Killing isn't harming
Killing an animal and harming an animal are not the same thing
I personally find the notion that slitting someone's throat could simultaneously be considered not harming them to be one of the strangest claims around and one you'd imagine shouldn't even need addressing.
Alas, it's a common claim faced by many a vegan, and if nothing else I suppose it at least helps highlight the spectacular disconnect we've made from what we pay others to do to the animals we eat.
Harm is defined as 'physical or psychological damage or injury' and perhaps those who argue killing isn't harming are claiming that a brief and instantaneous death doesn't cause any such injury or damage. It's here then that we should consider the fact that most farm animals suffer terribly in the hours (even days) leading up to their deaths as they are shipped to slaughterhouses in filthy, crowded, transport trucks and often in unbearable temperatures (millions of animals arrive at the slaughterhouse dead, dying or injured each year). These animals are also forced onto the kill floor (an environment they obviously try to avoid) using paddles, batons, electric cattle prods, or simply by being kicked into position. They don't volunteer themselves to be killed and, just like us, they will fight to the death to prevent it from happening.
How can anyone look at these issues in all honesty and claim that neither physical nor psychological harm is being caused?
To further assess if killing animals for food causes harm we can also look at the common slaughter methods used. As is logical when determining if someone is suffering or not, try to put yourself (or a friend, loved one
or pet) in the position of the victim. Would you consider these actions to be harmful if they were happening to you (or those you love)?
The orange links lead to footage of the industry standard actions we pay people to commit when we buy animal products and if you find them difficult, horrible or impossible to look at, ask yourself how that can be the case if no harm is being caused.
Male 'layer' breed chicks
Thrown alive into grinding machines aged one day old, or dumped into giant plastic bags or containers where they are crushed, suffocate or starve to death.
Adult Chickens
Restricted upside-down in 'evisceration shackles' or a 'killing cone', their throats cut so they bleed to death, sometimes stunned first via electrocution.
Cattle sheep and pigs
Incapacitated by a captive bolt to the skull, hung upside-down, their throats cut so they bleed to death.
Sheep and pigs
Stunned via electrocution, hung upside-down, their throats cut so they bleed to death.
Fish
Suffer violent and painful decompression when hauled up in nets, survivors are either crushed to death from the weight of other fish, bleed to death, or slowly suffocate.
Pigs
Forced into gas chambers to be incapacitated, hung upside-down and bled to death via a knife to the throat.
Due to our insatiable demand for animal products, the sheer speed and volume of animals being killed is staggering (more than three thousand animals per second). Millions are incorrectly stunned each year and are fully conscious when their throats are cut or, in the case of chickens, are boiled alive in the 'scolding tanks' designed to loosen their feathers when the killing blade that comes before it misses or cuts their throats incorrectly.
And so if the standard practices mentioned above are not harm then what are they? Kindness? Fair treatment? Compassion? Some may still try to argue that the exact moment one goes from living to dead is quick and painless, but to claim with a straight face that these brutal methods of killing do not cause harm to the (billions of) unfortunate animals is something I, for one, will never understand.
Below is video of two types of slaughter considered particularly humane by both the industry and consumer groups (the electric shock method and the gas chamber method) followed by a couple of videos showing the various practices and slaughter methods common to the industry. Please take the time to watch these videos
and make up your own mind as to whether the animals involved are being harmed.
Alas, it's a common claim faced by many a vegan, and if nothing else I suppose it at least helps highlight the spectacular disconnect we've made from what we pay others to do to the animals we eat.
Harm is defined as 'physical or psychological damage or injury' and perhaps those who argue killing isn't harming are claiming that a brief and instantaneous death doesn't cause any such injury or damage. It's here then that we should consider the fact that most farm animals suffer terribly in the hours (even days) leading up to their deaths as they are shipped to slaughterhouses in filthy, crowded, transport trucks and often in unbearable temperatures (millions of animals arrive at the slaughterhouse dead, dying or injured each year). These animals are also forced onto the kill floor (an environment they obviously try to avoid) using paddles, batons, electric cattle prods, or simply by being kicked into position. They don't volunteer themselves to be killed and, just like us, they will fight to the death to prevent it from happening.
How can anyone look at these issues in all honesty and claim that neither physical nor psychological harm is being caused?
To further assess if killing animals for food causes harm we can also look at the common slaughter methods used. As is logical when determining if someone is suffering or not, try to put yourself (or a friend, loved one
or pet) in the position of the victim. Would you consider these actions to be harmful if they were happening to you (or those you love)?
The orange links lead to footage of the industry standard actions we pay people to commit when we buy animal products and if you find them difficult, horrible or impossible to look at, ask yourself how that can be the case if no harm is being caused.
Male 'layer' breed chicks
Thrown alive into grinding machines aged one day old, or dumped into giant plastic bags or containers where they are crushed, suffocate or starve to death.
Adult Chickens
Restricted upside-down in 'evisceration shackles' or a 'killing cone', their throats cut so they bleed to death, sometimes stunned first via electrocution.
Cattle sheep and pigs
Incapacitated by a captive bolt to the skull, hung upside-down, their throats cut so they bleed to death.
Sheep and pigs
Stunned via electrocution, hung upside-down, their throats cut so they bleed to death.
Fish
Suffer violent and painful decompression when hauled up in nets, survivors are either crushed to death from the weight of other fish, bleed to death, or slowly suffocate.
Pigs
Forced into gas chambers to be incapacitated, hung upside-down and bled to death via a knife to the throat.
Due to our insatiable demand for animal products, the sheer speed and volume of animals being killed is staggering (more than three thousand animals per second). Millions are incorrectly stunned each year and are fully conscious when their throats are cut or, in the case of chickens, are boiled alive in the 'scolding tanks' designed to loosen their feathers when the killing blade that comes before it misses or cuts their throats incorrectly.
And so if the standard practices mentioned above are not harm then what are they? Kindness? Fair treatment? Compassion? Some may still try to argue that the exact moment one goes from living to dead is quick and painless, but to claim with a straight face that these brutal methods of killing do not cause harm to the (billions of) unfortunate animals is something I, for one, will never understand.
Below is video of two types of slaughter considered particularly humane by both the industry and consumer groups (the electric shock method and the gas chamber method) followed by a couple of videos showing the various practices and slaughter methods common to the industry. Please take the time to watch these videos
and make up your own mind as to whether the animals involved are being harmed.
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Gas chamber method
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Electric shock method
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Slaughterhouse methods and standard practices
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Inside a USDA approved slaughterhouse
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"As long as greed is stronger than compassion, there will always be suffering."
Rusty Eric
Rusty Eric
