I learned about the way chickens have been treated and have been feeling sick ever since. I don't consider myself a softy but I had parakeets, and birds have VERY distinctive personalities and emotions. Some food must be killed, but not tortured for profit. I used to have 3 beautiful pet chickens in my city yard called Penelope, Athena and Helen. They were rescued from a battery hen farm but we made them healthy. They rewarded us with lovely eggs and did lots of good work in my vege garden. Every morning I'd call "chook! chook! chook!" and they'd come running for their feed and I'd sit with them having my coffee. They had such cute, funny and sweet personalities and were very close to each other. I'd be in stitches laughing every time they'd go crazy together and chase the neighbour's cat and rooster away.
Chickens like other birds feel pain and distress (regardless of intelligence) and it makes me feel desperately sad to think of poor chickens in cramped and dirty factory farms feeling tortured from their bodies becoming deformed in those tiny wire cages. The way chickens are treated in modern factory farms is completely immoral. I find it so hard to understand why people will buy the cheap eggs instead of the free/open range eggs just to save a few dollars but they will spend those dollars on coke or junk food. I guess a lot of people just don't think about it but thank you for thinking about it :)
You make a very valid point that we shouldn't torture animals just to make the products cheap and bigger profits. Killing an animal quickly and humanely after it has led a comfortable life is a very different story. Views differ on whether it is necessary to kill animals for food but I for one would feel better knowing that if animals are being killed for food that they are at least not being tortured. I pray for the day that we have strong animal cruelty laws for all animals, regardless of whether they are our pets or our food source. It's true that the factory farms treat chickens terribly. Check out this awareness raising site: http://www.themeatrix.com/ . I don't eat chicken, beef, or pork any more =)
On the other hand, (and I know that PETA god will strike me down for saying this) chickens aren't much like parakeets. They're amazingly stupid. They were bred to produce eggs and meat, not talk or hunt. Any intelligent gene has been snuffed out by breeders. The same thing's happened to sheep. It's a terrible thing, and it doesn't make their treatment any better, but it's something worth knowing, I think. Egg laying hens are abused too. I'm glad though that you feel the way you do. A friend of the family has chickens as pets and I couldn't imagine ever eating them or putting them through the hell that factory farms do. They're very sweet, loving creatures (they do have distinctive personalities despite what some choose to believe), as are most animals that suffer the abuse of factory farms. Thanks!!!! Well Larry, why stop at Chickens just because you have pet birds ?
We have pets cows and sheep and i can assure you that have every bit as much character, feelings, thoughts and moods as any pet.
Your final statement is wrong "Some food must be killed". There is no need to kill for food, 140 million vegetarians have proved that.
Of course commercial chickens display little character, would you if you lived your life in a cage for 2 years ?? Look what happens to a hostage after a few weeks, they shut down, just like farm animals.
We have pure breed chickens, yes they do exhibit character. Chickens are the most abused creatures on the planet. You have good reason to feel sick. The most illogical thing to do would be to take the opinion of someone that raises chickens or any other animals for slaughter. If you lock a child up its whole life, it wouldn't display much personality either.
Have you seen this? http://meat.org
There have been vegan Olympic gold medalists and a vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada...
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If you want to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the transition should be quite simple. Almost all meats have widely available commercial replacements. All that you have to do is replace any flesh in your diet (beef, pork, poultry, seafood) with meat analogs or just leave it out altogether.
You should keep in mind that a journey such as this can be quite short but should just be the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This is because of the reality of factory farming in which animals that are kept alive to produce milk, eggs, etc suffer much more and longer than animals that are raised to a certain weight and then slaughtered.http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/
http://meat.org
Some people use the word "vegan" in reference to this idea, but be aware that applying that label to yourself should always come with the inclusion of wise activism and advocacy.http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/in...
Two extremely important examples of this are that you should never speak to someone about vegetarianism/veganism without their consent and genuine interest or as a comment on what they are eating AND your dietary beliefs should never be used as an introduction or explanation of who you are as a person. Veg*ism should be something that comes up AFTER people get to know you and they offer you a situation that makes it confusing to withhold the information/discussion. Also, if you are presented something that you choose not to eat or you are
ordering food/eating together somewhere/picking the best place to eat.
