respond to drugs. As a result, Animal Experimentation can give misleading answers to how people react to new medicine because medicines not only work differently in animals than they do in humans, but also work differently from species to species.
ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS ARE TOTALLY IRRELEVANT BECAUSE OF THE SPECIES DIFFERENCE WHICH IS VAST IN EVERY FIELD, FROM RAT TO MOUSE, FROM 1 TYPE OF MOUSE TO ANOTHER AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, FROM RAT TO HUMAN, FROM DOG TO HUMAN, FROM RABBIT TO HUMAN, FROM MONKEY TO HUMAN AND SO ON AND SO ON. WE CANNOT APPLY THE RESULTS FROM ONE SPECIES TO ANOTHER. THE SCIENCE IS
NOT SOUND, FAR FROM SOUND AS YOU CAN GET, AND IT ALWAYS WILL BE.
GET THE PICTURE, POINTLESS, CRUEL AND DEHUMINASING.
Look at the case of the heart drug, "Eraldin", which later caused serious side effects in Human beings including blindness. And there have been plenty more drugs that were tested on animals, then given to humans with disastrous results. Maybe one of the most well known of these was "Thalidomide", given to pregnant woman in the late 50's and early 60's for morning sickness. Their babies were born with severe deformaties and missing limbs.
Another example is"Opren", given to arthritis sufferers who suffered painful side effects including photosensitiviy, a painful reaction of the skin to sunlight.
How can we recreate illnesses in animals that don't suffer from them? It seems a ridiculous and pointless exercise.
Give Morphine to cats and it excites them, whereas it sends us to sleep. Give aspirin to rats and it will cause birth defects, whereas for us, it stops pain.
Look at prescription drugs, so many of which have been tested on animals, meant to benefit us in some way, however prescription drugs are the 4th biggest killer in the USA.
If we'd relied on rat tests, we'd still believe smoking doesn't cause cancer and alcohol doesn't cause liver damage.
Asbestos didn't poison animals, so for years, it was denied that it was harming humans. Heart Bypass didn't work on dogs, so the procedure was denied to humans for years.
Polio researchers misled the world for years about how humans catch the disease, because they were working on monkeys.
Had penicillan been tested on guinea pigs to whom it is fatal, this valuable drug could have been lost for ever. And, although a number of white mice were initally used to test it, it was actually 1st properly tested on a human being.
Medicines that might have been useful to people but was poisonous to animals haven't been developed and toxic chemicals have been used because they appeared safe to animals but proved harmful to humans.
ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION HAS SIMPLY DELAYED MEDICAL PROGRESS.
These are all examples (and there are plenty more) of how pointless and needless animal experiments are when finding cures for our health defects.
AFTER DECADES OF ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION, CANCER CASES ARE INCREASING, NOT DECLINING.
http://www.healingcancernaturally.com/why_alternatives15.html
THERE IS NO MIRACLE CURE IN SITE FOR CYSTIC FYBROSIS, THE HUMAN LUNG PROBLEM, DESPITE THE PROMISES.
SCIENCE SHOWS THAT ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION DOESN'T WORK, IT DOESN'T HELP PEOPLE WHO ARE SICK GET BETTER AND IT DOESN'T PREVENT OR CURE DISEASE.
Animal Experiments are not predicative for what will occur in Human Beings. There is no one Animal or combination of animals that will give the right result. We may as well flip a coin.
Human Diseases can take a different form in animals as shown by aids. Chimps, who have a similar genetic makeup to us do not develop the disease when injected with the Aids virus..
So why does Animal Experimentation continue? For the same reason as most other destructive, negative and unhelpful industries continue - MONEY. There is a huge movement built on the misery and exploitation of our fellow, sentient beings. Huge pharmaceutical companies such as Glaxosmithkline and the like are there to make money, and to make money, they have to introduce new drugs. When 1 drug co. produces a successful drug, other co's copy it. It's NOT NEED, IT'S ABOUT MONEY (there are over 18,000 medicines on the market); Universities ( scientists, researchers and academics);Instrument makers; Animal suppliers; Feed producers;cage suppliers. They all profit from the terrible tragedy that is Animal Experimentation and Vivisection. Careers are built on it sadly.
The way forward is to study ourselves. Many major medical advances have come by studying people NOT animals. We need Social Reform, changing the way we do things. It was thanks to the Social Reformers 100 years ago,who observed that living in squalour and poverty was the main cause of death of people from infectious diseases. Through social reform, sewarage systems were built. Clean water and better housing transformed Britain and did more to lower the death rates than all the drugs and vaccines put together. So by studying how people live and improving their living conditions, we can bring about better health and reduce illness and disease. This is called "Epidemiology" and it's how the link between cancer and smoking was made, through studying smokers, NOT by forcing animals to inhale tobacco smoke. Our knowledge of heart disease, cancer and aids comes from studying people's lives. We don't need Animal Experiments to tell us that Environmental Pollution causes ill health.
PREVENTION IS THE WAY FORWARD. MOST BIG KILLER DISEASES COULD BE PREVENTED BUT THE SEARCH FOR CURES SOAKS UP ALL THE MONEY, LEAVING ONLY A TINY FRACTION FOR PREVENTION.
