Animal Writings

Today, as I was picking up lunch at a buffet-style place, I heard two women ahead of me talking. One said to the other, while helping herself to chicken-fried rice and chicken with cashews, "I hate selfish people. People who only think of themselves, and what's in it for them, without considering anyone else."

I thought, "Isn't that what happens every time we eat animals — also known as meat? The animals only want to live in peace, but we're too selfish to grant them that modest request, because we like the taste of their flesh."

We violate the animals' most basic desires and knowingly cause them to suffer, not because we must in order to survive — that wouldn't be selfish — but because we feel like it. In fact, we can't even be bothered with seeing the suffering endured by our "food" while it's still alive. We don't want to be reminded that our chicken dinners, while they're still chickens, are crammed by the thousands into uncomfortable, dark, smelly warehouses, and hate every minute of it. We delegate to others the dirty job of slicing chickens' necks open while they're fully conscious yet unable to resist because their muscles are paralyzed. (Yes, that's how it's done; you may want to re-read that last sentence.) We dare not peer into the eyes of a chicken hung upside down on a conveyer belt as it's about to be knifed. No, don't remind us what we're supporting, just give us the chickens' meat in a way that disguises the suffering: neatly wrapped in a package, or mixed in a dish on the buffet table. Does this not fit the definition of "selfish?"

The chickens and all the other food animals are ready at any time for us to be unselfish, and to give them back their lives. There are plenty of easy-to-find meat alternatives that taste as good as meat — sometimes better, which often surprises people the first time they discover it. A lot of the flavor in meat dishes comes from added spices, marinades, and sauces. If you take all those away, you have cat food.

So if you crave a meat flavor, start sampling all these fake meat products I keep talking about. You can eat healthy versions of chicken nuggets, meatloaf, pork barbeque, Rueben sandwiches, and chicken-fried rice and not harm one animal. I think that's pretty amazing and compelling. Your taste buds will be pleasantly fooled and you'll sleep better at night. It's the right choice. After all, you hate selfish people who only think of themselves...

Plump red tomatoes on the vine are ready to burst. Wouldn't they taste great on a BLT?

Now hold up just a minute. Don't buy bacon made from pigs. You can save these intelligent, emotional creatures from misery and slaughter each time you buy veggie bacon. If you haven't made the switch yet, now is a perfect time. I just fried up some LightLife "Smart Bacon" with a little canola oil in the pan. It's crispy, tasty, and ready to go. It's even low-carb, if you must know.

Lettuce? Use a fancy French variety if you want, but for BLTs I like the crunchiness of good old American iceberg. Any type of bread works; just make sure you lightly toast it.

Not using eggless mayo yet? Time to get on board. The egg-laying hens have it as bad as any farm animals, crammed into tiny wire cages so small they can't even flap their wings. And any male chicks born in a factory farm egg facility are killed the same day, often by suffocation. I don't think you want to contribute to that kind of cruelty. So look for egg-free mayo. You won't be able to tell the difference. But the animals you spare from suffering will!

Now for the tomato. Fanfare, please. Is there a more delectable fruit or vegetable or whatever it is in the summer? (Peaches are a close second.) Pile the slices high on the bread. Add the veggie bacon and the lettuce. Slather on the mayo. Enjoy!

Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace.

Milan Kundera

This quote appears under a picture of a thoroughly content dog floating down a lazy stream in an innertube. One look at the photo makes you want to play hooky from work and jump in the water with him.

The quote and picture are part of a calendar from the Doris Day Animal League (DDAL). Yes, that Doris Day. She's one of a fairly large cadre of Hollywood entertainers, young and old, who work to help animals. Some of the many issues that the DDAL focuses on are pet overpopulation, puppy mills, horse slaughter, and greyhound racing.

Had it with the whole nasty business of cruelty in the factory farms and slaughterhouses? Tired of contributing to farm animals' misery? Ready to add some animal-friendly meals to your menu? VegRecipes.org is an excellent place to start.

