Walk For Farm Animals 2006
With the support of my core group of dedicated vegans, I have decided to be the coordinator for the first Walk for Farm Animals in the Houston area. My very dear friend Lori introduced me to Farm Animal Sanctuary, a fantastic organization that has led my husband and I to discussions about emulation (after the boys have gone to college!). What these guys do is take in farm animals that have somehow fallen through the cracks or off the back of a truck, ended up in a dumpster with thousands of other living baby chicks, or maybe are given to the sanctuary by a farmer who just can’t do it anymore. These guys take in the animals – usually sick, physically damaged and psychologically messed up – care for them and allow them to live their lives out as was originally intended – as living beings within nature. I believe 80% of their funding comes from donation, which is a huge chunk of money. It saddens me that we have to have these tiny islands of sanity and kindness in a raging sea of illogical cruelty.
I tossed and turned last night, again, with images of these cognizant, feeling animals having to live in choking ammonia filled darkness, restricted in their every movement, with concrete and steel surrounding them through every second of their day only to be terrorized upon slaughter. I can’t even say that I had nightmares because that would entail falling asleep. I couldn’t. I had gone to a site yesterday ( www.atourhands.org)and it was page after page of horrifying photos. I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing those pictures, knowing that dependent creatures are being so terribly treated. Why do I purposefully go and pay witness to these extremely upsetting photos? Because if they have to endure it, I will, at the very least, give them the veneration that they deserve by making it part of my experience, if ever so slightly, which in turn becomes part of who I am. You cannot witness brutality and not be affected. That’s what post-traumatic stress disorder is all about. We are emotional beings affected deeply by acts or sights that assault our senses. Witnessing is one of the most powerfully engaging experiences one can have. You cannot remain a bystander if you see something that impales your sensibilities . You might think that you can, but it will affect you on some level. It’s kind of like all those people being so upset at the rodeo this year when one of the steers had his neck broken. Traumatizing was the word that was used repeatedly. They will never see a rodeo the same way again. When you go somewhere to be entertained and instead your senses are assaulted, you can never witness that form of entertainment again, untainted. No truer words have ever been spoken than – if slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarian. I’ll go a step closer – if people knew what was happening in factory farms there would be a revolution. Complete with pitchforks. We are too kind, generous, and decent to think otherwise.
I want to make something perfectly clear – factory farming is what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Beings incarcerated with no interaction with nature or semblance of human kindness or decency is the example of what our society has come to in pursuit of the almighty dollar and cheap meat. Just for a moment imagine that hell. Look at your purring cat - into the eyes that squint with delight at the touch of your hand, listening to the communications of hunger, aggression, fear and happiness – look into your pet’s face and realize that there is absolutely nothing that separates that beloved animal from one that is castrated without anesthesia, who’s teeth are cut out with no painkillers, who is confined for YEARS in a crate that she cannot even turn around in, nothing different except for the human grace that allows one to be beloved over another. Imagine being pregnant, unable to move, barely able to lie down, standing against steel bars and on concrete flooring. Imagine never being able to groom yourself during this time. Imagine not being able to set up for the impending birth. Are we so different? I have always held to the belief, since I was in single digits, that just because animals can’t speak our language does not make them stupid or less deserving of their natural selves. This is the truth. There is no other way to say it. Animals are units in the agribusiness of today. A spokesman for the factory farming industry actually said in court that there is NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LIVING ANIMAL AND MANURE. No difference between the animal curled up in his favorite spot on your couch and what you clean up out of the litter box. This is who is in charge of the animals you eat. What do you think the possibility is that there is any kind of care? Do you have any concept of how hard these guys fight to keep farm animals excluded from any kind of protection? Basic protection. But if you think of it in their terms – why would crap be protected? That’s just plain crazy.
Although I, admittedly, would like to see the release of every animal being used for any reason by any person or institution, released into its natural habitat and protected from persecution, I realize that it is highly unlikely that it will ever happen. But I want to see the end of factory farming. That’s all there is to it. This industry is so big, so powerful that it controls what you eat. Did you know that as long as they can get it to the slaughterhouse – it gets processed? Regardless of what ailment it might have – cancer, hepatitis, gangrene, ulcers, etc. Do you have any concept of how soul destroying this entire industry is? Is this what God intended? There is no God in these warehouses. Not for these beings. They have been abandoned by all of us. Left to live in terrifying fear, hunger, thirst, with no social interaction at all. Left in a box for five months so someone can eat veal. A baby, tethered so that his head can’t even be lifted. Left in darkness separated from his mother at birth. Chicks that didn’t make the cut tossed by the thousands into a dumpster, alive, to starve to death. Ducks and geese immobilized in steel cages having a steel tube jammed down their throats into their stomachs three to five times a day to fill them full of food, expanding their liver to five times its natural size so someone can eat foie gras. 80,000+ chickens shoved together with no opportunity to even spread their wings. All overwhelmed by the smell of feces and urine. What a nightmare. Can you imagine what that must be like?
