Attention Vegetarians

I go to a fairly urban high school. With a population of around 730 kids, from grades 10-12, there are a lot of people I don't get along with. That being said, I am a pretty easy-going kid, so I do get along with the majority, but today I want to talk about a group who are trying to make me out as the devil. They are the bane of livestock growers around the world, and, unfortunately, a lot of them have very confused ideas about animal production.

The group I am speaking of is the vegetarians. Most, not all, are vegetarian by choice, but all too often it is a choice that has a distorted background. As livestock production has become larger scale to deal with increased demand, it has become easier for groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to find and magnify small, frequently isolated incidences.

When a vegetarian confronts me with, "How could you eat an animal?” the answer is fairly simple. I say, "With my teeth, but, more importantly, why don't you eat animals?” To this, they invariably reply, "Because they were tortured, they have shortened lives, they never got to run around, they were killed while conscious," or, my favourite, "Because they have feelings too!” These arguments do, unfortunately, have some basis in truth. Animals used for meat or other products do frequently live shorter lives than if they had been allowed to run free. Alas, it is also true that some animals, in rare and horrible circumstances, are tortured or killed while conscious. It is also very true and clearly evident that animals have feelings, emotions, and personalities. And yet there are billions of people all around the world who eat beef, pork, and chicken, drink milk, eat eggs, and wear leather. Why? I am not sure. All I do know is that humans have used domestic animals for our own benefit for thousands of years, and that is not about to change.

Let’s have a look at why people believe that animals are put through such hard lives, only to be killed at the end in "cruel and unusual" ways. For this, there is one simple explanation. There are bad people in the world. Indeed, there are bad people in every community, sadistic people who run around and get pleasure from pain. These people occasionally find their way into agriculture, and do bad things. There are horses locked up with no food, cattle beaten literally senseless in feedlots, chickens and pigs killed mercilessly in back alleys on farms across the globe. That does not mean that every farmer does that. It is a common misconception among vegetarians that these horrible things are normal, and happen everywhere all the time. This is simply not true, and here are two reasons why:

1)  Farmers raise animals to make money. Speaking from a strictly economic viewpoint, dead animals, animals that do not gain or grow, animals that are sick with malnourishment and stress do not make a farmer any money. In order to make money, a farmer must have animals that are healthy, eating, growing, and stress free. Regardless of whether or not a farmer loves animals, he must care for them in order to be economically successful. Animals that are sick or malnourished cannot, by law, be used for meat. Animals who are sick, stressed, starved, beaten, yelled at, stomped on, hurt, tortured or killed improperly do not produce. That is an important reason why most farmers are still in business, because they take care of their animals.

2)  Human empathy, however, is the largest reason why we care for them. It really hurts when a vegetarian says, "all farmers hurt their animals, and all farmers torture their livestock." It cuts really deep. I do not know the feeling and cannot imagine beating on my animals. As a human, I know that these animals depend on me, not only for food, but for compassion and love as well. As I said before, there are bad people in agriculture, but they are few and far between. Vegetarians, do not make the mistake of labeling farmers as monsters. We depend on these animals for our livelihoods, to feed our children and clothe our backs. We love them for that, and we provide them with the best care we know how to give them. Look at both sides of the argument before you chase the horrid videos of PETA and other vegan sites, do your research. In a heartbeat, any producer will talk to you, answer your questions, and quickly dispel your fears. Have faith in the compassion of normal people to care for the animals in their protection. Don't be a vegetarian because you love animals, because I guarantee that I love my animals more then you love yours.

Until later