Reading an article yesterday on how plant-based diets to aid to combat the symptoms of severe covid 19, and how it can also help to prevent the disease I really felt vindicated in being for the most part vegan. Being vegan or vegetarian is a great help to spiritually grow, help the animal kingdom and save the planet. But, it also got me thinking too of animal rights, of how some modern farming methods can be so cruel and callous. I was delighted to read how now France along with Germany is banning the culling of male chicks that in the past have been crushed or gassed to death. Horrifying stuff really, but many countries still allow it. Plus the culling of unwanted male dairy calves, or old hens that cannot any longer hatch eggs. Seemingly, animals under such regimes when are not profitable, are simply disposable. It is akin to extermination like in the Nazi death camps. Those of little value are done away with. We think that Hitler and his regime are gone, but they are still very much alive and kicking, but in the guise of modern farming methods. This is not the fault totally of the farmers, all modern farming methods have arisen from and are market-driven, and we are essentially the market makers. We are the ones responsible for the creation of society as it is. Newspaper articles and television programs have been aired highlighting the culling of unprofitable and unwanted animals within the food industry, so it is no secret. We as consumers have to be held responsible for what we are eating and what we are buying. Awareness as usual is a key factor. We should be inquiring more and more about how food is produced, what we are buying and why we are buying certain products. Why are so many people still meat-eaters when it is totally unnecessary? Why are we as consumers continuing to buy foodstuffs that our body does not need? Foodstuffs which are unhealthy, and bad for us. Foods that are chemically laden and poisonous to us. How do we justify the shooting dead of baby male calves because they are of the wrong sex? Or gassing male chicks or worse crushing them to death. It is like something out of a horror movie and makes me want to vomit. Animals contrary to belief are not here to serve us. Animals have rights. Animals are here to teach us lessons, and the major lesson at the moment is to learn respect. Because, if we as a species cannot respect the animal kingdom, what does that say about us? Are we gone so greedy for-profit and cheap food that all sense of compassion, respect and love for the animals is gone out the window? We are in the 21st century and there is now no need for us in the west to manipulate and consume animals for any reason anymore. Go vegan, when there is no demand then there will be no supply, and there will be more food alternatives for us. Farmers can diversify into more plant-based foods. Because spring may be almost upon us, but for many male animals born this spring about half will not see the light of day.
