Meet Your Meat

MEET YOUR MEAT

True stories about the animals that end up on
the dinner plate.

This section Includes two documentaries - "Meet Your Meat" and "Earthlings" - scroll down to view.

ANIMAL WELFARE BLOG

The numbers below, show how many animals have been slaughtered globally, in real-time, since viewing this page. This kill-counter has been supplied by ADAPT T. If you wish to slow down this count, consider changing your dietary habits and lifestyle to a more humane alternative.

More Than 150 Billion Animals Slaughtered Every Year (in connection with the meat, egg and dairy industries)
These numbers do NOT include the many millions of animals killed each year in vivisection laboratories. They do NOT include the millions of dogs and cats killed in animal shelters every year. They do NOT include the animals who died while held captive in the animal-slavery enterprises of circuses, rodeos, zoos, and marine parks. They do NOT include the animals killed while pressed into such blood sports as bullfighting, cockfighting, dog-fighting, and bear-baiting, nor do they include horses and greyhounds who were exterminated after they were no longer deemed suitable for racing.

The Animal Kill Counter: Basic Version << ADAPTT :: Animals Deserve Absolute Protection Today and Tomorrow

Animals Slaughtered:

0 marine animals
0 chickens
0 ducks
0 pigs
0 rabbits
0 turkeys
0 geese
0 sheep
0 goats
0 cows and calves
0 rodents
0 pigeons and other birds
0 buffaloes
0 dogs
0 cats
0 horses
0 donkeys and mules
0 camels and other camelids

“I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.” ― Abraham Lincoln

“I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.” ― Leonardo da Vinci

“The assumption that animals are without rights, and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance, is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion in the only guarantee of morality.” ― Arthur Schopenhauer, The Basis of Morality

“Just how destructive does a culinary preference have to be before we decide to eat something else? If contributing to the suffering of billions of animals that live miserable lives and (quite often) die in horrific ways isn't motivating, what would be? If being the number one contributor to the most serious threat facing the planet (global warming) isn't enough, what is? And if you are tempted to put off these questions of conscience, to say not now, then when?”
― Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals

“The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but "Can they suffer?” ― Jeremy Bentham

“We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.”
― Albert Schweitzer

“If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons.”
― C.S. Lewis

“Know that the same spark of life that is within you, is within all of our animal friends, the desire to live is the same within all of us...” ― Rai Aren, Secret of the Sands

If someone did this to a parrot or pelican, we would be horrified and exact legal retribution, but because we pay someone to do this for us so we can eat them, our guilt keeps us quiet.

“Although other animals may be different from us, this does not make them LESS than us”
― Marc Bekoff, Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect

“Dominion does not mean domination. We hold dominion over animals only because of our powerful and ubiquitous intellect. Not because we are morally superior. Not because we have a "right" to exploit those who cannot defend themselves. Let us use our brain to move toward compassion and away from cruelty, to feel empathy rather than cold indifference, to feel animals' pain in our hearts.”
― Marc Bekoff, Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect.
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“Animals can communicate quite well. And they do. And generally speaking, they are ignored”
― Alice Walker
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“Kinship with all creatures of the earth, sky, and water was a real and active principle. In the animal and bird world there existed a brotherly feeling that kept us safe among them... The animals had rights - the right of man's protection, the right to live, the right to multiply, the right to freedom, and the right to man's indebtedness. This concept of life and its relations filled us with the joy and mystery of living; it gave us reverence for all life; it made a place for all things in the scheme of existence with equal importance to all.”
― Chief Luther Standing Bear
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“Humanity's true moral test, its fundamental test…consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals.”
― Milan Kundera
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“One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
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“The only good cage is an empty cage.”
― Lawrence Anthony, The Elephant Whisperer
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"Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends." - George Bernard Shaw

CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses2 hours ago

If you're in the UK please send a letter/email to your MP asking that they sign EDM 2273 which calls for mandatory CCTV in all slaughterhouses. You can find your MP on this link http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ Please also send an email to Defra, James Paice and the Food Standards Agency, asking that CCTV is made compulsory in every UK slaughterhouse before January 2013 (it has to be done before then because of changes in the EU rules that will come into force). You don't have to be a UK citizen for this, email block..... defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk, james.paice.mp@parliament.uk, helpline@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk There's a draft letter below that you can use/adapt, but only include the EDM 2273 part in your MP's letter. Many thanks. Dear... I am writing to ask that you sign EDM 2273 which calls for the mandatory installation of CCTV in UK slaughterhouses. Animal Aid have filmed in nine slaughterhouses and eight of them were found to have breached the law. This is a failure rate of 89% which is simply unacceptable. As well as improper stunning, Animal Aid filmed slaughtermen sadistically abusing already frightened animals by kicking, punching, goading and burning with cigarettes. Please help to put a stop to this horrific abuse by making CCTV compulsory in all slaughterhouses before January 2013. I hope to hear from you soon, and many thanks for your time, yours sincerely..... Photo - Animal Aid... a pig screaming from an inadequate stun, taken at AC Hopkins in Taunton, Somerset. (jb)

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CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses10 hours ago

A friend of mine called and said that he had spotted a stalled transport truck with a downed dairy cow inside. I arrived to witness a grisly scene. The poor girl was collapsed on the ground inside the truck, in a 3-inch-deep cesspool of faeces and urine. You could see her wide, terrified eyes staring into nothingness, her entire body quivering ever so slightly. But she was making no sounds. The other cows had trampled her broken body; she had bloody wounds and bright red lesions that were clearly visible through the filth. Her udder was swollen to many times its normal size. We noticed a ghastly sliver of flesh on a gate mechanism above her. (It was later suggested to us that this might have been her tongue. Cows tend to lick the sides of the truck in search of moisture, but when it's a frozen mechanized gate, that desperate attempt can have tragic consequences.) Our poor friend died that day, on the filthy floor of a bloody transport truck. We witnessed her body go cold, and her eyes stop moving. Her entire life had been enslaved and twisted by violence and prejudice. ~ Wayne Hsiung (an animal rights activist) describes watching a downed dairy cow’s last few moments. (m)

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CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses3 hours ago

Around 9 million pigs are slaughtered every year in the UK. 98% are fattened (finished) in sheds. 93% of growing pigs and 60% of mother pigs are kept indoors. 80% of UK pigs have their tails cut off (bored and unhappy pigs shut up in sheds will bite the tails of the pigs they are confined with). All of them will end up in a slaughterhouse where they will see other pigs being stunned and hung up, and where they may or may not be correctly stunned. There is no such thing as humane, cruelty free meat. http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/slaughter/ALL/// Pig factories give reason to be concerned about the build up of antibiotic resistant genes in pigs and pork, local wildlife, soil and pig workers, and potentially everyone living locally to them, due to the frequent use of antibiotics in pig feed to control a wide range of conditions on intensive farms. Approximately half of all antibiotics in the UK are prescribed by vets (of which around 45% are used on farms and approximately 5% are given to pets). Approximately 60% of all antibiotics used on farms are given to pigs. All but one of these are the same as, or closely related to, medically important antibiotics used in human medicine. Statistics - The Soil Association (jb)

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CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses1 hour ago

This photo shows Calf fetuses at the abattoir. Many cows are pregnant at their time of slaughter. This is the bin where unborn calves are discarded when they are cut out while the mother is butchered. They lay wet with their hooves still soft and are still attached to their placentas. Another dark side of the industry that is kept well away from the consumer. Source: Viva! (m)

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Beware - The documentary, "Meet Your Meat" narrated by Alec Baldwin, depicted below has graphic images. Age restrictions may apply before watching.

To view another documentary on the topic of animal welfare and human treatment of animals - "Earthlings" scroll down to the end of this page.

The video above reveals baby chicks being ground up alive. Most boy chicks are considered "by-products" of the chicken and egg industry, and end up dying in this horrific way. Other uses for these chicken - egg industry "by-products" include live "packing peanuts" (but of course they don't live long, and during shipping many suffer horrific injuries) while others are just thrown out in garbage bins, after gassing (pictured below). A recent article on this abhorrent treatment of these babies can be found on "Huffington Post" here.

