For Animals.

“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.”

This statement from Paul Farmer remains true about all forms of injustice, including perhaps the longest, largest and most ignored injustice, our exploitation of animals. Animals are not commodities here for us to use, they are individuals, with personalities. Animals are the most innocent beings, and we treat them as if they are worth less than nothing. Shouldn’t it be that the more innocent and vulnerable someone is, the more deserving they are of our compassion? Instead we take advantage of them, and subject them to horrific cruelty, all for the sake of trivial taste pleasure. 

“When we suffer, we suffer as equals. And in their capacity to suffer, a dog is a pig is a bear… is a boy.”

Philip Wollen

Veganism is to simply abstain from participating in the exploitation of animals. By definition then, this means choosing not to consume animal products. Veganism is not a diet or a lifestyle choice, it doesn’t require you to sacrifice anything or give anything up. You just stop taking what is not yours in the first place and stop paying for animals to be killed on your behalf. Going vegan also reduces your impact on the environment and can be very beneficial to your health. 

It is commonly believed that you need to eat animal products in order to be healthy. We are told that you need to drink milk for calcium, and eat meat for protein and iron, but do you really? The American Dietetic Association states that “vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.” This means we can officially get all the nutrients we need without exploiting animals. Being vegan also reduces your chance of getting heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

So, if the animal agriculture industry has managed to convince so many people that you need to eat animals to be healthy, when actually you don’t, then what else aren’t they telling us? Do they really let their animals live out their lives in lush green fields with their families? Because how would this be profitable? Do they really treat their animals with compassion? Well, I’ll let you decide. Here is what happens in the egg, meat and dairy industries in New Zealand.

Firstly, the egg industry. Free range chickens are kept in filthy, windowless, and overcrowded sheds. Caged chickens are crammed into cages so small they cannot even spread their wings. Many of these chickens suffer from injury and none get the chance to breathe fresh air, scratch in the dirt, or express other natural behaviours. All of the chickens are slaughtered and replaced after 15 to 18 months. Male chicks born into the egg industry are considered useless, so they are thrown into macerators when they are a day old. These are standard practices in the egg industry in New Zealand.

Pigs raised for meat are also often kept in similar conditions, filthy and overcrowded. Female pigs are forcibly impregnated and confined on bare concrete floors while they are pregnant, give birth, and attempt to nurture their young. Pigs are smarter than 3 year old human children, and so being kept in these harsh conditions causes them severe mental and physical illness. Many pigs have been recorded repeatedly biting at the bars confining them until their teeth shatter. Piglets have their teeth, tails and testicles cut off without any anaesthetic, and weak or sick piglets are killed by being smashed on the head or against a wall. Pigs are slaughtered when they are six months old. Whether they are raised on a local family farm or a commercial one, all of these pigs end up at the same slaughterhouse, with the same knife being cut across their throat. This is what you support when you eat pork or bacon.

In the dairy industry cows are forcibly impregnated every year and after they give birth their babies are taken away. Around 2 million male calves are killed every year in New Zealand because they are considered waste products. Mother cows are also killed after around 4 years when they are considered “spent”.

Chickens bred for meat have been genetically manipulated to grow unnaturally fast. This causes them numerous health problems, and leaves them constantly in pain. Many are so crippled that they cannot even walk. These chickens are packed into sheds with up to 40,000 chickens in each. The sheds are not cleaned once while the chickens live there. After six weeks, all of the chickens are killed by an automatic knife cutting their throat open, often while they’re still fully conscious. Around 100 million chickens are killed for meat every year in New Zealand. 

Lastly, fish. Fish are often forgotten when it comes to animal cruelty, but they are arguably the most abused of all animals. Fish are intelligent and emotional, sentient beings. They each have individual personalities, form strong bonds with other fish, and can even use tools. They may be different from other animals, but they can still feel happy, sad, scared and they can most certainly feel pain. In fact, fish have sensory neurons that are physiologically identical to those of humans. Despite this, fish have basically no rights or protection whatsoever, and so they are treated with unimaginable cruelty. More than 2.7 trillion fish and marine animals are killed every year. Most die by asphyxiation and the rest are gutted alive. 

No animal, whether they have fur or feathers or fins, deserves to be treated like this. Next time you go to eat meat, dairy or eggs, think about the victim, and the suffering they were caused so you could eat their dead body or secretions. Ask yourself what’s more important,  a few moments of taste pleasure, or an animal’s life?

The list of atrocities we commit against animals is never ending. We rip out their fur, race them, shoot them, drown them, suffocate them, skin them, mutilate them, and of course, cut them up and eat them. We exploit them in every way possible and for what? We force them into this world, and then we take everything from them. The only thing they have is their own life, and then we take that too. Did you know we kill three billion animals every single day? Three billion living, feeling, terrified animals, who cannot understand why such intolerable pain is being inflicted upon them. You only need to put yourself in the animal’s position to understand why going vegan is the least you can do. As the animal rights activist, Gary Yourofsky, once said: “These creatures have never harmed you, violated you, or taken advantage of you in any way, shape, or form; the least you could do is return the favour”.