*PURPOSE: The purpose of this essay is to present the truth about modern industrialized factory farming – A human system of domination, abuse & the genocide of animals. We humans often gather to party & celebrate; we raise & clink our glasses & we say: Cheers! Then we spear pieces of meat with our forks & we fill our bellies with the pain & suffering of farm animals. Please come & follow me as I now take on the identity of a Baby calf for this essay.
*The SUN: I have never seen the Sun with it's white rays of light that shine down to the Earth.. I have never heard the birds sing in the morning that greet the new day. I have never seen the wind blow gently through a field of wild grasses. I have never looked out at a vast landscape in the distance. & I have never looked up to see the eternal blue sky. Where is the sun? Where is the beautiful sun? I want to be intimate with the Sun, the wind & the sky. But, I will never see this Sun that I so deeply yearn for.
*MY BIRTHDAY: I am a Baby calf. I was born on an industrialized factory farm in August 2010. It was a noisy day at the farm. My mother gave birth to me & I fell to the cold cement ground here in this concrete building. My mother licked me & I felt her gentle touch. I nursed with her & slept near her for only a precious few days. Then an angry Homo Sapien man with a rope & a stick beat me & lead me to my new home: A cage. I struggled with this human & I cried to my mother. I did not want to leave her. I remember seeing my sad mother fade away in the distance as I was taken away. I never saw my mother again.
*MILK, YOGURT & CHEESE: I was born so that humans can eat dairy products such as Milk, cheese, butter & yogurt. My mother will go off now to give her cow's milk to humans – rather than to me. I am only a byproduct of the dairy industry. I will be slaughtered for veal, baby calves liver, leather shoes & leather coats.
*CAGES: Now I am here alone in this small cage, in a fluorescent lit, cold cement building with ammonia fumes & desperate animal sounds. I am fed unpleasant food. I am injected with antibiotics & hormones to plump me up for slaughter. I can not move around. I want to run & jump as all baby animals do. I want to run in a meadow & see the wild flowers & hear the sparrows sing. But, here I am in this alienating, existential & lonely Homo Sapien industrialized factory farm.
*CRAZY: Some of the other baby calves are going crazy. One of them bites at the cage & rocks back & forth all day. Another baby calf hits his head against the cage & kicks the walls trying to escape. & Another calf just lays there all day staring out into space.
*HOMO SAPIENS: The humans who work here are emotionally disturbed people.
*George: There's George who hates animals; He swears at the animals & he beats them; He has a rage deep down in his soul; He was abused as a child; Now as an adult he likes the power & control he has over animals; He enjoys getting revenge on animals for all the shame & humiliation he endured as a child.
*Larry: Then, there's Larry who is part of the human conspiracy against animals; Larry says that God told man to dominate, conquer & exploit animals for human use; Larry doesn't care whether animals feel pain or fear; Larry has turned his brain off in order to kill & eat animals; Larry in turn teaches his children the party line -- that it's okay to harm animals for human use.
*VEAL MEAT, BABY CALVES LIVER & LEATHER COATS & SHOES: A Restaurant, a Grocery store & a Clothing store put in an order for: Veal meat, Baby Calves liver & a Leather coat & Leather shoes – on a Monday. So my farmer calls in a work order for a transport truck on Tuesday & slaughter time on Wednesday. On Thursday I will be the special entrées of the day: Veal with wine & Baby calves liver with onions. On Friday I will be hung on a rack as a leather coat & on display as leather shoes for sale.
*SLAUGHTER: It is February 2011. I am now 6 months old & it is time for me to be slaughtered. I am anemic & weak; I am covered in sores & my spirit is broken. A frowning human comes to take me away this day; He uses a pitch fork to prod me out of the building onto the truck. I stumble into the back of the truck, pushed by other baby calves. When the truck is full, we travel off to the slaughter yard. It is a cold day & the wind blows & I shake. One of the sick baby calves falls to the floor of the truck & is stepped on by other calves; That baby calf dies there alone on that crowded truck: haemorrhaging out, with a broken hip -- while no one in the universe cares. When we arrive at the slaughter house I hear frightening sounds, the cries of the dying in the distance. We walk down a long dark path, in single file. I am so afraid. I have given up all hope. Now it is my turn to die. My life is about to end. Good-bye mother, good-bye other baby calves, good-bye planet Earth. The human puts an electric bolt gun up to my forehead. I hear a loud zap. Electricity races through my head & body; I see lightning; My head & body burn; I stiffen, then I breathe my last breath & I fall to the Earth. & I die.
Mary Hamer
Animal Rights Advocacy Group
VEGAN SUDESH
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