Cruelty at Australian Saleyards Exposed5 hours ago

Which part of Ewes in late pregnancy should NOT be transported to yards do farmers NOT understand. Not even straw put down for the newborns to sit on they were left on the cold wet concrete.

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CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses19 minutes ago

By Marji Beach - Animal Place Sanctuary .... Sadie is special, at least to me. She is the face of the dairy industry, those beautiful cows who are bred and milked, bred and milked in a cycle of loss and separation. In her life, she gave birth to four calves, their fates intertwined with her own. Each calf was a marker of loss for Sadie, torn from her at birth. She did not nurse or groom them; she never watched from a distance as they frolicked in green pastures. There was never a time when she met grand-calves, the young of her own daughters. Her sons, sweet and smart, gentle and curious, they are all dead now. Sold at auction for $5-15, raised and slaughtered for veal or cheap dairy beef. None of them made it past the age of two. Some of her daughters are alive, no doubt. Others are dead, slaughtered and disassembled for what meager flesh humans can obtain from their overworked bodies. She spent six years at a dairy farm. Six years of producing gallon after gallon of breast milk for another species. Every meaningful behavior, from reproductive choice to nursing her own young to choosing what and where to eat, all of them denied. And when her production decreased, when an infection common to 50-70% of all dairy cows invaded her mammary glands - suddenly she was no longer a valuable commodity. She had never been seen as someone, an animal with interests of her very own, but as a something, a unit of production whose worth was measured in gallons. She was sent to auction. That awful place where other sentient beings are paraded in front of humans, where they are watched from bleachers, where they piss and shit in fear, where they cry. And where they go unheard. She was purchased by a veterinary university and used as a teaching tool. Her mastitis was left untreated, yet another chapter of exploitation. Someone saw her as an individual and ached for her. They saw a sweet animal who was struggling to survive amidst poking and prodding and a painful medical condition. It was an orchestrated production of frustration trying to convince the university to release her to the sanctuary. But in the end, she arrived, shy and concerned, an udder that sank nearly to her knees, a sign of human cruelty, of every milk-drinker's complicity in her suffering. I will be honest, Sadie is never going to like humans. It has taken me years to touch her, to scratch her face like a bovine friend would. She tolerates my presence because I am a known entity, a biped who has given her apples and massages and has yet to do anything to violate the tentative trust built. Her mastitis took years to heal. Years. It was only through NOT MILKING her, through the painful removal of cup after cup of pus and infection did it heal. And it was only because her caregivers, people who wanted nothing more than for her to get better, had to confine her, force her to suffer even more indignities. She endured, unwillingly, and it pained us to watch. Life for Sadie now is one of choices. Like where to graze or nap. Or what to do with herself at ten in the morning. Or whether she wants to hang out with the other cattle or lie in the compost pile on her own. When we take in male calves from the dairy industry, the unwanted by-products, she decides whether they get a facial grooming or a back grooming. There are still times when we take decisions away from her, like when she needs hoof trims or pain medication. We hope that these are minor inconveniences and her life is generally full of good, positive, enriching experiences. She deserves them. Whatever your reason for being vegan or striving toward veganism - thank you. Marji Beach - Animal Place http://animalplace.org/ Photo - Sadie by Rinalia

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CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses17 minutes ago

It's estimated that during June 2012 (over a 4 week period) 3.6 Million Boiling Fowl were slaughtered in the UK. Source: Defra (m) Boiling Fowl are mature hens of about 2 years of age. They tend to be commercial layer hens, layer breeders and broiler breeder hens who have come to the end of their productive lives, therefore they are of no further use to the industry.

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"The vegetarian movement ought to fill with gladness the souls of those who have at heart the realization of God's
kingdom upon Earth."
--Leo Tolstoy, Russian author.

Humane slaughter? How can you kill anyone "nicely"? Maybe putting to sleep with a needle for a much loved pet, surrounded by their loved ones soothing them, may qualify, but this is not the fate of animals killed for our dinner plates. Article on one butcher's slaughter house treatment of animals here.