If your heart isn’t moved by the facts of factory farming life, then be very aware of the real threat that this industry has to your health. Why do you think bird flu is being watched so nervously? Sure, the media loves the fear factor, but that’s not the main reason. The main reason is industry loss. If this virus shows up in one of these factory farms – the industry is going to take monumental losses. You cannot keep birds in such incredibly close confinement, purge anything natural from their environment and not have to pay the virus piper. Think about it. The industry is petrified. As they should be.
But what is it going to take to make these conglomerates reevaluate this approach and consider more natural and ethic approaches to the demand of meat? The argument is that the demand is so high that this is the only way to supply the demand without taking over every square inch of land for conventional farming. I say poppycock…actually I say something different but that was a good substitution. These guys are all about one thing and that is PROFIT. Like everything else in a “free market” society, the conscience and moral compass of the culture is marginalized or out and out dismissed. Think about the animal stories that capture our hearts - the pig or cow that managed to escape the slaughterhouse and run for their lives through the streets of the town. The many, many animals that have been offered human kindness and repay it tenfold. People love those stories. People turn their heads away in shock and grimace with revulsion when an animal is shown being slaughtered by some indigenous person or tribe. I find this absolutely outrageous. This is being done in this country to BILLIONS of animals.
BILLIONS.
Yet we continue to smack our lips over McDonalds, KFC, turkey dinners, big fat steaks without even acknowledging the life and the spirit of the animal that suffered and died for you. The Native Americans used every part of the animal, but they also thanked the animal and the Holy Spirit for the offering. We might say grace at dinner but that is for the meal on the table not for the animal that suffered for it.
So what’s the hang up? Why not get involved in SOME aspect of this? I have found that there are so many issues that I care about – human rights, children’s welfare, the health care system, the educational system, women’s rights, the environment, diseases that affect people I care about and animals – it can be absolutely overwhelming. How does one focus on one thing and ignore the others? I can’t answer that, I have been totally ADD when it comes to focusing on a particular cause. Even if you focus on animals – there are so many different aspects from testing to entertainment to clothing to food in which animals are treated so badly it would make you physically ill. I care about animals in labs – I do, and I write and call and demonstrate whenever I have the opportunity. I care about animals trapped and slaughtered for their skin (frankly, that is such a hideously, grotesque abomination of human insecurity! I can’t even fathom anyone wanting to wear the skin of another being – blach!). I am especially concerned about circuses and the mistreatment of some of the most amazing and social animals in the world. That’s my second focus in regards to animal welfare. But factory farming, AH! That encompasses everything I hate. Corporate greed. The terrible abuse of animals. The devastation of the environment. It’s a hat trick. The trifecta of activism, if you will. How someone in the political arena deals with factory farming speaks volumes about how close to my values that person stands. If I could ask just one question of any candidate it would be this – what is your stand on factory farming and what will you do to get legislation passed banning it altogether? It tells me if this person is in the back pocket of conglomerate lobbyists, if this person cares about the environment being destroyed by terrible pollution running unchecked out of these repositories, if the public’s health is a high priority, and if animals are seen as an intrinsic part of our lives. God did not put animals here for this. I absolutely believe that God cringes and weeps every time the hysterical, desperate cries rise to a fever pitch inside these warehouse crammed full of chickens, pigs, cows, ducks, geese, lambs. I think he shudders and sobs as the cacophony dies down only to rise again.
So, what’s the block? What keeps you from helping to change this? You like meat? Ok. I have to say, I do understand that we go with what we know and for the most part, that is what America knows – meat. But how about not eating meat once maybe twice a week? How about emailing or calling your representatives – local and federal and tell them that factory farming needs to stop and farm animals deserve to be covered under basic animal protection? That’s not too drastic. You might even feel better.
Just looked over the edge, pretty high up here on my soapbox.
The Farm Animal Walk will take place sometime in the early part of October. Pencil it in, we would love to have you there. More details later.
And seriously, if you don’t believe me, google factory farming. Look into it for yourself. You’ll be wiser about the food you eat and serve, if nothing else.
