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Dec. 30, 2004 After a bitterly divided election, it’s hard to imagine much that so-called “Red and Blue America” share in common. While we may still disagree on gay marriage, gun control, and abortion, there is one cultural issue that attracts widespread support from a sizeable majority of Americans, no matter where we stand in the political divide: compassion for animals. Whether on the far left like Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) or the far right like former Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH), members of both parties have provided a voice for the voiceless and stood up for animals, proving that advocating for animal protection is far from a partisan issue. Even Matthew Scully, formerly one of President Bush’s speechwriters, has rallied behind the cause of protecting animals. He eloquently made an impassioned plea for reducing farmed animal suffering in his 2002 book, “Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy.” Scully, a Christian conservative, details the routine abuses endured by animals raised for food and puts forth a powerful argument why people of conscience, especially conservatives, ought to be concerned about this issue and, ideally, become vegetarian. On the other side of the political aisle, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) has also spoken out for farmed animals. In 2001, he stated in a speech on the Senate floor, “Our inhumane treatment of livestock is becoming widespread and more and more barbaric…These creatures feel; they know pain. They suffer pain just as we humans suffer pain.” The way we think about farmed animals has come a long way in the last couple of decades. Where we used to see mindless automatons, we now see intelligent, social individuals who are capable of suffering and care about their lives as we much as we care about our own. Yet, although the way we view these animals has progressed significantly, unfortunately, our treatment of them has not. As most prominent newspapers have reported in the last few years, life for U.S. farmed animals is often far from easy. And, consumers are responding. Take for example the issue of veal. Once seen as a delicacy, as the mistreatment of calves raised for veal became widely known, compassionate consumers opting not to support that level of cruelty are largely responsible for per-capita veal consumption declining from 3.4 pounds in 1975 to just 0.5 pounds in 2002. What about other animals and their treatment? Although as of yet not as well-known as the way veal calves are treated—but perhaps more disturbing—is the plight of egg-laying hens. Most of the 280 million laying hens on U.S. egg farms never see sunlight, never touch earth, and are overcrowded in cages so small they are unable to even flap their wings. But, while the egg industry is thought by many as the most abusive in all of animal agribusiness, it by no means has a monopoly on cruelty. Mother pigs typically are confined in crates so narrow they cannot even turn around for months on end. Their unanesthetized piglets are castrated and have their tails and parts of their teeth cut off. Chickens and turkeys raised for meat have been bred to reach slaughter weight faster and faster to the point that, today, their hearts, lungs, and legs can’t keep up with their unnatural growth rate. Two industry researchers recently wrote in a poultry trade journal, “Is it more profitable to grow the biggest bird and have increased mortality[?].…[S]imple calculations suggest that it is better to get the weight and ignore the mortality.” The list of welfare assaults on farmed animals goes on and on. One need not read such a litany to understand the point: Humane treatment is not high on the list of priorities of animal producers, where profit outweighs animal welfare. If the abuses endured by farmed animals were forced on dogs and cats, the perpetrators would be prosecuted for animal cruelty. However, because farmed animals (or, sometimes, “standard agricultural practices”) are exempt from most state cruelty statutes and because no federal laws exist to protect animals while they are on the farm, virtually any act of violence or deprivation, no matter how objectionable, may be committed against these “food animals.” Unfortunately, our widespread acceptance of compassion for animals as a virtue has not translated into a fundamental reduction in animal suffering. But all of us, no matter what political stripes we may wear, can help prevent cruelty to animals. Whether on the far right, the far left, or anywhere in between, we all have an obligation not to support animal abuse when we sit down to eat. Each one of us can choose to protect animals, one bite at a time. We can choose the vegetarian option. ------------ About the author: Paul Shapiro is the campaigns director for D.C.-based nonprofit animal advocacy organization Compassion Over Killing, cok.net. For a free “Vegetarian Starter Guide,” readers can visit TryVeg.com. Email: pshapiro@cok.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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