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Sad end to a gentle animal...

The cows are restrained, supposedly to calm them down in the slaughterhouse...
Calm...what a strange word to call it...There is nothing calm at all...When you are about to be murdered...And you have done NOTHING to deserve it... (If this was a dog or cat in the same circumstances, the majority would be horrified. This animal feels the same fear and pain as any dog or cat. Why do we think this okay? There are plenty of wonderful delicious options that would not result in such horrific cruelty and death of so many gentle, beautiful animals.)
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“There is perhaps nothing more terrifying than to be helpless and restrained, and to be looked at by a cold, disconnected eye that does not care about our experience of suffering.” — Dr. Will Tuttle
Thanks to the veganmothership where I found this picture and quote.
http://theveganmothership.tumblr.com/ (contributed by Dianne Vegan-Field.

CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses16 hours ago

Animals feel the same emotions as we do, grief, pain, fear, love, and joy, they want to live in peace and nurture their young just as we do. Human arrogance, greed, and selfishness is killing billions of animals, millions of humans and the Earth we share. Violence begets violence and we need to look, see and act. Veganism is a lifestyle where minimum harm is the goal, compassion is the act, and freedom of violence is achieved. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/200910/grief-in-animals-its-arrogant-think-were-the-only-animals-who-mourn?page=2 Compassion begets compassion...start today, start with peace on your plate. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201207/compassion-begets-compassion (v)

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How does this poor dairy cow, pictured above, having just watched and heard the killing of this six month old baby pig, feel? She is trying to look away, but obviously knows she is next. No doubt, feeling like a person being lined up for execution. This cow, having spent her whole life providing babies (taken away from her at only a few hours or days old) in order to provide cow's milk and veal for humans, is now disposed of without compassion or respect. At approximately seven years of age, after having born a baby every year, each one taken away, is then trucked off to be slaughtered. Dairy cows that stop producing milk, for whatever reason, meet this same fate earlier. Dairy cows do not have an idyllic life, and certainly NOT an idyllic death.

Most baby cows live a shorter life than a fly. This is because they are taken from their mothers days, sometimes only hours, after being born, then trucked off to slaughter to made into veal slices. A mother cow is pregnant for 285 days, similar to the period of a human being, and then its baby that the mother has taken so long to nurture inside her, felt kick and move within her body, is taken crying from her, as she cries for it to be returned to her. Mother cows and babies who are separated, cry out for days on end in hope that they will be reunited...this never happens...
The natural life span of a cow is between 20 to 25 years.

The Bloody Dairy Industry73 days ago

VEAL = DAIRY This is a male calf stolen from his mother after birth. This newborn can barely stand on his wobbly knees yet people have already planned the day of his execution. As his mother, who has a maternal instinct equivalent to that of a human mother, is crying over him, he is all alone on an auction floor to be sold to veal producers. And how much is his one and only life - that his mother would guard with her own - worth? A couple of dollars. HOW IS VEAL = DAIRY? Because the veal industry is a "by-product" of the dairy industry; that is, the veal industry exists because the dairy industry exists. Just like us, cows are mammals, and the only way they can lactate is if they give birth. To ensure cows lactate milk uninterruptedly, the dairy industry uses cows as baby-making machines by forcibly and repeatedly impregnating them on "rape racks." Approximately, half of the babies born are male. Since male calves do not lactate, the dairy industry regards them as useless so whether it is a factory dairy farm or an "organic" dairy farm, all male calves (and many female calves considered "excess") are killed. Basically, the dairy industry wants the milk but they don't want the babies that come with the milk. Another standard practice within the dairy industry is to steal all calves (male & female) from their mothers to ensure they have no access to their mothers' milk. Here is a 22-second video that shows babies being stolen from their mothers: http://tinyurl.com/c3j8w47 By not funding the dairy industry and opting for delicious dairy alternatives, you will no longer be funding the veal industry, will no longer be breaking the family unit of others and will be saving countless babies from being murdered. DAIRY ALTERNATIVES: http://tinyurl.com/d6nxogj

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Cruelty Free World1 day ago

We are the same. Persons not objects. Animals think and FEEL, just like us. https://www.facebook.com/CrueltyFreeWorld Photographer Maxine Helfman

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One third of all fish caught is fed to livestock to produce meat. Does that make sense to you?