With the support of my core group of dedicated vegans, I have decided to be the coordinator for the first Walk for Farm Animals in the Houston area. My very dear friend Lori introduced me to Farm Animal Sanctuary, a fantastic organization that has led my husband and I to discussions about emulation (after the boys have gone to college!). What these guys do is take in farm animals that have somehow fallen through the cracks or off the back of a truck, ended up in a dumpster with thousands of other living baby chicks, or maybe are given to the sanctuary by a farmer who just can’t do it anymore. These guys take in the animals – usually sick, physically damaged and psychologically messed up – care for them and allow them to live their lives out as was originally intended – as living beings within nature. I believe 80% of their funding comes from donation, which is a huge chunk of money. It saddens me that we have to have these tiny islands of sanity and kindness in a raging sea of illogical cruelty.
I tossed and turned last night, again, with images of these cognizant, feeling animals having to live in choking ammonia filled darkness, restricted in their every movement, with concrete and steel surrounding them through every second of their day only to be terrorized upon slaughter. I can’t even say that I had nightmares because that would entail falling asleep. I couldn’t. I had gone to a site yesterday ( www.atourhands.org)and it was page after page of horrifying photos. I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing those pictures, knowing that dependent creatures are being so terribly treated. Why do I purposefully go and pay witness to these extremely upsetting photos? Because if they have to endure it, I will, at the very least, give them the veneration that they deserve by making it part of my experience, if ever so slightly, which in turn becomes part of who I am. You cannot witness brutality and not be affected. That’s what post-traumatic stress disorder is all about. We are emotional beings affected deeply by acts or sights that assault our senses. Witnessing is one of the most powerfully engaging experiences one can have. You cannot remain a bystander if you see something that impales your sensibilities . You might think that you can, but it will affect you on some level. It’s kind of like all those people being so upset at the rodeo this year when one of the steers had his neck broken. Traumatizing was the word that was used repeatedly. They will never see a rodeo the same way again. When you go somewhere to be entertained and instead your senses are assaulted, you can never witness that form of entertainment again, untainted. No truer words have ever been spoken than – if slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarian. I’ll go a step closer – if people knew what was happening in factory farms there would be a revolution. Complete with pitchforks. We are too kind, generous, and decent to think otherwise.
I want to make something perfectly clear – factory farming is what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Beings incarcerated with no interaction with nature or semblance of human kindness or decency is the example of what our society has come to in pursuit of the almighty dollar and cheap meat. Just for a moment imagine that hell. Look at your purring cat - into the eyes that squint with delight at the touch of your hand, listening to the communications of hunger, aggression, fear and happiness – look into your pet’s face and realize that there is absolutely nothing that separates that beloved animal from one that is castrated without anesthesia, who’s teeth are cut out with no painkillers, who is confined for YEARS in a crate that she cannot even turn around in, nothing different except for the human grace that allows one to be beloved over another. Imagine being pregnant, unable to move, barely able to lie down, standing against steel bars and on concrete flooring. Imagine never being able to groom yourself during this time. Imagine not being able to set up for the impending birth. Are we so different? I have always held to the belief, since I was in single digits, that just because animals can’t speak our language does not make them stupid or less deserving of their natural selves. This is the truth. There is no other way to say it. Animals are units in the agribusiness of today. A spokesman for the factory farming industry actually said in court that there is NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LIVING ANIMAL AND MANURE. No difference between the animal curled up in his favorite spot on your couch and what you clean up out of the litter box. This is who is in charge of the animals you eat. What do you think the possibility is that there is any kind of care? Do you have any concept of how hard these guys fight to keep farm animals excluded from any kind of protection? Basic protection. But if you think of it in their terms – why would crap be protected? That’s just plain crazy.
Although I, admittedly, would like to see the release of every animal being used for any reason by any person or institution, released into its natural habitat and protected from persecution, I realize that it is highly unlikely that it will ever happen. But I want to see the end of factory farming. That’s all there is to it. This industry is so big, so powerful that it controls what you eat. Did you know that as long as they can get it to the slaughterhouse – it gets processed? Regardless of what ailment it might have – cancer, hepatitis, gangrene, ulcers, etc. Do you have any concept of how soul destroying this entire industry is? Is this what God intended? There is no God in these warehouses. Not for these beings. They have been abandoned by all of us. Left to live in terrifying fear, hunger, thirst, with no social interaction at all. Left in a box for five months so someone can eat veal. A baby, tethered so that his head can’t even be lifted. Left in darkness separated from his mother at birth. Chicks that didn’t make the cut tossed by the thousands into a dumpster, alive, to starve to death. Ducks and geese immobilized in steel cages having a steel tube jammed down their throats into their stomachs three to five times a day to fill them full of food, expanding their liver to five times its natural size so someone can eat foie gras. 80,000+ chickens shoved together with no opportunity to even spread their wings. All overwhelmed by the smell of feces and urine. What a nightmare. Can you imagine what that must be like?
