Gandhi and Farm Animals

We may wonder, as theologians have long debated, whether there is life after death. But for animals raised for food, there is no life before death; at least, not a life worth living.

Recently published undercover investigations showed male baby chicks (unfit for egg production) suffocated in plastic garbage bags or ground to death in large macerators, pigs clobbered by metal pipes and killed by hanging, and assorted animals skinned and dismembered at the slaughterhouse while still conscious.

I reacted to these exposes by going vegan some time ago. Even die-hard meat eaters in light of such atrocities should feel conscience-bound to consider that these animals deserve a decent life, before it’s taken away for our dining pleasure. Yet repeated attempts at welfare reforms have brought no tangible improvements.

This October 2 (Gandhi’s birthday) there will be an international observance to expose and memorialize the abuse and slaughter of 55 billion animals raised for food throughout the world (10 billion in the US alone). The Web site at WorldFarmAnimalsDay.org offers a number of ways that people who care about animal suffering can participate and affirms the need to go vegan.

I believe that a transition to a vegan diet is the only effective long-term solution for maintaining a guilt-free conscience, as well as radiant health, and positively impacting the quality of our environment.-Sam Snyder