The use of others as food

Due to speciesism – discrimination based on species – and on the benefit we can gain from their exploitation, non-human animals are used to serve our interests in one way or another. Millions die every hour as victims of our exploitation for food, clothing, entertainment or laboratory models. Of all of the areas of abuse, exploitation for food is the main cause of deaths and suffering.
We live in a society in which we are taught to eat other animals from a very young age. As such, pigs, chickens, tuna, cows etc are considered food and this is something questioned by few. Every meal tends to contain one of these creatures as a victim.

The solution: veganism

There is a very simple way to eliminate the greatest area of animal abuse: Adopt a vegan diet. Abstain from consuming animal products such as flesh, eggs and milk products.

A vegan diet is nutritionally complete and can be just just as nice and enjoyable and any other, with the important added value that in adopting it we are avoiding the death and suffering of thousands of individuals which, just like us, deserve their lives and freedom to be respected.

The habit of consuming animal products is deeply entrenched in almost all of us; we have grown up in a society which considers that non-human animals (since we too are animals) are little more than “resources” or “things” to use for our benefit.
We’ve been taught to differentiate between a child, a dog and a pig – to play with the first two and eat the third, without taking into account that all of those individuals want to enjoy their lives and are deserving of the same respect.

And it is so that shortly after birth (and long before we could speak or reason about reality), we were already being fed baby food containing crushed animals.
It isn’t always easy to change the habits and customs which we have repeated throughout our lives, but if our lives depended on it, as is the case with the animals we affect, we would surely take this change seriously and go through with it.

Flesh

Millions of cows, chickens and pigs are killed each year to end up on our plates. Other animals too, rabbits, turkeys, lambs, etc die victims of the taste of their flesh.

All animals raised for consumption are killed, in spite of the fact that their lives as just as important to them as ours are to us. This is their inevitable end in an organic farm just as in an intensive farm.
There is no justification for consuming the corpses of other animals. Obtaining proteins (which can be obtained in other foods) etc would never be considered a valid motive for murdering and eating other humans and neither should it be an argument which justifies the murder of other animals.

Fishes

Most of the individuals that die for our consumption are fish. So great is the quantity of bodies that they are counted by the ton instead of by the individual, which makes it difficult to calculate just how many die, and it is a clear demonstration of the consideration they receive.
Despite the numbers in which they are caught and the way people tend to think of them, fish are individuals who suffer and enjoy life, as clearly confirmed by several scientific studies. According to Huntiford (2002) fish have senses for detecting stimulation of pain, and cerebral mechanisms which process the stimulation and provoke negative physical responses. As a result, their interests are just as important as those of any other animal – human or not.
Many different methods are used to catch fish for our consumption, though all involve their suffering and death. Fishing nets used by industry boats, just as the fishing rods and hooks used by anglers, cause them a slow and painful death. Victims of commercial fishing nets tend to die of suffocation, crushed under the weight of the other fish or frozen in the boat’s cooling chambers.

On fish farms they die after a life of suffering due to the deprivation of freedom they are subjected to.

More information about fishes

Milk products and eggs

Sometimes it’s easier to understand why meat and fish involve the suffering and death of other animals since in both cases the animals can only serve us be being killed. However, there are other products whose production and consumption, although it can at first can seem free of cruelty, causes the animal just as much or more suffering than meat and fish production.

Animals destined for egg or milk production are bought and sold – reinforcing their human property status -, deprived of freedom, separated from their children or families and finally killed when they no longer serve the purpose for which they were created.

Whenever somebody is used for our benefit, their interests are ignored in favour of our own. As such, in all forms of animal exploitation, somebody has suffered in some way.

Eggs

During egg production – be it free range or battery – the chickens are born for the sole purpose of providing eggs. Their value is based on the capacity to produce eggs. Chickens living for that purpose have been created simply because somebody thought they would be able to take advantage of them. As such, they are killed as soon as their egg production drops.

Egg production also makes victims of the male chickens, since these are killed at one day old because the industry won’t gain any benefit from them (due to the fact that they don’t lay eggs and it isn’t profitable to fatten the up and kill them for meat – for this they use broiler chickens which gain more weight).

More information about eggs

Milk

Just like eggs, milk is a product derived from animal exploitation. Dairy cows are born with the sole objective of providing milk – reinforcing their status as ‘objects’ for human use. Calves, several of which need to be born to each dairy cow so that she continues to produce milk, are separated from their mothers shortly after birth and killed for their flesh.

The cows are miles several times a day, which necesitates depriving them of their freedom. After a few years of being exploited for their milk, they are are murdered when they are no longer considered to be productive enough. Basically: milk consumption has its victims.

HYPERLINK "http://www.igualdadanimal.org/alimentacion/lacteos" \o "Lácteos" > More information about milk
It is possible to substitute cow’s milk with soya milk, rice milk or almond milk and in doing so avoid participating in this exploitation.

Cows

As well as for their milk, cows are also exploited for flesh. For this, they are imprisoned for their whole lives in spaces of varying sizes. Even though cows can live for 15 years, they are normally killed the year they are they born to obtain from them a more tender flesh.

The calves exploited for veal are removed and separated from their families and friends to be bought and sold soon after birth. Some of their companions are taken to the slaughterhouse (where all of them will end up), something which causes them a great deal of anxiety since they are very sociable creatures capable of recognising eachother and establishing relationships which can last their whole lives.

But above all, just like all other animals, cows want to enjoy their lives (to graze peacefully, take care of their children, etc), they want to live and it is not just to deprive this interest of others.
We shouldn’t forget that leather is also a death sentence for a cow. Buying leather directly supports farms and businesses which make their money from animal exploitation, leather being the second most profitable product of the meat industry.

More information about cows skin

Pigs

People often say that every part of a pig is used, as if making more use of an animal’s body justifies their murder.
Pigs are individuals aware of their existence, who enjoy their lives when we leave this option open to them. They can spend hours playing, lying in the sun and exploring their surroundings with the keen sense of smell. They enjoy doing of these things and want to continue experiencing and enjoying their life.

Maybe those who suffer most in this industry are the pigs who give birth to the young. These are repeatedly artificially inseminated throughout their lives, forced to have children and then forcibly separated from them soon after giving birth. The lives of these pigs and their capacity to reproduce are not seen as anything more than a way of bringing more slaves into this world.

Sadly, for the majority of humans these days, pigs are nothing more than a plate of ham, pork or sausages, ignoring that the consumption of these products requires someone’s journey to slaughter.

Chickens

Chickens are exploited for eggs and for meat. For this form of exploitation they use broiler chickens, chickens selectively bred to put on weight faster.

Chickens are sociable creatures who like to forage and feed, to be with their companions, to bathe in sand and to bask in the sun; for these reasons they suffer enormously when they are deprived of their freedom and devoid of the opportunity to enjoy themselves, just as we would suffer if we were unable to do what we liked wanted. Let’s not forget either than death cuts out any chance of enjoyment, for ever, just as much for them as it would for us.

Other victims

The above mentioned animals are not the only victims of our eating habits. Ducks are also victimised by us, so are rabbits, and turkeys and cod, trout, salmon – increasingly ostriches, woodpigeons… any kind of animal which we can take advantage of is victimised. 850 million mammals and birds and hundreds of millions of fish are victimised in Britain alone every year for the simple fact that their flesh tastes good.