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Being used like an animal.
Being a cow, pig, sheep or chicken oen means living a terrifying and torturouslife in a factory farm unl you’re killed or le to die when you are no longerprotable. Being a mouse, a rabbit, or a guinea pig frequently means beingthe subject of painful medical experiments. Elephants, gers, lions, apes, andother animals great and small live miserable lives in unnatural condionsin zoos and circuses. The result is that billions of animals live lives of totallyunjusable exploitaon. There is no need to eat or wear animals, to runpointless experiments on them or to use them for other purposes. Taste,convenience and tradion do not make animal use “necessary”.
The underlying problem isn’t treatment standards — it’sthe belief that animals are ours to use.
The root cause of animalexploitaon is that, under the law, animals are property rather than personslike you or me. That not only allows but encourages humans to treat animalsprey much however they want. There are only light penales for violang therestricons that do exist for harming certain animals (eg, laws against crueltytowards companion animals). As long as non-human animals are consideredproperty, companies will be free to breed and use them for the purposesthey nd protable. Companies’ legal rights to use the methods that get themost prots out of their animal property will always take precedence over theinterests the animals have in avoiding pain and in connuing to exist.
Animal welfare groups are not commied to ending animalexploitaon.
Animal welfare groups have been very ineecve in improvingthe lives of animals. Tradional animal welfare groups believe that animalsshould be property, but that we should treat them “more humanely”. Newerwelfare groups may use the words “animal rights” but they also claim that“more humane” animal exploitaon is ne, or that acons which encouragethe use of animals will somehow lead to an end to the use of animals. Forexample, rather than champion the interests of animals exclusively, manyanimal welfare groups give awards to animal exploiters and encourage peopleto buy “more humane” products from these companies. This only makesanimal exploitaon more protable, which certainly does nothing to helpanimals.
Kinder, gentler exploitaon is not the answer.
Words like“humane” and “free range” are misleading as they are even applied tocrowded, unhealthy condions that are not signicantly dierent from factoryfarming condions. All animals used for human ends are sll controlled inevery aspect of their lives, are sll sent to the slaughterhouse or otherwisehave their lives cut short once they are no longer protable, none of whichcan be called “humane” without rendering that word meaningless. Moreimportant, “kinder, gentler” exploitaon will never help animals in any seriousway -- if anything, it only encourages more animal use.
Reforming the system will not end the system.
Reform will nevereliminate the system of animal slavery itself because that’s not the goal of “reforming” a system. Reforms, even when successful, do nothing meaningfulto address the root cause of animal suering; in fact, reform campaigns harmanimals by reassuring people that using animals is ne -- so long as it’s done“humanely”. And typically, the only reforms passed are those that are, in theend, protable to the companies, helping them to make animal exploitaoneven more ecient. The idea that reform could lead somehow to aneliminaon of exploitaon or will somehow liberate animals is simply notreasonable. What is necessary is a direct and abolionist approach.
Changing minds and changing the law.
The best way to address theproblem is head-on and honestly, by calling for abolion: an end to all animaluse, period, and by ending our own personal animal use as much as currentlypossible. What does that mean for animals? It means an end to painfulmedical experimentaon, to the prolonged suering of life on a factory farm,to the terror of death in a slaughterhouse. Does that mean we’ll have to givesheep the right to vote? Of course not! It only means that they will have theright not to be used by human beings.
Change starts with you, today.
Change is about taking personalacon -- not about making a donaon. The best way to help animals is totake their rights seriously, which means opposing their use by human beings.This means going vegan -- eliminate your use of any products that containanimal ingredients or are tested on animals, as well as any use of animals forentertainment or other purposes.
Go vegan! Lives depend on it!
It’s much easier than you might think.Alternaves to animal products are widely available. Grocery stores carrynon-dairy milks, fresh fruits and vegetables, and other dietary alternaves,and your taste buds will quickly adapt to your new way of eang. Clothingand shoe stores carry a wide range of products that use no wool, no silkand no leather, and there are many other vegan-friendly businesses on theInternet. It’s never been easier to be vegan, and you cannot do anythingmore meaningful for animals than become vegan and work to convinceothers that non-human animals have a right not to be used by humans.Go vegan and visit
www.animalemancipaon.com
for more informaon,resources, and support.
She’snot a milk machine.She’ssomeone’s mother, someone’sdaughter,
but they keep her in a ny
stall andthey use her as a piece of property.They’ll take away all of herchildren. At 6,they’ll kill hereventhough she’d naturally live to be 20.She needs your help.
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