It doesn't have the web's largest selection of recipes, that's for sure. I like this site because the recipes are so "normal," they're tasty, and they're fairly easy.

When you first enter the vegetarian world (welcome and congratulations on being a fledgling vegetarian) you usually have to stock your shelves with a few new ingredients, but VegRecipes.org keeps it pretty uncomplicated. You'll find staples like tofu and soymilk at your regular grocery store. Many of the recipes consist of foods you already buy, such as produce, legumes, and staples like flour, sugar, and spices.

The site has links to larger Internet recipe collections and to cookbooks. Once you start earnestly hunting for vegetarian meal ideas, you'll see it's limitless. I'm sure 100 new vegetarian recipes are added to the Net every day.

One more thing before you make out your grocery list. Diets are always talking about how they're good for your heart. Well, when you consciously add to animal suffering while knowing that you don't need to, that's a another form of heart disease. The cure is a vegetarian, and especially, a vegan diet. There's some heart-healthiness that you won't find anywhere else.

Enjoy!

When reading the following New York Times story, which discusses slaughterhouse abuse so severe you almost won't believe it, keep in mind the following:

1. This is not an isolated incident. Far from it. Horrible mistreatment of animals in slaughterhouses occurs every day, and has gone on for years. Not just in chicken plants, but in every type of intensive animal agriculture operation.


2. In all likelihood, KFC and Pilgrim's Pride Corporation, which owns the slaughterhouse, knew about the cruelty for a long time but did nothing about it. Animal rights activists have provided KFC and its suppliers with plenty of footage that shows chickens being violently abused, even tortured; the offending companies have typically responded with denials and/or attempts to discredit the whistleblowers.


3. The plant where the cruelty took place was recently the site of a KFC "Supplier of the Year" award ceremony.


4. Next time you hear the word "extremist" leveled at the animal rights movement, consider the extremism that goes on behind the walls of the slaughterhouse. In fact, extremism is built into the factory farm business model. Animal living conditions are extreme. So are slaughterhouse processing speeds. So is the pressure to keep the slaughterhouse line operating continuously.

Here's the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/20/business/20chicken.html. Non-members will need to fill out a quick, free registration.

I recommend clicking on the link to the video, to the right of the article, to fully grasp the impact of what happens to these innocent birds. One reason I want you to watch the video is that I hope doing so will seriously get you to thinking about replacing the chicken in your diet with cruelty-free alternatives, such as chicken substitutes from GardenBurger, Yves, and Tofurkey. They taste great.

Here's a related article, plus video, on the PETA site (no registration necessary): http://www.peta.org/feat/moorefield/.

One last thing. Were it not for undercover investigators from animal rights groups, the abuse of these animals would probably continue indefinitely. However, several bills currently in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures would brand such persons "terrorists." Which is amazing, since they were actually fighting terrorism — peacefully. For more information on the "Slaughterhouse Terrorism Protection Act," please read this piece by author John Robbins.

In an interview in the Washington Post, a spokesperson for the American Meat Institute (AMI) expresses concern for PETA's "Lettuce Ladies." She claims that the activists, who dress in attention-getting lettuce outfits and hand out literature about factory farm horrors, are being "exploited."

While the AMI blushes about the Lettuce Ladies' cleavage, they promote an industry that each year grows and kills millions of turkeys with breasts so huge, the animals can barely stand up. The birds' genetically-engineered deformities leave them unable to mate on their own. Instead, workers grab the male turkeys, force them to ejaculate, and inject the resulting semen into the females' vaginas. The violated turkeys then resume their "normal" lives in crowded, filthy, ammonia-stenched sheds, where they suffer from lameness, heart disease, and other ailments caused by their huge, out-of-proportion upper bodies.

There's your exploitation.

In contrast to the animals they're trying to protect, the Lettuce Ladies participate in activities of their own choosing, are free to back out at any time, and leave each of the events fully healthy, unharmed — and alive.

"Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures."

From a recent mailing sent out by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

The University of Virginia (UVA) was one school that responded to PCRM's public pressure and abolished the use of live dogs in medical experimentation. That's the good news.

The bad news — now UVA is using live cats!

In a development both shocking and disturbing, UVA nurses and physicians use common domestic cats — the kind that you or your friends might have at home as companions — to practice infant intubation [insertion of a tube into the larynx or windpipe].

This use of live cats, like the use of live animals in almost every kind of experiment or procedure, is hideously cruel and absolutely unnecessary.

Humane and far more effective alternatives are readily available. Anatomical manikens are commonly used for this type of procedure. Manikens are reasonably priced and last many years. They allow students to practice intubations an unlimited number of times, without pain and suffering to innocent and unsuspecting animals.

Live cats used in UVA's exercises can suffer tracheolaryngeal brusing, bleeding, scarring, severe pain, and a chronic cough - even when properly anesthetized. These unfortunate cats are often repeately intubated in a single session by more than one student, prolonging the agony and increasing the chances of injury.

Improperly anesthetized animals can - and often do - suffer at the hands of inexperienced students during intubation training. In some cases the animals die from being improperly handled.

As if that's not enough, practicing intubation on cats is not even appropriate training because the anatomical and tissue characteristics of cats and humans are so different. A cat's mouth, throat, and lungs all have a different configuration from those of humans.

Which means that practicing on cats is worthless training for medical professionals trying to acquire skills for emergency situations.

Top medical schools across the country have retired their crude and archaic animal labs. So can UVA. Physicians, nurses, and emergency medical personnel learn how to intubate ultimately from practicing on actual humans under careful supervision. Experimenting on a cat prior to that is far less relevant than gaining experience on cadavers and/or manikens that have the same proportions and sizing as real patients. There is zero evidence that animal labs make for better-skilled doctors and nurses.

UVA's pointless and preventable infliction of pain and suffering on cats will very likely repel would-be physicians and other medical professionals. Forced dissections and callous attitudes toward animals are frequently cited as reasons for defection by students who decide against going into a medical field.

There is no scientific, fiscal, or ethical defense for UVA's use of live cats as disposable training objects. Alternatives are easily available, have a proven track record, and offer numerous advantages. Whatever happened to "first do no harm?"

"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian" — Paul McCartney

Perhaps the same result could be achieved by showing slaughterhouse killings on television. At least for a while, until the images were drowned out by the flood of commercials, newspaper circulars, menus, and other advertising that entices consumers with tantalizing renditions of the products of those slaughterhouses.

The following editorial discusses the effects of watching mass slaughter (to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, foot-and-mouth disease, SARS, and avian flu) on the nightly news, and raises several provocative points, among them: given that conditions in factory farms are so unbearable, is it actually more kind to kill the animals stuck in those prison-like facilities as soon as possible rather than prolong their suffering?

When Slaughter Makes Sense

A partial list of what's coming up in the next few months...

• Lies, lies, and more lies by industries and organizations that exploit animals.


• The sad and awful lives of factory farm animals. The crimes against nature continue...


• Hints, tips, and encouragement for making your diet more animal-friendly.


• "Blocked vegetarians," Carol Adams' right-on-target characterization of people who can't stop eating animals even though they know deep down that it's wrong.


• The sloppy science and utter disregard for animal welfare that goes on every day in laboratories.


• Companies and individuals, some from unexpected quarters, doing good deeds for animals.


• Inspired writings about animals by great authors from around the world.


• Why animal rights advocates must work together with the religious community.


• Heroes who fight for animals.


• Villains who torture animals.


• Thoughts on extremism.


• Occasional lighter fare.


• Baring my soul.

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." -- Albert Einstein

Want to be the most unpopular person in the room? Criticize the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation "Race for the Cure."

