Michigan Bans Crates and Cages! October 13, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at October 13, 2009 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 6 ) | TrackBack

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Mother pigs don't want to be confined in crates so small they can't turn around or lie down comfortably, and chickens don't want to be forced into cages so tiny that they can never spread a single wing—and now in Michigan, they won't be. Governor Jennifer Granholm has just signed a bill into law that phases out veal crates, battery cages, and gestation crates on farms across the state!

Of course, we all know that animals aren't here to be abused, slaughtered and eaten. They have feelings, have families, and feel fear before they feel the blade, and we all know that no animal should be born only to be killed at all—so why are we celebrating this victory for animals?

I was born and raised in the city limits of Detroit, Michigan, one of the coldest, harshest cities in the country, where both compassion for animals and people can sometimes be hard to find. It is truly amazing to see these laws for animals spreading in all parts of the country, from California to Michigan. I am vegan, and I believe in animal rights, and I also believe that if the fight for animal rights is all or nothing, it will simply be nothing.

There are millions of animals in cages right now, and in crates or chains, waiting for freedom. We cannot only answer to those who we want to never suffer, but those who are suffering right now. Eliminating veal crates—the crates that baby cows are chained to by the neck for most of their lives before slaughter, and battery cages—the tiny cages chickens are crammed into that are too small for them to even spread a wing, will not be the end of the fight, nor is it the beginning of the fight—it is progress in the fight.

We are making a difference, but as much as we'd like it to, the whole world won't go vegan overnight, it's going to take time. For the millions of animals who are suffering in these devices of torture right now, the elimination of these cages and crates means less pain, and less suffering—how can anyone who cares about animals not support that?

Congratulations on helping to show people—including lawmakers—everywhere that animals matter. Keep up the good fight!

Could You Spend Your Entire Life in One of These? February 26, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at February 26, 2009 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBack

A lot of us who go vegan do so because of a video or because of an image that stayed in our head. Maybe of a single animal who conveyed his or her misery more than any other in "Meet Your Meat" or in a different undercover investigation.

For me it was a few different images. The first one being the pig who falls from the hook while on the slaughter line and tries to scramble to her feet while laying in a puddle of blood in one of the scenes in "Meet Your Meat", and the opening scene, where the two chickens, packed together in a battery cage, somehow forget how miserable they are, and take comfort by cuddling next to each other. One of them closes her eyes tight, and I only imagine that opening them again to find the same life is such a nightmare.

Chickens raised to produce eggs spend their entire lives confined to these "battery cages" so small that they can't ever spread even a single wing. They'll be crammed into these metal boxes with five to eleven other birds, living in the filth and stench of their own urine, feces and corpses of other birds whose bodies couldn't endure the abuse. Chickens used for their eggs have no laws to protect them—and will suffer for years until their bodies are too weak to be profitable, and they're sent off to be killed. Being thrown onto transport trucks will be the first time many of these birds ever feel sunshine on their backs.

You can read about this all day—but it's hard to imagine—and a lot of people just don't want to have to watch what happens to animals. The website AnimalVisuals.com is working on some new projects to give people an idea of just how much animals suffer on factory farms, and the first is a virtual battery cage—check it out below:



The best way to prevent this kind of suffering from happening is to stop paying for it. Don't eat eggs! Download leaflets and speak up for the millions of chickens that will be crammed into these cages this year, and send the virtual battery cage to everyone you know.