Animals as Food
"Can you really ask for what reason Pythagoras had for
abstaining from flesh? For my part I rather wonder both by what
accident and in what state of soul or mind the first man did so,
touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a
dead body." ~ Plutarch
Books such as "Slaughterhouse", by Gail
A. Eisnitz, have
portrayed what animals used for food suffer right before death.
Just as disturbing is the human inflicted suffering of their lives
on factory farms. The Animal Welfare Act
of 1970, which set standards for the confinement of animals,
requiring that cages "provide sufficient space to allow each animal to
make normal postural and social adjustments with adequate freedom
of movement," exempts animals used for food.
A great resource on factory farming issues, including photos of
animals living in cages so small that they can't even lie down with
outstretched limbs or turn around is www.FactoryFarming.com.
I recommended Peter Singer's book "Animal Liberation"
for a thorough description of what factory farming means to
animals. And "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering
of Animals, and the call to Mercy" written by ex-presidential speechwriter
(to George W. Bush) Matthew Scully, has an exceptionally good --
beautifully written but distressing -- chapter on pig farming.
You'll find both books under Recommended Reading.
Click on any of the following links to get a brief description of what those animals go
through on the way to dinner tables, and links to more
information:
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