conuly

Well, unfortunately, if a person eats meat that from animals they didn't keep themself (or meat that isn't listed as organic and free-range), they're supporting cruelty.

In Australia, 85% of pigs are farmed in crates, and over 98% of chickens. We even have a large percentage of cows now intensively farmed (this is still very new to Australia). Pigs that never see sunlight, chickens that are caged and have their throats slit at 6 weeks (average age for a broiler chicken to be killed), and cows whose calves are ripped away from their mothers within 2 days and confined to veal crates where they, too, will never see the sun. In the egg industry, male chicks are ground up alive (fully conscious) or gassed, and their bodies are 'reprocessed' as animal feed and fertiliser.

These are the figures for Australia; in the US the figures are much worse. If a person eats meat, they are guilty of cruelty against animals in the current 'farming' situation - it's as simple as that. No humane person would ever treat a cat or dog the way our 'food' animals are treated; they'd be horrified if they knew what goes on.

That's why I'm vegan - I simply don't believe in being cruel to animals. No matter who happens to do my cruelty for me, if I eat meat I am the cause of their suffering. Other people must do what they feel is right, of course.