Why go vegan?
Vegan for the animals
Animals feel pain. They have a central nervous system just like humans. They also have the same needs as humans, the need to move, to hang out with other members of their species, raising their children and having fun.
Imagine how it is to be trapped on a stinky dark farm where everything you see is torment and death. Factory farms are probably the biggest outrages of the modern person born out of the idea od the Nazi concentration camps. Today, billions of animals live in extremely narrow farms-factories, incapacitated, genetically manipulated, in cruelly overcrowed space, deprived of fresh air, sun and the natural environment. They are even deprived of the ability to stretch their wings or extremities.
Their whole lives they don’t have the opportunity to spend their lives doing their basic functions and behaviour patterns or to live the way their instinct tells them. Female animals are often pushed to all of their biological limits to produce offspring, only to have their babies taken away from them after birth so they can be fattened and prepared to be slaughtered by the humans.
These animals will never feed or raise their children, build them nests or any of the things their species naturally do. Most of them will never see the sun or breathe fresh air all until the day when they are loaded onto trucks and slaughtered. Idyllic images of animals on green pastures which the industries of meat, dairy and eggs want you to have in your minds while you finance the cruel mass animal farms in order for you to feel good while doing something wrong.
Cattle industry strives to minimize the costs while getting the maximum income – always to the detriment of animals. Meat industry realized long ago that space is expensive, so they cram animals into rooms in which they cannot move and in which they can give more meat, milk, eggs etc.
Cows, calves, pigs, chicken, turkeys, ducks, geese, and other animals live under extremely stressful conditions: they grow up in small, crowded cages and dirty fattening pens. Given the fact that they aren’t able to move, their energy is used for the production of meat, milk and eggs. Some of the standard procedures are the antibiotic use so that they can survive in these conditions. (Over 75% of all antibiotics produced are given to the cattle industry).
This way, genetically modified animals grow faster or give more milk and eggs than they would naturally (for example, a hen lays 10-15 eggs a year, whereas today, in the egg industry, one hen lays over 300 eggs annually. Furthermore, broiler chicks grow 55 times faster than they do naturally whereas cows in the dairy industry produce 10 times more milk than natural).
When they grow up, the animals are loaded onto trucks and transported to slaughterhouses. Many of them are still awake when they are sunk into the hot water in order to remove feathers, hair or dirt from their skin.
Some of the standard and legal procedures in modern industries
Meat industry
Unfortunately, the meat industry is closely tied to the dairy industry because, in USA only, around 50% of beef burgers come from the dairy industry, i.e. from calves. Male chicks (bred as broilers i.e. for meat) are selectively fed to grow as fast as possible, but their bones cannot withstand such abnormally fast growth. This is why they often get various diseases and can be physically disabled, or even die. Such chicks are often crammed into special fattening rooms where they stand in their own poop, never being able to see the daylight.
Egg industry
Within the egg industry, male chicks are considered unprofitable because they can’t lay eggs, so that only a small number of them are kept for reproduction with female chicks. Given that they are different from those male chicks who are bred for meat, male chicks (babies) are often ground on the day they are born, or put into bags alive to suffocate due to the lack of oxygen. Believe it or not, this procedure was approved by the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).
Dairy industry
Just like all other mammals on Earth, cows produce milk for their calves. The only way for them to produce it is to be pregnant and give birth. Therefore, the standard procedure (on ALL FARMS) is forcible impregnation of cows (this would have been called rape if it had happened to people (human animals). Gestation period of cows lasts 9 months, just as the gestation period of us humans.
In the modern industry, they are fattened and, in 98% of cases, fed with genetically modified soy and other food that is not the most suitable for them. This is done because it is not economically profitable for farmers and the industry to feed grass to cows and let them graze on the pastures, as commonly shown on the commercials. Cows produce up to 10 times more milk than natural because they are viewed as objects created to serve us and our selfish needs. In nature, cows live up to 25 years, whereas in the dairy industry they are slaughtered after just 4 years.
They are forcibly separated from their babies within a few hours after being born, in some cases even immediately after birth, without ever seeing them again, just because there is a demand for cow milk. The calves will be fed artificial milk and other unsuitable food. If the calf is female, she will go through the same procedure as her mother and, after all the torture, when she cannot stand the exploitation no more, she wil end up in the same slaughterhouse as the cows bred for meat. That’s right, beef is someone’s baby.
Animal testing
Animal testing is a cruel and barbaric procedure that is not scientifically correct because over 90% of all experiments on animals have proved to be incorrect and non-objective, which makes sence because animals don’t get the same diseases as we do, have different skin than ours etc.
It is estimated that over 100 million animals end up in cruel laboratories every year. Did you know that animal testing is conducted on dogs, cats and monkeys as well? For example, aspirin is toxic for many animals and wouldn’t be used commercially had it adhered to the animal testing principles.
Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is, ‘Because the animals are not like us.’ Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is, ‘Because the animals are not like us.’ Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction” -Charles Magel
Leather and fur industry
Fur, skin and other clothing material obtained from the animals come from the extreme cruelty of which many people are not even aware, or they are wrongly informed, or misinformed. Animals which have fur are bred on special farms, the so called fur farms, where their fur growth is increased. They spend their whole lives in small cages which leads to severe psychological disorders.
In countries such as China, which don’t have almost any laws on the rights and wellbeing of animals, rabbits’ and other fur animals’ fur is ripped out while they are still alive for the bigger usability, after which they are returned to their cages so that their fur could grow again. After they stop growing fur, they are skinned alive and left to die in severe pain, or they are electrocuted anally until they die.