EVOLVE! Campaigns3 hours ago

Thanksgiving dinner's sad and thankless Christmas dinner's dark and blue When you stop and try to see it From the turkey's point of view. Sunday dinner isn't sunny Easter feasts are just bad luck When you see it from the viewpoint Of a chicken or a duck. Oh how I once loved tuna salad Pork and lobsters, lamb chops too Till I stopped and looked at dinner From the dinner's point of view. ~Shel Silverstein (Photo: Jenny and Beatrice from Woodstock Animal Sanctuary)

361 likes · 16 comments

If you love animals, why eat them?

Animal Quotes, Animal Rights & Religions1 hour ago

<3 "When we make a sincere and honest effort to place ourselves in the position of another sentient being, it is very easy to see why we should respect their lives, regardless of their species or any other characteristics they possess. Like us, they want to be happy, healthy, free from harm, and to enjoy the most precious thing they have: life itself."

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CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses13 minutes ago

No matter what the label says on meat, dairy and egg products, all animals will end up in a slaughterhouse. Labeling foods as humanely raised or organic don't mean cruelty free. The photo below was taken at Sturminster Newton abattoir in Dorset - a Soil Association approved slaughterhouse. Animal Aid filmed for two consecutive days and found the following... 12% of the 114 cows filmed had to endure multiple stuns to render them unconscious. Cows left for up to 65 minutes in the stunning box before they were stunned. The stun operator beating two cows with a squeegee mop. By law, bovine stunning boxes must be fitted with a head restraint, there was no head restraint. In one incident two cows were crammed in together. The first could not move at all. The stun operator hit the second cow with the goad in the face and ribs – possibly using the electric charge – which had no effect. He then used the butt of the goad to hit the animal in the ribs. When that failed, he brought the gate down on the back of the second cow, which also had no effect, apart from causing additional pain. He continued to hit the cows in the neck, nose, back and side with the goad, and when that didn’t work, he fetched a broom, which he used to hit the second cow on the back and in the ribs (using both ends), and the first cow in the face. A second man arrived and goaded the second cow on his side, which finally caused him to reverse from the pen. Animal Aid Head of Campaigns, Kate Fowler said.... "Abattoirs are terror-filled environments where animals – who are treated as inanimate objects – may be beaten and goaded if they do not walk meekly to their deaths. The apparent absence of compassion at Sturminster Newton, along with the routine breaking of animal welfare laws, affirms what we have concluded from filming at other UK slaughterhouses: there is no such thing as humane slaughter." More photos ... http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/news_slaughter//2332// Video footage... http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/f/CAMPAIGNS/blog//4//?be_id=249 (jb)

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Links for article above: Video Footage: - http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/f/CAMPAIGNS/blog//4//?be_id=249 - More Photos - http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/news_slaughter//2332//

“Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they’re only animals.” ― Theodor W. Adorno

CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses1 hour ago

A few years ago Brightside Farm Sanctuary rescued these hens from a battery hen farm. This was their first ever outdoor experience. They were able to feel the warm sun on their worn out bald little bodies. Chickens are such wonderful animals that live such horrific, sad, deprived lives. They can take away the cages and label your eggs as "humane" and "free range" but please do not be fooled by the misleading advertising campaigns/labelling. If so many shops and so many products contain 'free range eggs' ask yourself this, why dont we see hens in fields, why aren't we seeing acre upon acre of free range hens? Where are all these free range hens? It's a myth, just another tactic by the industry. They want you to feel better about your 'ethical' purchase. They want you to believe all is well. They want their profits. (m) Photo: Brightside Farm Sanctuary. https://www.facebook.com/BrightsideFarmSanctuary

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CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses47 minutes ago

