A Humane Society investigation led to the closure of Vermont-based Bushway Packing Inc. slaughterhouse. Videotape from the investigation reveals that veal calves only a few days old - many with their umbilical cords still hanging from their bodies - were unable to stand or walk on their own. The tape shows that the animals were kicked, slapped and repeatedly shocked with electric prods and subjected to other mistreatment.The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture took decisive action last Friday based on the information provided by The HSUS and immediately suspended operations at the plant, pending a continuing investigation.According to a report published by the Associated Press, “U.S. Department of Agriculture records show Bushway Packing Inc. of Grand Isle was shut down for a day in May, again in June and again in July after an inspector cited it for inhumane treatment of animals.”Still according to the AP report, “the slaughterhouse specialized in “bob veal” - meat from days-old calves that ends up in hot dogs and lunch meats.” Ironically, meat coming from this slaughterhouse was certified organic, which once again highlights how meaningless this label is when it comes to animal products.Veal is a by-product of the dairy industry, therefore the most effective answer to this horrible situation is going vegan. These innocent infants are babies snatched away from their mothers, who are literally milked to death, are then killed for someone’s pleasure. This is a not an industry that can be regulated because cruelty is inherent to the process of animal farming. But everyone can help eradicate it through a vegan diet. It’s that simple.Undercover video – contains imagery that some may find upsetting (but very revealing of what the dairy industry really looks like):
Of all the fallacies designed to make people feel good about consuming animal parts is the so-called ‘humane animal farming’, sometimes also called free-range or organic. From the vegan perspective, it’s just hogwash. What many people don’t realize is that life for animals on these deceptively benevolent farms are still treated like property and subjected to an array of painful procedures such as castration, ringing and spaying. And at the end of it, they often go to conventional slaughterhouses to be killed – is that something we do to those we claim to care for? I don’t think so.
Slate Magazine has written an excellent article exposing the facts mentioned above. It falls short of inviting readers to go vegan , but it does so between the lines. When writer James McWilliams advises readers to look for alternatives to alternatives, he’s effectively telling people to drop animal products altogether because there is no better alternative that involves animals. And that’s a fact, not a myth, like ‘humane meat’ is.
Valentine is a time for love, so it’s no wonder that animal lovers, the ones who really love animals and don’t eat/wear/use them, use the date to also celebrate their commitment to making this a better world for our non-human friends. I found two things that I’d like to share. First is the Discerning Brute’s take on Valentine crafts with help from the wonderful and compassionate Todd Oldham. Check out the video and the amazing ideas these two materialize together.
Over in the UK, AnimalAid and Viva! have joined forces to send a love message to British pigs via the Have a Heart for British Pigs! day of action on the 14th. You see, celebrity TV chef Jamie Oliver has been telling people to eat British pork because he says the animals are treated ‘better’ in his country than in the rest of Europe. First of all, no animal is treated nicely if they are going to be killed. Secondly, it’s not true that ‘welfare’ standards are higher in Europe as undercover investigations show. “The answer to saving pigs is not to buy British - the answer to saving pigs (and all farmed animals) is to go veggie!” says Viva!
The blogger at Food For Change has a good comment on this Jamie Oliver fiasco: “How can a chef who claims to be concerned with the nation’s health promote foods which are strongly linked to heart disease, obesity and cancer? In particular, sausages, bacon and other processed meats are extremely damaging to health, so much so that the World Cancer Research Fund have warned that there is no safe level of consumption.”
I couldn’t agree more and it shows yet again what hogwash the whole ‘humane meat ‘ movement is.
Gary Francione, a leading voice of the animal abolitionist movement, which aims at abolishing the status of animals as property, with veganism as its baseline, wrote a comment earlier this week about an alarming article in the London Times. In it, the writer describes her return to consuming animal flesh after 25 years as a vegetarian, citing all lack of iron (?) and the availability of ‘humanely raised’ dead animals on the supermarket shelf. You get the impression, though, that whatever the writer says, it sounds like a neatly packaged excuse to simply turn her back on ethics.
Francione said about the article:
This is where the happy meat/animal products movement is leading. And it is certainly not confined to Britain. In the United States, animal protection organizations promote initiatives such as California’s Proposition 2, which will do nothing to help animals but will falsely reassure humans that animals are being given significantly improved “humane” protection.
The underlying premise of the modern “animal protection” movement is that it is acceptable for humans to use animals as long as they are treated “humanely.” Those who support this position may want better treatment than the welfarists of the 1940s or 1950s sought, but the principle is the same: use does not matter; only treatment does. That is a fundamental difference between the abolitionist approach and the approach adopted by the large new-welfarist organizations. The abolitionist position rejects all animal use and sees creative, nonviolent vegan education as the primary strategy to employ.
I had heard Francione say that before and he’s been right all the way. ‘Happy meat’ is a disgrace for animals and it’s shameful that some organizations give their stamp of approval to what can only be described a betrayal of the interests of animals. Compassion In World Farming, for instance, is trying to get British people to eat veal again, so that young calves don’t get exported live (the rationale being that, if people ate those animals, they wouldn’t have to suffer the journey to Europe, where ‘welfare’ conditions are worse). Next time someone says ‘happy meat’ to you, just do a Amy Winehouse and say: No, no, no.
Most people by now must be familiarized with the so-called organic meat, humane meat or “happy meat” labels. These marketing tools are part of the meat industry’s strategy to reach the new ethical consumer, and, sadly, it has also managed to lure some people away from vegetarianism.
However, the organic meat industry’s main marketing assets - ‘high standard’ animal welfare and low impact on the environment - may well be something of a mirage. Living Vegan says that organic meat may not be “that environment-friendly. The first reason they put forth is organic animals require a longer time to grow to as they are not pumped with hormones. This results in the need to consume more organic plant food to feed them. It will be better if humans eat the plant food instead“.
The second is that animals still suffer the indignities that factory farmed animals do, such as being branded, de-horned, castrated, separated from their offspring and, of course, being brutally killed in the end. It’s a no-win situation for them, whose property status remains unchallenged by this supposedly ‘humane’ business. How can you ever put the words humane and slaughter together. It’s a contradiction in terms.
So, what’s the answer to all this? Only one: go vegetarian.
Of all the fallacies designed to make people feel good about consuming animal parts is the so-called ‘humane animal farming’, sometimes also called free-range or organic. From the vegan perspective, 