Here's what's right with "Race for the Cure:" finding a cure for breast cancer is an admirable goal; the Komen Foundation funds some worthwhile research and outreach efforts; participants in the race gain a genuine feeling of empowerment and community.

What's wrong with "Race for the Cure?" A lot. Let's start with this observation: America leads the world in breast cancer research, yet also has one of the highest rates of breast cancer. Clearly, we have a major disconnect.
 
Here's one problem: there's no money in preaching the benefits of diet and exercise, yet those are two of our most powerful weapons against the disease. A recent study of identical twins in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that 27 percent of breast cancer risk is due to environmental and lifestyle factors, while genes accounted for less than 10 percent. Another study shows that Asian women who move to the U.S. and adopt a Western increase their chance of getting breast cancer. A third study comparing various countries concludes that populations with the highest consumption of animal fat in their diet also have the highest breast cancer mortality rates.

There's a common thread here. Replace meat with vegetarian dishes.

The Komen Foundation downplays the link between diet and breast cancer. Their web site stops just short of saying that diet plays no role. This is irresponsible. Sure, there are studies that show no correlation between diet and breast cancer risk. But there is enough evidence that animal fat is a contributor and plant sources a protector to recommend a largely-vegetarian diet. Moreover, such a diet also reduces your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and other cancers.

There are numerous studies showing a link between dairy and breast cancer. It's not a slam-dunk case, but the findings occur often enough to warrant action, if you ask me. Why take a chance when eliminating the suspected culprit is so easy?

The smoking gun in dairy products may be a protein called "insulin-like growth factor," or IGF-1, which has been identified as a key contributor to breast cancer growth. Keep in mind that cow's milk does not consist of inert ingredients. It contains bioactive agents specifically designed for baby cows. Its singular purpose is to produce changes in the body of the developing calf. When we non-cows ingest that highly-targeted formula "our results may vary," as the fine print often warns. The fact that that the majority of humans on the planet have some kind of negative reaction to dairy is a signal that it's potent stuff. I recommend soy or rice milk as a substitute. You'll be pleasantly surpised by the taste. Most brands are fortified with calcium and vitamin D. Soy may even offer protective benefits against breast cancer.

Yoplait, the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association, and other dairy-based businesses give sizeable sums of money to the Komen Foundation through highly publicized sponsorships. It's unlikely that the Foundation will bite the hands that feed them and fund an honest inquiry into the relationship between dairy and the disease they want to eradicate. In fact, the Komen web site doesn't even mention dairy. Shame on them.

Still not sure that diet plays a role in breast cancer? Hey, nothing wrong with being skeptical. Let me run a couple of ideas by you — food for thought. First, do you really think that the increase in breast cancer rates in the last 50 years is due to genetics? Or increased detection? To dismiss the possible effects of our diet, lifestyle, and environment is ludicrous.

Second, consider this. Lung cancer consistently kills more women than breast cancer does. Yet there is nothing remotely close to a "Race for the Cure" for lung cancer. There is not a profusion of gala benefits and pink ribbons and t-shirts for lung cancer. Here's a one partial explanation: lung cancer is seen as a "smoker's disease." Quit smoking and your risk goes way down. 50 years ago, most of the top physicians in the country would not make that claim. Today, organizations like Komen portray breast cancer as more or less a random occurrence, out of your control. Once we start thinking about breast cancer like we think about lung cancer, that you have some actual control over your risk of contracting the disease, some of the helplessness will diminish, and be replaced by the confidence that comes with self-determination.

Of course, people can do all the right things and still have rotten luck. There's no question that we want to help these individuals. But by devaluing the preventive power of diet and other lifetstyle choices, Komen and similar groups are diluting resources and missing out on a chance to save lives. If we can reduce the incidence of breast cancer 25 percent or more strictly through diet and exercise — which is free — that leaves more funds for those stricken by the disease.

Susbsequent posts will examine:

How Komen keeps looking for cures in the wrong species.

