I believe

I believe that animals should be treated with respect. Which is a shock when I tell most people since I wouldn't really consider myself to be the 'animal rights activist' type. I'm a Republican, I have intentions on joining the Army, I'm an athlete, and a motorcyclist; however I'm also a vegetarian. Not what you'd expect, right? I have a few friends who are also vegetarians, and before I made the switch to cut meat out of my diet I would usually make fun of them, in a joking fashion, nothing too serious. They all thought it was funny when I decided I'd become a vegetarian but welcomed it with open arms. Unlike my family who protested my choice at first, but they eventually gave in and are now supporting.

The thing that really opened my eyes to the issues concerning animal rights was actually a class at my high school. We had speakers come in from all different groups on both sides of the political spectrum come give their opinions about the world we live in. One specific speaker, Sarah, from Mercy for Animals (MFA) came in to talk to us about how farmed animals were mistreated on a daily basis. Looking and the schedule of speakers and seeing ‘Mercy for Animals’ made me laugh. I thought she’d just be another tree hugging crazy left wing liberal chick that would be nothing but someone to laugh at, but after the two days she came in to speak I was blown away by just about everything she said. From the treatment of these animals to how going vegetarian could help improve your health and the environment, every word she spoke hit home to just about everyone in the class, but only stuck with some. Including me.

These animals, from the time they’re born, are kept in cages hardly big enough for them to move.  Cows get there tails and testicles ripped from their bodies without any pain killers, as well as pigs. Dairy cows are given hormone pills to increase birth rate so they keep producing milk and their babies are taken away from them instantly. Cows aren’t just objects, they’re loving creatures that care for their young, and continuously having to give them up to get caged and murdered for meat. Pigs are very intelligent animals, scientists say as smart as a three year old baby human, are left to live in cages so small they can’t even turn around. Without anything to stimulate their brain they literally go insane and would chew each others tails off, that’s why works cut their tails off at birth. Male chickens are thrown into big trash bag and suffocated to death right from hatching since they can’t produce eggs. Female chicks are taken to have their beaks cut off so they don’t peck one another too death because they live so close together. After the painful procedure of break trimming they are shoved into cages and lay 10 times as many eggs as their nature body should because of hormones given to them.  On top of all this, animals are often abused and beaten by works, and killed violently, in some cases get shot in the head with a bolt gun, or hanged.  99% of all animal abuse charges are due to the meat industry. That isn’t too surprising considering that 20,000,000,000 animals each year are killed in providing meat for the just America. World wide that number increases to 58,000,000,000. These horrific numbers aren’t necessary at all especially since humans can more that easily sustain a healthier lifestyle by giving up meat and dairy for that matter. Humans are the only species on this planet who consume milk from another species besides its own. Hearing the facts and researching it for myself really gave me the inspiration to drop my carnivorous  lifestyle and move on to one that’s better for my body, the planet, and billions of animals. I would only hope more people look into doing the same.