WE NEED SOCIAL REFORM; A CHANGE IN LIFE STYLE AND WE NEED TO REASSESS OUR PRIORITIES.
Drugs, Medicine and surgery can prolong life but the most important area is PREVENTION and Animals cannot help with that. Instead we must look at the Human Situation - Our diet and our way of life. And here lies another strong argument against killing Animals for meat.
A worldwide study supported by the World Cancer Research fund , looking at the effects of lifestyle and diet on health, indicated a direct link between animal protein intake and certain kinds of cancer, particulary bowl cancer.
Heart disease and diabetes is linked with obesity which is linked with a poor diet of saturated fats, much of which comes from dairy products and meat from cows, chickens, pigs and sheep which have been kept in intensive farming conditions where disease is rife because there is no freedom of movement and disease is easily spread from one animal to the other.
These diseases include BSE, Salmonella, Bird Flu, Foot&Mouth all of which have affected Human health too. Not to mention the growth hormones injected into these poor, trapped beings which are passed into the food chain to be consumed by humans; and the traces of pus and blood from infected dairy cows' teats (because they are so over milked that they suffer painful infections of the udder) that people end up drinking when they buy milk. Current regulations permit millions of pus cells per litre.
IF ALL THAT ALONE ISN'T A GOOD ENOUGH REASON TO REVERT TO A PLANT BASED DIET, THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL PERSUADE YOU!
Maybe this will -
From "The WEEK", 9th July 2011
".............some experts predict that most of our meat will, in future, be grown in the laboratory..............There are problems to overcome, making sure the stem cells become muscle cells and not, say, brain cells........................"
And yet again, I ask, why does the cruelty continue when the cost to the environment and our health is so plainly evident? Well isn't that plainly obvious? It's US, our GREED. The consumer is to blame, we want fast, cheap food and we don't care about the consequences. Each year, with around £700 million worth of tax payers money, the government is helping to prop up factory farming and fund the food production that has such a devastating impact on our environment.
Modern day, intensive farming exists to produce meat, dairy and products as cheaply and as quickly as possible. To keep production costs down, the animals are given the bare minimum they need to survive. They are fattened in huge, dirty cramped sheds and deprived of everything that makes life worth living. They can hardly stretch their wings or legs and will never be able to roam.
The average meat eater will eat 11,000 animals in their lifetime, including fish and shellfish.
WE HAVE A CHOICE, THE ANIMALS DON'T. THEY PAY WITH THEIR LIVES. APPROXIMATELY 1 BILLION ANIMALS ARE KILLED EVERY YEAR IN THE UK ALONE. THIS FIGURE DOESN'T INCLUDE FISH AS THEY ARE KILLED IN SUCH VAST NUMBERS, THEY ARE COUNTED IN TONNES.
THESE ANIMALS ARE TREATED LIKE UNFEELING OBJECTS, BUT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM; FISH, BIRD, DUCK, HORSE, GOAT, MONKEY, RAT, RABBIT, COW, SHEEP, CALF,LAMB, DOG, CAT, PIG, MOUSE, CHICKEN, QUAIL, PHEASANT, PARTRIDGE, DONKEY, FOX HARE, AND SO MANY MORE; IS CAPABLE OF EXPERIENCING PAIN, FEAR, DISCOMFORT AND DISTRESS.
BY GOING MEAT-FREE AND BOYCOTTING ALL PRODUCTS THAT HAVE BEEN TESTED ON ANIMALS, WE CAN HELP PREVENT THIS SUFFERING AND SLAUGHTER.
KILLING AN ANIMAL FOR FOOD OR FOR VIVISECTION PURPOSES CAN NEVER BE REGARDED AS HUMANE. ANIMALS LIVES ARE AS IMPORTANT TO THEM, AS OURS ARE TO US.
WE ALL HAVE CHOICES TO MAKE, WE CAN STAY IN THE OLD WORLD WHERE ANIMALS ARE TREATED SOLELY AS OBJECTS TO SATISFY HUMANS, OR WE CAN LIVE BY A NEW ETHIC BASED ON RESPECT AND COMPASSION FOR ALL THOSE WE SHARE THE PLANET WITH.
IN THE WORDS OF ANIMAL AID, from whose website I have obtained much of the information data, and pictures that are in this post; -.............................................
"THEIR FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS"
I have a wonderful husband who never ceases to amaze and astound me with his ability to multitask and get things done quickly and efficiently with patience and grace.
However, all too often I find myself waking up on a Thursday , Saturday and Sunday with a feeling of anxiety, fretting about all the things I want to do, all the things I haven't done, and all the things I might never do and all the things I think I "should" do.This feeling doesn't occur on a Friday as that day is set aside to pursue my love of being outside in the natural world with the desire to expand my knowledge of gardening and the mental health field, in the form of voluntary work at a Therapeutic Gardening project for individuals experiencing mental health illness. By doing this, I have given myself routine and structure and a "committment" to someone else.
Till post no. 8 - GO AND ENJOY ALL THAT NATURAL WEALTH AWAITING FOR YOU OUTSIDE!