Meat production begins with the killing of "unprofitable" infants. PACing (or thumping) is a pig industry term that means Pounding Against Concrete. It is a method of killing piglets whereby the piglet is picked up by the hind legs and slammed to the floor, causing head trauma. The smallest piglets of each new litter are killed at one or two days old, because these "runts" are considered unlikely to reach "market weight" by the desired slaughter date. Millions of piglets are killed inhumanely each year in Canada and United States by PACing – Pounding Against Concrete. http://www.vegansoapbox.com/pounding-against-concrete/ Videos of this being done are horrific, were it done to cats and dogs, there would be uproar. The violence and pain these little ones suffer is nothing but evil. (v) Photo: Mercy For Animals

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“A human body in no way resembles those that were born for ravenousness; it hath no hawk’s bill, no sharp talon, no roughness of teeth, no such strength of stomach or heat of digestion, as can be sufficient to convert or alter such heavy and fleshy fare. But if you will contend that you were born to an inclination to such food as you have now a mind to eat, do you then yourself kill what you would eat. But do it yourself, without the help of a chopping-knife, mallet or axe, as wolves, bears, and lions do, who kill and eat at once. Rend an ox with thy teeth, worry a hog with thy mouth, tear a lamb or a hare in pieces, and fall on and eat it alive as they do. But if thou had rather stay until what thou eat is to become dead, and if thou art loath to force a soul out of its body, why then dost thou against nature eat an animate thing? There is nobody that is willing to eat even a lifeless and a dead thing even as it is; so they boil it, and roast it, and alter it by fire and medicines, as it were, changing and quenching the slaughtered gore with thousands of sweet sauces, that the palate being thereby deceived may admit of such uncouth fare.” ― Plutarch

CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses1 hour ago

It is estimated that during August 2012 (over a 4 week period) 1,209,000 Sheep and Lambs were slaughtered in the UK for meat for human consumption. This figure includes Ewes & Rams. Source: Defra. (m) Photo: Animal Aid - A stunned sheep is left on the floor while the slaughterer cuts the throat of another, while others watch on. AC Hopkins slaughterhouse in Taunton, Somerset.

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CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses27 minutes ago

This shows the age that animals could naturally live to, and in brackets the approximate age at which they are slaughtered...... Cattle 20-25 years (1-2 years). Dairy Cows 20-25 years (4-7 years). Sheep/lambs 15 years (3-10 months). Pigs 15 years (3-6 months). Chickens (meat) 10 years (6 weeks). Egg-laying hens 10 years (18 months). Turkeys 10 years (12-26 weeks). Rabbits 6-8 years (6-10 weeks). Ducks 10 years (7 weeks). Goats 15-18 years (up to 11 months, sometimes longer) Dairy goats 15-18 years (up to 6 years) Veal is classified into several categories based on the ages of the animals at the time of slaughter... Baby Veal (bob veal) is 2–3 days to1 month of age. Vealers are 4 to 12 weeks of age. Calves are up to 20 weeks of age. Thousands of unwanted dairy calves and goat kids are shot at birth. Breeding animals are kept alive for longer, but once their 'productivity' declines they are sent to slaughter. Photo - Uproar - life in a grower shed http://www.uproar.org.au/ (jb)

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Photo - Uproar - life in a grower shed - http://www.uproar.org.au/

CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses25 minutes ago

Farmed animals are the most exploited and least protected group of animals in the world. Farmed animals lead a life of misery from the moment they are born to when they are slaughtered. Every day, everywhere across the globe, millions of these animals are mishandled, kept in confinement, mutilated as part of routine husbandry practices, and deprived of basic necessities. ~ Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary (m)

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Cow Cries All Night Over Loss of her Calf - Then They Reunited -
Not many people realize that cows can have strong maternal emotions. When this mother lost her baby, she cried all night... until she was emotionally reunited the next day!

CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses1 hour ago

Small, family run "humane" and organic dairy and veal farm. This calf is 20 minutes old and is being taken away from her mother. (m) Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur / www.weanimals.org

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CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses3 minutes ago

Ducks have evolved to eat, swim, dive, clean and play in water, yet they are denied it entirely except for drinking. Without water, ducks can’t preen, their feathers deteriorate and they can lose body heat. They may also develop eye problems and even blindness. Able to live for 10 years, they are killed after seven weeks. Farmed ducks are bred to be heavy. They may be unable to fly, have difficulty in walking and are prone to leg disorders. At slaughter they are usually hung upside down on a conveyor system, causing great pain to birds which may already have broken legs or injuries. Their heads are then supposed to be dipped into an electrical waterbath. However, both the Council of Europe and Bristol University have shown that the majority of ducks are not stunned properly – and are knifed fully conscious. Please watch the video which shows footage from several UK duck farms, conditions are similar across the UK. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi8-yWQpWKE&feature=player_embedded#! You can sign a petition and send for an action pack on this link http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/ducks/index.htm Photo by Viva! - taken at Manor Farm, UK (jb)

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Duck Youtube video here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi8-yWQpWKE&feature=player_embedded

Duck Petition here - http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/ducks/index.htm

Veganism Worldwide4 hours ago

"There is something so very dreadful, so satanic in tormenting those who have never harmed us, and who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power, who have weapons neither of offence nor defense, that none but very hardened persons can endure the thought of it." .

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CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses2 minutes ago

We can see quite plainly that our present civilization is built on the exploitation of animals, just as past civilisations were built on the exploitation of slaves. ~ Donald Watson (m)

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The end of a gentle dairy cow to simply become a recipe ingredient.
We need to ask ourselves - "Are our taste buds worth this?"

Animals do not go willing to their deaths. We may classify them "food animals" but they call themselves "alive" and "wanting to live" until humans take their life forcibly from them.

CCTV for ALL Slaughterhouses1 hour ago

I have unfortunately been inside slaughterhouses and can tell you that the animals are not willingly walking up to the end of the kill line and sticking their necks out. These animals fight with every bit of strength they have left at the end of that kill line. They fight to get out of that kill line. They don't want to die, and they know it's coming. They see, and they know exactly what's going to happen to them. There is absolutely no truth that any process of slaughtering is humane. From the moment those animals are taken from those trucks and forced through the slaughtering process, it is the most inhumane treatment that I have ever witnessed. ~ Cayce Mell (m) Photo: Animal Aid

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" 200 million male chicks are killed by being ground alive each year in the US alone. The United Egg Producers, a trade group for U.S. egg farmers, confirmed that figure and the practice behind it."

Revealed: Shocking undercover video captures inhumane butchering of cattle at slaughterhouse for US burger chain. (Article courtesy of www.DailyMailonline.com by James Nye)

Slaughterhouse of Central Valley Meat Co. supplied meat to the popular In-N-Out Burger chain and for the National School Lunch Program
Shows cows who were still alive after being shot in the head then being suffocated by workers who stand on their mouths and nostrils preventing the cows from breathing
Most of the animals slaughtered by CVM are 'spent' dairy cows who are no longer economically viable as milk-producers to the dairy industry
USDA regulators who shut down the slaughterhouse after viewing the animal welfare video are investigating whether beef from sick cows reached the human food supply

Horrifying undercover footage from inside a Californian slaughterhouse shows incompetent workers standing on the mouth and nostrils of a cow to suffocate it after failing to kill the animal with a bolt-gun.

The shocking video, which allegedly demonstrates rampant animal abuse and suffering from inside Central Valley Meat Co., has led the the U.S. Department of Agriculture to shut down the slaughterhouse which was a major supplier of their National School Lunch Program and In-N-Out Burger.

The sad film produced by animal rights group Compassion Over Killing reveals how already sick cows are stunned when they are unable to walk to their deaths and shows how they are hoisted up by their legs onto conveyor-belts even if the bolt-gun has failed to kill the animal.

A cow which is still alive is suffocated by a worker who stands on its mouth and nostril after a pneumatic bolt gun failed to kill it

The investigation will determine whether sick cows were slaughtered and whether meat products from the company should be recalled, said Justin DeJong, a spokesman for the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service.

There is no indication any of the cows slaughtered at the Central Valley Meat plant were diseased and the USDA did not order a recall of beef coming from the plant.

