About Me
When the term 'Animal Rights' is thrown around, the average person usually conjures up images of radical, extremist minority groups who believe animals should have the same rights as human beings. This simply isn't true. It would be silly to fight for a cows' right to vote in an election because a cow can't possibly vote, therefore voting isn't in the cows' interests. Catch my drift? Most animals are 'sentient' beings which means they CAN experience pain, hunger, thirst, fear, sadness and many other sensations that we tend to associate with human beings alone. Because animals, like humans, can suffer it is in their upmost interests to NOT suffer. Just as we respect our fellow human's right to vote or to have an education regardless of their race, sex or sexual orientation we should award any sentient being the right to lead a life free of sufferance regardless of their species because "When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy."*
Before you read the following facts or view the footage shown on this site you need to realise that everything you're about to discover, happens right here in AUSTRALIA. In many cases the problems are much worse here than in other countries. For example across Europe the battery cage for egg laying hens is being phased out, whereas 85% of the laying hens in Australia are still in cages.
Here is some basic information.
MEAT
- 51 Billion animals are killed inhumanely each year purely because we enjoy the taste of their flesh.
- "How will i get my protein and iron?" is a question that is thrown around a lot when it comes to discussing vegetarianism. This is purely something that the meat industry has drilled into peoples heads. If you eat a diet full of vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, beans and rice you will get all the nutrition you need. Obvoiusly if you spend your time eating vegan cake and chips you wont be getting all your dietary needs but the same could be said of a meat eaters diet. Although you may like the taste of animal flesh, you most certainly dont need it and satisfying your tastebuds isn't justifiable when you compare it to the huge amount of suffering that goes into making your meal. What if you liked the taste of baby flesh?? Is that reason enough to justify the breeding and slaughtering of human babies? More info here .
- Half of the food and water in the world is used on raising farmed animals for food. Think about that the next time there's a drought or the next time you see a starving child in another country on your TV screen.
- Every year the meat industry spends billions of dollars trying to fool you into believing that you 'need' meat, when it has been proven that eating meat causes heart disease and a number of other health problems such as osteoporosis, impotence, diabetes and arthritis just to name a few. Vegetarianism is a much healthier option.
-In over 2000 factory farms in Australia the female pig is permitted to live as long as she is kept pregnant. She is confined to a tiny space on a concrete floor with minimal movement ensuring a life of suffering and deprivation.
-After giving birth she feeds the piglets through metal bars, never being able to nurture them. 3 weeks later her babies are taken away and put into pork production. Eventually the mother will feel the sun on her back, but it's on the back of a slaughter truck. This is the last day of her life. Please visit savebabe.com .
-A lot of animals raised for food are injected with antibiotics when young. This promotes growth so the baby animal will grow fatter, faster so they will produce more meat and can be killed earlier. These antibiotics are detrimental to human and animal health. Most meat and poultry companies claim that they don't use growth hormones but conveniently don't mention the use of antibiotics which have the same effect.
POULTRY
-Huge numbers of chickens are raised and killed - 368 million a year are slaughtered in Australia. With so many birds, they are treated more like a production line than living individuals with feelings. Visit this site .
-Chickens are raised in crowded, dark sheds. They are bred to grow so fast that they suffer joint and bone problems. Some die from diseases such as heart attacks. They are slaughtered when they are only 6-7 weeks old.
-Because meat chickens have been bred over time to grow abnormally large they can never grow to sexual maturity, therefore breeder chickens (the meat chickens' parents)are practically starved their whole life so they don't die before they can breed.
SEAFOOD
-Commercial fishing has led to huge declines in the number of fish in the sea. Apart from killing vast numbers of fish, fishing nets and lines also kill dolphins, turtles and birds such as albatross. Farming fish such as tuna and salmon can lead to pollution problems with so many fish crowded into one area. Many species are have been over fished and are now facing extinction.
-Fish are the most neglected and misunderstood of all animals. Some people seem to think that fish don't feel pain and fear. In fact, their nervous system is similar to our own. Fish feel pain like we do when they are hooked, played on the line in "game fishing", and left to suffocate in nets and on land. Just because they can't scream doesn't mean they don't suffer!
-Each year from October through March, in small towns across Japan, thousands of dolphins and small whales are confined and brutally killed. These slaughters take place in fishing towns including Taiji, Iki, Ito, Futo and Izu. During those months, Japanese fishermen herd whole families and pods of dolphins, porpoises and small whales into shallow bays and mercilessly hack them to death. Most of these small cetaceans are sold as meat in restaurants and stores, while some are destined for a life in captivity. Click here
EXPORT
-Millions of Australian animals are shipped in appauling conditions to Middle Eastern countries where there are no laws to protect them from cruelty. Half of the animals die on the way due to poor conditions. This happens as a result of the Australian Wool Industry. Watch a video here .
PETS
- The majority of pet stores in Australia and abroad get their dogs from 'puppy mills' where mothers are kept continually pregnant, the animals are caged and fed three times a week if lucky and are killed (usually by being smashed in the head by a hammer) if not fit enough for retail. All this happens while 350 dogs are killed every day in animal shelters because people choose to shop at pet stores. Need proof? Click here .
-Always get your pet de-sexed. This is a huge issue. Millions of animals in this country have to be euthanised because people won't neuter or spay their pets. Usually they are put down by needle or by being crammed into gas chambers. Animals all over the world are being tortured and killed due to over-population.
SCIENCE
- Over 70 million animals each year are tortured and killed in labatories in the name of biology, psychology, biochemistry, physiology, genetic manipulation and bio warfare. Because animals will never be genetically identical to humans (or to each other) it is extremely unlikely that any of these tests will advance humans in any way.