If your heart isn’t moved by the facts of factory farming life, then be very aware of the real threat that this industry has to your health. Why do you think bird flu is being watched so nervously? Sure, the media loves the fear factor, but that’s not the main reason. The main reason is industry loss. If this virus shows up in one of these factory farms – the industry is going to take monumental losses. You cannot keep birds in such incredibly close confinement, purge anything natural from their environment and not have to pay the virus piper. Think about it. The industry is petrified. As they should be.
But what is it going to take to make these conglomerates reevaluate this approach and consider more natural and ethic approaches to the demand of meat? The argument is that the demand is so high that this is the only way to supply the demand without taking over every square inch of land for conventional farming. I say poppycock…actually I say something different but that was a good substitution. These guys are all about one thing and that is PROFIT. Like everything else in a “free market” society, the conscience and moral compass of the culture is marginalized or out and out dismissed. Think about the animal stories that capture our hearts - the pig or cow that managed to escape the slaughterhouse and run for their lives through the streets of the town. The many, many animals that have been offered human kindness and repay it tenfold. People love those stories. People turn their heads away in shock and grimace with revulsion when an animal is shown being slaughtered by some indigenous person or tribe. I find this absolutely outrageous. This is being done in this country to BILLIONS of animals.
BILLIONS.
Yet we continue to smack our lips over McDonalds, KFC, turkey dinners, big fat steaks without even acknowledging the life and the spirit of the animal that suffered and died for you. The Native Americans used every part of the animal, but they also thanked the animal and the Holy Spirit for the offering. We might say grace at dinner but that is for the meal on the table not for the animal that suffered for it.
So what’s the hang up? Why not get involved in SOME aspect of this? I have found that there are so many issues that I care about – human rights, children’s welfare, the health care system, the educational system, women’s rights, the environment, diseases that affect people I care about and animals – it can be absolutely overwhelming. How does one focus on one thing and ignore the others? I can’t answer that, I have been totally ADD when it comes to focusing on a particular cause. Even if you focus on animals – there are so many different aspects from testing to entertainment to clothing to food in which animals are treated so badly it would make you physically ill. I care about animals in labs – I do, and I write and call and demonstrate whenever I have the opportunity. I care about animals trapped and slaughtered for their skin (frankly, that is such a hideously, grotesque abomination of human insecurity! I can’t even fathom anyone wanting to wear the skin of another being – blach!). I am especially concerned about circuses and the mistreatment of some of the most amazing and social animals in the world. That’s my second focus in regards to animal welfare. But factory farming, AH! That encompasses everything I hate. Corporate greed. The terrible abuse of animals. The devastation of the environment. It’s a hat trick. The trifecta of activism, if you will. How someone in the political arena deals with factory farming speaks volumes about how close to my values that person stands. If I could ask just one question of any candidate it would be this – what is your stand on factory farming and what will you do to get legislation passed banning it altogether? It tells me if this person is in the back pocket of conglomerate lobbyists, if this person cares about the environment being destroyed by terrible pollution running unchecked out of these repositories, if the public’s health is a high priority, and if animals are seen as an intrinsic part of our lives. God did not put animals here for this. I absolutely believe that God cringes and weeps every time the hysterical, desperate cries rise to a fever pitch inside these warehouse crammed full of chickens, pigs, cows, ducks, geese, lambs. I think he shudders and sobs as the cacophony dies down only to rise again.
So, what’s the block? What keeps you from helping to change this? You like meat? Ok. I have to say, I do understand that we go with what we know and for the most part, that is what America knows – meat. But how about not eating meat once maybe twice a week? How about emailing or calling your representatives – local and federal and tell them that factory farming needs to stop and farm animals deserve to be covered under basic animal protection? That’s not too drastic. You might even feel better.
Just looked over the edge, pretty high up here on my soapbox.
The Farm Animal Walk will take place sometime in the early part of October. Pencil it in, we would love to have you there. More details later.
And seriously, if you don’t believe me, google factory farming. Look into it for yourself. You’ll be wiser about the food you eat and serve, if nothing else.
Comments
Thanks for speaking up for those who can't and for all you do!
-Kristen