How most cancer groups confuse "prevention" and "detection." 

Meet Clover, a resident of Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary. He's one lucky lamb, but life started out pretty rough for him. After he was born, whenever he tried to nurse, his mother pushed him away. He became dehydrated and would have died within hours, as most of his brothers and sisters did, but in this case the farmer contacted an animal rescue group who had room for him. Now he's healthy and loves to run around and play with his "flock" of humans.



Clover can look forward to a long and happy life at the sanctuary, where he'll undoubtedly receive lots of petting from visitors of all ages, for years to come.

And to think you were almost going to eat him!

(He was originally bred to be someone's meal, remember...)

Here's a better idea...

Let Clover and his fellow lambs live. Let them enjoy their lives. Lambs are about as peaceful a creature as you'll ever find. They like to graze, take naps in the hay, and hang out with their friends. That's not asking too much, is it?

There are plenty of alternatives for dinner. You could have a barbeque sandwich with GardenBurger Riblets. Or Sloppy Joes with fake hamburger; I guarantee you'll fool the most die-hard carnivore. Tofurkey makes the somewhat strange fake turkey but also very normal-looking turkey slices, bratwurst, and jerky. I tried the Thai-spiced jerky the other day; I could not believe how good it was. Veggie chili, pasta primavera, bean and soy pepper-jack cheese quesadillas (which I made last night — scrumptious), and a million recipes on the net: it's not only possible but easy to create tasty, filling meals that don't kill any animals.

Visit one of the many farm animal sanctuaries across the country and meet the animals that you saved up close. I promise you, it will be a rewarding experience that touches your heart. Which, by the way, will probably be quite healthier.

Keep in mind that in most cases, animals suffer and die to create the dairy products you're thinking of purchasing.

Cows who have just given birth to a male calf watch helplessly as their newborn is forcibly separated from his mother and put into a tiny wooden crate. There, he'll grow weaker and frightened, he'll be denied all exercise and social interaction, and he'll be slaughtered while still quite young so that his flesh can be sold as veal.

After five years of constant pregnancy and super-high, hormone-stimulated production, the milk cows themselves make the trip to the slaughterhouse and are ground up into hamburger.

A online Bible study leader claimed the other day that the animal rights philosophy disallows pets. Of course, it wasn't the first time that claim has been made. The alleged "no pets" rule is frequently brought up by animal rights opponents as part of an attempt to discredit the very notion of animal rights and, by implication, excuse any of the claimant's activities that may contribute to the suffering and death of animals.

Here's the short answer to the "what about pets" challenge:

Let's say you're right, that strict adherence to animal rights principles forbids owning pets. How does that justify factory farms?

The long answer, which is quite a bit longer, will appear in a future post. Among other things, it takes the position that not only is animal rights compatible with pet guardianship, but that in many circumstances it obligates us to take in pets. I will also point out that the "pets" ploy is most often just a defense mechanism used to rationalize wrongful behavior; the logic of the argument is secondary.

Enough with the psuedo-macho photos of John Kerry pointing his shotgun at some defenseless creature. Is that supposed to impress me?

The Kerry campaign reminds us over and over how much their candidate enjoys hunting doves. The implicit message is: "animals should pay with their lives for our amusement."

Doves are gentle birds. They pose no threat to crops or public safety. Their population doesn't need to be "thinned." Hunters shoot and kill doves because they like to. 20 percent of the doves shot by hunters are crippled and left to die on their own. Our leaders (and would-be leaders) should be disgusted by this gratuitous brutality rather than participating in it.

Doves are a living symbol of peace. The guy who wants to be my president gets a thrill from blowing them to bits.

Give animals a taste of freedom this Independence Day, by not eating them.

95 percent of our meat and dairy products come from industrial-style factory farming operations. The animals are crammed, 30,000 at a time, into huge, dimly-lit warehouses filled with the stench of excrement and ammonia. They have no idea what it's like to move about naturally, lie in the grass, or enjoy the sun.