In some parts of the world, fur farms are nowadays forbidden. For example, this year (2020) the last fur farm in Bosnia and Herzegovina is closed.
Skin industry isn’t any less cruel, even though most of the people believe that animal skin omes from dead animals, such as cows, only, whereas it is very far from the truth. There are specific cows bred for their fur. Most of the fur and skin comes from India and China, where the animal procedures are far more cruel. Cows in India are forced to walk many kilometers a day, and are also starved to death. Since they sometimes just give up, chili pepper is thrown into their eyes to make them stay awake for hours.
In the USA, skin is obtained from the milk and meat industries (cows). In order for you to wear leather, a cow had to be killed, someone’s mother, sister or even a child.
Circuses and zoos
Unfortunately, a huge number of animals are exploited for unnecessary fun, such as circuses and zoos.
People find it fun to go to zoos and watch the animals. They are beautiful and lovable, but, after a few hours of fun and curiosity, the visitors go back to their homes, not thinking at all about the sad destinies of those prisoners.
Most of the animals held in zoos are not endangered species, nor are they being prepared for the return to their natural habitats. It is almost impossible to return an animal born in captivity back into the wilderness. Endangered species will only be saved if we save their habitats and remove the reasons for their killing.
Animals are serving a life sentence in a confined space, without any privacy and without the opportunity for the mental stimulation or physical activity. The result of this torture is abnormal and self destructive behavior which is called zoochosis, or zoo psychosis.
Animals forced to perform in circuses are exposed to the violent training, painful travels and constant confinement. Colorful ceremony hides the fact that the animals are prisoners who are forced to perform unnatural, and oftentimes painful acts. Circuses would soon stop being so alluring if the details on how they treat animals, confine them, train them and “retire them” would become widely known.
Animal circuses are a primitive way of having fun which needs to be banned completely for their cruelty.
All of this is unnecessary. However, this is all still happening because there is a demand for it, i.e. there are people who buy and pay for this to continue happening. The only way you can live without participating in the cruelty and exploitation of animals is being a vegan.
Vegan for environment
Farm animal cultivation has one of the central roles in the overall ecological catastrophe of our planet, right after the industrial sector.
Cattle farming is one of the leading causes of the most serious ecological problems, such as climate change, deforestation, ocean “dead zones”, soil degradation, disappearing biodiversity, air and water pollution, greenhouse gas etc.
UN’s organization, FAO, hasn’t included all the contributors, but even in 2006, the cattle industry was declared as one of the biggest threats on planet Earth. (LINK).
It is estimated that today’s modern cattle industry takes up up to 50% of planet Earth’s soil, whereas many peer reviewed studies confirmed that the very same industry causes over 51% of global greenhouse gases, which is more than what is caused by the entire transport sector.
For example, the newest Oxford studies, which were proclaimed the most comprehensive and the most thorough studies ever written on how the animal industry affects the environment, clearly conclude that the best way a person can help the planet Earth is to use vegan food only. It is even more helpful than avoiding cars, airplanes, plastic etc.
Even though this is often hidden by the many environmental organizations, because mentioning this is an attack on profit and capitalism. Even the donors who finance those organizations demand them not to talk about it.
Did you know that, for the production of 1kg of meat, one needs to spend about 15000 liters of water, and that 16kg of plants is needed for producing 1kg of meat because the animals that are used for food consume huge amounts of water and plant food.
Cattle farming produces about 13 billion tons of waste each year. In bigger western countries, 80% of grains produced are used for feeding the farm animals. 80% of fish species are hunted to the brink of extinction or pushed over it and are irreversibly dying.
All of this is unnecessary. Even the UN’s IPPC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) confirmed that the best way we can help the planet Earth is by switching to a vegan (fully plant-based) diet.
Vegan for the hungry
If someone were to tell you that people in the west can eat meat because African and Asian children are starving, would you believe them?
What is the food that makes more people starve the more we produce it? The answer is: meat! This is because producing meat is an incredibly wasteful type of food production. On average, in order to get 1kg of meat, you need to spend 10kg of vegetable protein (even more if you use grain, soy etc.)
Out of over 7 billions of humans on planet Earth, more than 840 million people suffer chronically from hunger. Apart from this number being terrifying, it is a very strict number and does not include those who are undernourished.
Almost 8 billion people share this planet, approximately 1 third of whom live in the rich north, and 2 thirds of whom live in the poorer south. In order to survive, all of us use the Earth’s crops and natural wealth, but we don’t use them equally. For example, a child born in the USA uses 12 times more additional resources than a child born in Bangladesh.
The average calorie intake for a person in Bangladesh is 1930 calories, whereas in the USA it is 3650 calories. It is estimated that the minimum amount of calories needed for normal functioning of our bodies is 2360. Therefore, the conclusion is that the average person in Bangladesh has too little food, whereas the American has too much. One third of food of an average American is meat.
Even though many aren’t familiar with this, veganism could not only solve many ecological problems, but could completely solve the problem of hunger and a lot of resource problems of our world.
Vegan for health
Did you know that people in Okinawa are one of the nations with the longest lifespan? Their diet is almost completely based on plants.
This phenomenon can be found in both humans and animals. Animals such as turtles or elephants have the longest lifespan of all, whereas some of the Earth’s strongest mammals are herbivores.
The most common causes of death are directly connected to animal protein intake.
Countries which use animal protein the most have the highest rate of cancer and heart diseases. There are thousands of studies confirming this. Animal products contain cholesterol (LDL cholesterol – “bad cholesterol”) which cannot be found in plant based products.