When you you hold off on the subject until it's necessary and then act like it isn't a big deal at all, people are usually surprised and WAY more interested and curious than if you were to bring it up when someone's eating or just using it as a conversation starter.
A responsible vegan ALWAYS studies the subject of their own health and how to keep their body completely provided for in every sense. http://www.veganhealth.org/sh
To neglect their body is to define a plant-based diet as unhealthy and is the opposite of helping the animals.
Just to clear things up, the vegetarian/vegan diet is not composed of salads, vegetables, fruit and fake meat. Fruits and vegetables are always important but they DO NOT make up the largest portion of any healthy diet.
A balanced plant-based diet includes grains(breads, pasta, rice,cereal), legumes(soy, beans, peas, lentils), fruit and vegetables.
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/f...
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/ea...
Being vegan can be an art, one whose challenge is to take things that involve the suffering of the innocent and change them into something free of cruelty.
A vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.
Technically the term "vegetarian" does imply that you don't consume anything that comes from the body of an animal that requires killing it. Many ingredients such as gelatin and glycerin are found in many candies, Fig-Newtons, and many of other foods as well as rennet found in many cheeses.
http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-in...
The best thing to remember is to take your time so that for example: when you are comfortable not eating beef and pork you can then give up chicken when you are sure you can make the commitment permanently.
Depending on your age or reliance on parents or regional options, it may not be best to give yourself a label. The important thing is to do your best to make progress and be committed to your compassion towards animals. Never put your focus onto what you or other people use to describe yourself.
If you meet someone that talks down to people for eating meat, dairy, etc or to you because they think they are "more veg" than you, laugh in their face and tell them they are a disgrace to the entire philosophy. People like this only hurt the idea of veg*ism AND the animals. The point of all of this is to live compassionately and and as free from cruelty as you can, all the while maintaining your health and a positive attitude. People who don't maintain either, need not open their mouths and represent our beliefs.
If you actually choose to read all of this, I hope it helps. If not, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions.
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I'm vegan and these are some of my favorite things to eat:
Breakfast: bananas, cream of wheat with brown sugar and soy butter, cereal, pancakes or french toast with real maple syrup, vegan "sausage" patties, smoothies.
Lunch: VEGAN "SAUSAGE" SANDWICHES, sandwiches with vegan deli slices(Tofurkey is the only one that's kinda funky), fruit, dinner leftovers, couscous salad, vegan sushi, potato or pasta salad.
Dinner: sloppy joes, "sausage" and gravy with homemade biscuits, Spaghetti and Trader Joe's "meatballs" or TVP, lasagna, Thai pad see ew, pad khi mao(drunkard's noodles), pad prig king, tofu+eggplant with basil sauce, yellow thai curry with tofu or vegan chikn and veggies and jasmine rice, Indian dal with homemade roti or dosai, channa masala, aloo gobi, vegetable or minestrone soup, pizza, STEAMED "PORK" BUNS with potstickers or spring rolls, sweet&sour/orange/lemon chikn, vegan pho or wonton soup
I use these sites to find recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com
http://vegweb.com
http://www.recipezaar.com no don't go in there. Aw, that's so nice, Larry! The way these animals are treated sickens me as well... I hold out hope that we humans will learn and treat them better (and fellow humans as well!) as time goes on. If you do ever want to be vegetarian, or just reduce meat consumption, or anything like that, there are plenty of people on here to help you. Good luck!
(P.S. - When I'm feeling down about crummy things in the world, I try to be more active in helping out others, and reducing my own harm, and remember this song lyric that goes "What will happen will happen, whether I'm happy or sad..." I hope any of that helps you feel better as well.) My wife had a pet chicken when a kid. They had others too, that they ate and used for eggs, but one was her pet. Her evil mom killed it for dinner one night on purpose.
Something to think about. I think chickens are remarkably intelligent. It's not their fault their normal environment doesn't let them run around and do the things they usually like to do. I know even from just hanging around my family's chickens that they're wonderful animals with distinct personalities.
It's good you're making the connection between the animals you love and the animals you eat.
I don't agree with the idea that animals need to be killed to feed us humans, but hey, maybe someday you'll realize how cool it is to go vegetarian. |