Chickens and turkeys are so overweight that if they fall down they might not be able to get up. They die in place.

Pigs are deprived of hay, mud, and space. They live in tiny crates that frustrate their every desire.

Before you make up your shopping list, check out the following excerpts from www.all-creatures.org/anex/pig.html:




















Animals in factory farms are thoroughly miserable. They look it, they act it. We steal their lives long before slaughtering them. But there's a way out, and you have the keys.

This weekend is the perfect time to sample some of the ever-expanding choices in alternatives to meat. Fire up some GardenBurger riblets. Veggie hot dogs are finally becoming competitive with the meat-based variety; try Morningstar and Yves brands. Cut a slit in each one and fill it with barbeque sauce before putting them on the grill. Fake chicken nuggets have already passed "real" chicken nuggets in taste and nutrition. Tofutti gives ice cream a run for its money. Potato salad with canola oil-based, eggless mayo — you'll never know the difference. (Egg-laying hens, along with pigs and veal calves, are probably the worst-treated farm animals in the country, although it's a tough call.)

Have a great holiday, and let freedom ring for our animal friends, too. They've waited long enough.

---

Resources:

www.all-creatures.org is "dedicated to cruelty-free living through a vegetarian - vegan lifestyle according to Judeo-Christian ethics." It is sponsored by the Mary T. and Frank L. Hoffman Foundation, the mission of which is "to promote through education the prevention of cruelty to any of God's creatures."

"[Spectators] cheer the antics of sequined sadists as they prance around the bullring in a perverted ballet of death." -- Michael Mountain

"Bullfighting" is a misnomer. It's not a fight. It's a deliberately drawn-out murder. It's torture disguised as theatre.

Like circuses that beat and chain elephants, and rodeos that jolt horses with electric shocks so that they flail in pain, bullfighting is a particularly cowardly spectacle. It pits the heavily armed against the defenseless.

And the crowds love it. What does that say about us?

The victims — the animals — just want to left alone. Yet we seem incapable of honoring that very modest request.

The Bible asks that we help animals (Duet 22:4, Matt 2:11, Luke 14:5), that we take measures to avoid frustrating them (Duet 22:10), that we refrain from inflicting unnecessary pain on them (Num 22:32, Gen 49:6-7), and that we respect their natural desires (Duet: 25:4). I wonder how many people who applaud the suffering of animals at bullfights and rodeos attend church the next day?

I start my hike on the state park trail. I have food, water, and map in my backpack. The sun's high in the sky.

First I spot a snake slithering right to left, on his way to something. As I sit down on a log to rest, I notice a small frog on a rock, looking very content. A few minutes later, I see two chipmunks playing tag. During lunch, three deer suddenly appear out of the bushes and gaze at me tentatively; they're about 20 yards away.

I keep walking. When I reach the top, I look out over the valley. A lone hawk soars overhead, effortlessly. On the way back I'm sure I recognize the same snake, this time going the other way. Maybe he went on a hike, too? It's dusk by the time I get back to the car. In the distance a chorus of coyotes starts up. Their song is mesmerizing and I stand in place, listening. What makes coyotes howl? What makes humans sing?

That evening at home, my cat challenges me to a game of chase. We run up the stairs, back down again, through the living room and bedroom, and end up at the kitchen, right in front of his food bowl. Tricked again!

Worn out, I fall half-asleep on the guest room bed. My rabbit washes my hands and face, then her own, tosses her toy onto the floor and flops down beside me. We both conk out.

Remember the original relationship of animals to humans in Genesis? Companions. I'd say God did a great job.

The animals that grace our earth are bonded to us by a common Source. They are imbued with the breath of life. We are their protectors; their adopters, you might say. God entrusts them to our care. If we are good guardians, if we hold up our end of the bargain, the animals will convey their gratitude without saying a word, but it will be obvious and Good.