The plight of animals – be it farm animals, companion animals, marine or wild life animals – is one of the foremost reasons why many people around the world choose to eat a vegetarian diet, or vegan diet. As people who care about the animals of the earth, we believe that, like human animals, they have rights and deserve to have their best interests taken into consideration, regardless of whether they are useful to humans. Animals are not ours to use for food, clothing, entertainment, experimentation, or any other reason. By switching to a plant-base diet, human societies will be able to alleviate the needless suffering and deaths of countless animals, the irreparable damage done onto the earth like air and water pollution, the erosion of lands, waste of precious energy, and deforestation. Raising and eating meat leaves behind an environmental toll that generations to come will be forced to pay.
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. – Gandhi, Indian spiritual leader.”
How animals become meat and why the vegetarian diet & vegan diet helps animals. Modern high-pressure agriculture commonly keeps cows, calves, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and other animals in overcrowded stalls, cages, crates, or sheds where they are often unable to turn around or take even a single step for their entire lives. Deprived of veterinary care, exercise, sunlight, and even the feel of grass beneath their feet, these living, breathing, thinking, feeling beings, whose senses are so much like our own, suffer and die at the rate of millions per day just so that we can have burgers, patties, nuggets, and wieners. Deciding what we will eat means choosing between the horrors of factory farming and respect for animals.
Pigs, cows, and chickens are individuals with feelings – they experience love, happiness, loneliness, and fear, just as dogs, cats, and people do. More than 25 billion animals are killed by the meat industry each year – in ways that would horrify any compassionate person. The average American meat-eater is responsible for the abuse and death of about 90 animals per year. READ MORE
Several recent studies have shown that chickens are bright animals, able to solve complex problems, demonstrate self-control, and worry about the future. Chickens are smarter than cats or dogs and even do some things that have not yet been seen in mammals other than primates. Dr. Chris Evans, who studies animal behavior and communication at Macquarie University in Australia, says, “As a trick at conferences, I sometimes list these attributes, without mentioning chickens, and people think I’m talking about monkeys.” Dr. John Webster of Bristol University found that chickens are capable of understanding cause and effect and that when chickens learn something new, they pass on that knowledge (i.e., they have what scientists call “culture”). How does your IQ compare to that of a chicken?
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), with more than 2 million members and supporters, is the largest animal rights organization in the world.
PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of beavers, birds and other “pests,” and the abuse of backyard dogs.
PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.
Alex Colao Blog 