Quality of Life

 Temple Grandin is a PhD of Animal Science and professor At Colorado State University. She has designed stockyards and their components to keep animals calm and safe until they can be stunned and killed. She obviously has no problem with using animals for food, but has spoken out about humane treatment up to the ends of their lives. Even if one sees no problem with using animals for food, we should be able to agree that neglect, abuse and inhumane treatment are not acceptable means to that end.

In my case what began as a quest for better health led to the realization of the damage modern day "factory" farming is doing to our planet. With that awakening the plight of  billions of animals caught in our machinery burned itself into my psyche. I still work towards health for myself and the earth, but I'll always be vegan because of the animals. I'll slip up, make mistakes. But the choice to abstain from animal products is an ethical one. I can't justify killing another sentient being for convenience or pleasure. And the sad lives of most of those beings is a black mark on our collective soul.

When choosing which animal should die for your taste buds, give consideration to the kind of life they've had. Were they dragged from their mothers after a few hours or days, stuffed in a veal crate with no room to move, never again to feel joy or comfort? Were they raised in the dark, filled with growth hormones, their beaks cut off to prevent killing each other as they go mad from the unnatural existence? Was their mother forced into a gestation crate, unable to turn around, good only as a feeding machine so her offspring can grow into the same sad world?

Everyone must make their own choice. But before you choose again, know where your food comes from. Watch the videos. Read the literature. Open your eyes. The system as it stands is not acceptable for who we are and who we strive to be.