A spokesman for In-N-Out Burger said that CVM provided between 20 to 30 percent of the meat used by their restaurants and that it canceled its contract immediately.

The west cost burger chain has a loyal following and is regulalry patronised by Hollywood celebrities such as the soccer player David Beckham.

On the firm's website the chain claims to make its own hamburger patties 'using premium cattle selected especially for In-N-Out Burger', and says it pays 'a premium' for this.

In a statement to ABC News, the company's chief operating officer, Mark Taylor said, 'In-N-Out Burger would never condone the inhumane treatment of animals, and, in fact, all of our suppliers must agree to abide by our strict standards for the humane treatment of cattle.'

The agency suspended operations Monday at Central Valley Meat Co. in Hanford after receiving the video Friday from the animal welfare group Compassion Over Killing (COK).

The footage shows animals bleeding and thrashing after being repeatedly shot in the head with a pneumatic gun in unsuccessful efforts to kill them for slaughter.

Federal regulations say that to avoid unnecessary suffering during slaughter, animals must be rendered unconscious by a single shot to the head from a pneumatic gun that fires a bolt through the skull to pierce the brain.

The USDA said investigators are trying to determine whether the cows in the video were just lame or sick, which would render them unfit for human consumption.

'That's the main issue right now,' said DeJong of the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service.

Central Valley Meat Co., owned by Brian and Lawrence Coelho, declined to comment on the video, saying company officials had not seen it.

A cow starts throwing up after a pneumatic bolt gun fails to kill it as it is transported along a conveyor belt in a slaughterhouse

'We were extremely disturbed to be informed by the USDA that our plant could not operate based upon a videotape that was provided to the department by a third-party group that alleged inhumane treatment of animals on our property,' said a company statement.

Brian Coelho added, 'Our company seeks not just to meet federal humane handling regulations, but exceed them.'

The video taken by an undercover investigator for Compassion Over Killing also shows cattle lying in pens unable to move, and at least one unable to stand to leave a stock transportation trailer.

Some clips show cattle with swollen udders that are unable to keep their legs under them.

Other footage shows a downed cow trembling and unable to stand even as workers try to pull her up by the tail.

Within hours of seeing the video, the USDA's Office of Inspector General sent investigators who found evidence of 'egregious inhumane handling and treatment of livestock.'

The possibility that animals were being inhumanely treated caused officials to shut down the plant while the investigation unfolds.

The USDA had at least two inspectors stationed at the site, and federal officials, when asked whether there was evidence the inspectors had neglected their duties, said the investigation is ongoing.

The USDA received hours of videotape from the Washington D.C.-based animal welfare group, which said its undercover investigator was employed by the slaughterhouse and made the video over a two-week period in June and early July.

In the four minute video compiled by the animal rights group various abuses towards the cows are witnessed.

One worker appears to be suffocating a cow by standing on its muzzle after a gun that injects a bolt into the animal's head had failed to kill it.

In another clip, a cow is still conscious and flailing as a conveyor lifts it by one leg for transport to an area where the animals' throats are slit for blood draining.

'The horror caught on camera is sickening,' said Erica Meier, executive director of Compassion Over Killing.

'It's alarming that this is not only a USDA-inspected facility but a supplier to the USDA.'

Online USDA records show the company has contracted to sell ground beef to USDA food programs.

It's a good sign that the USDA is taking this seriously, but I want to see what comes next,' said Meier of Compassion Over Killing, adding the video will be posted on the organization's website.After viewing the video, famed Californian fast-food firm In-N-Out Burger immediately severed their ties with CVM.

The case is reminiscent of a 2008 undercover operation by the Humane Society of the United States at the Hallmark slaughter plant in Chino that led to the largest-ever recall of beef and the conviction of two people found to have treated cows cruelly. In that case, video showed downed cows being prodded with a folk lift.

GRAPHIC CONTENT: Inhumane butchering of cattle at US slaughterhouse - See the video here - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2191813/Revealed-Shocking-undercover-video-captures-inhumane-butchering-cattle-slaughterhouse-In-N-Out-Burger-chain.html

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