- Non-animal tests have been proven to be much more effective and more reliable. If there happened to be an experiment that was guaranteed to save many lives, it should also be justifiable to experiment on a human which has the same mental capacity as an animal, say a mentally disabled infant.
Monkeys in labratory photo courtesy alv.org.au
CLOTHING
-It is estimated that about 80-100 million animals are killed by the clothing and fur trades every year.
-3.5 million fur-bearing animals including raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, lynxes, possums, rabbits, beavers, kangaroos, foxes,otters and muskrats are tortured, caged, kept in freezing conditions, fed to each other, and then killed in numerous horrific ways such as gassing, electrocution, clubbing, suffocation and many times are skinned alive for their fur.
- Akubra hats are made from baby rabbits (for those of you who don't think this happens in Australia).
- Leather DOES NOT come from the cow or bull whose flesh you eat. It comes from cows and bulls that have been shipped mostly from third world countries where there are no laws to protect them from cruelty. Many die on the journey to the slaughterhouse due to mistreatment.
-Sheep raised for wool in this country must endure a painful procedure known as Mulesing. In an effort to avoid maggot infestation around the tail, farmers throw sheep onto their backs, put them in shackles and cut away at the flesh aroung their behinds. This is done without anaesthetic and ends up doing more harm than good seeing as sheep end up with terrible infections where the resulting wound is.
-Australia produces about 50% of the worlds Merino wool. 6 million of these sheep are exported to third world countries where they are sold for ritual slaughter. If you buy Australian wool you are helping fund this mass murder.
DAIRY/VEAL
-Understand that dairy cows are not being hand-milked in green pastures. They are kept in tiny metal enclosures where they're milked by machines every hour. They are forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would in nature which makes them weak and can cause chronic mastitis (inflammation of the udder). Prior to factory farming, dairy cows lived up to 25 years. These days a dairy cow will only live four.
-Like a human woman a cow cannot produce milk unless pregnant or nursing. These placid creatures are kept pregnant all year round. When they finally give birth their make calves are generally put into veal production. Many cows will stop eating, drinking, producing milk, and some may eventually die because they are in mourning for their lost calf.
-The male calves, deprived of their mother's milk, love and care, are put into small wooden stalls where they're teathered at the neck and kept in the dark. They are fed a diet that is devoid of iron in order to keep the meat white. This meat is called veal. After 4 months of this pitiful life they are taken to be slaughtered, their bones break on the journey because they are so weak.Take a peek
-Not all dairy farms are run this way but most are and unless you've seen first hand where your milk has come from, maybe you shouldn't be consuming milk at all.
EGGS
-Eggs that aren't free range come from battery hens. The battery hen spends her life crammed into a cage with up to seven other birds. They are de-beaked without anaesthetic (many times the chicks die from shock), and after their miserable egg laying days are over they are deemed as useless and sent to the slaughterhouse (this happens to free range hens as well). Find out more here .
-Egg laying hens are genetically manipulated to be small in size but large egg producers. Whenever a male is born it is killed either by suffocation, mincing or crushing because the males obviously don't lay eggs and won't grow fast enough for meat production. Even if you buy free range eggs you are supporting the senseless murder. 250,000,000 male chicks are killed every year.
ENTERTAINMENT
-Circuses are always cruel in one way or another toward animals. Wild animals travel from town to town in small cages far from open land and a life of freedom. Many circuses have been found guilty of cruelty, e.g, beating animals, yelling at animals and under-feeding. Ask yourself, 'what would make a wild animal do something it wouldn't normally do in nature?', the answer is: fear of punishment. Watch this video .
-Thousands of rodeos happen in Australia every year. to make horses and bulls buck, a strap is pulled tightly around their groin. Bulls are shocked with electric prods and calves often break their necks in a 'sport' known as calf roping. Many animals are killed in rodeos. All are injured. Check this .
-Horse racing is quite a violent sport. Horses are whipped by a jockey, many times trampled on by other horses and after their racing days are over, the horse is slaughtered and turned into dog food.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
The animals of the world may be differtent to us in many ways but their ability to suffer is the same. They don't have a voice. They can't say, 'Please don't kill my baby, or my brother or sister'. WE must be their voice. If you cringe at the sight of the pictures or information on this sight, that shows that we all have a basic humanity and that you know that the way we humans use, abuse and slaughter billions upon billions of innocent beings every year is WRONG. This isn't happening in a land far, far away it's happening right in your backyard and you can make a difference.
Here's what YOU can do to help:
-A vegetarian, and especially a vegan diet, is healthier for: animals, people and the environment.
If you care about all or any of these things, start making the most important change today - become vegetarian. You don't have to do it over night. You can take small steps by eliminating one cruel product at a time until you arrive at your ultimate goal of a cruelty-free diet.
-Donate to, or sign up with an organisation like Animal Liberation , WSPA or Animals Australia
-Never buy any products that are tested on animals. If a product doesn't say 'not tested on animals', then it most likely is. For a list of some companies and charities that do and don't test on animals, visit the Anti Animal Testing site.
-Never buy a pet from a pet store. There are millions of beautiful, homeless animals waitng for a new best friend in animal shelters all around Australia.
-Spread the word! Tell your friends about this site and about the info you've learnt, write to your state premier or your local member of parliment and let them know that Australia isn't going to stand for these crimes against nature any longer.
Make sure you keep in contact and feel free to ask any questions.
Thanks heaps for your time and compassion.
Justify This
* quote by Ingrid Newkirk
