The Pain For Plessure

When we are children our parents read us books with cute animals and we have children songs like Old McDonald Had A Farm. Animals become part of our childhood as cuddly furry friends. There are movies like Bambi, The Lion King, and The Jungle Book that teach us animals are our friends and we need to be kind to them. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood there is a fundamental change that takes place in our perceptions of animals. Animals no longer become our cute animal friends, they become our next meal we feed to our kids, that nice fur rug in our living room floor, that trophy on the wall, and those nice leather boots in our closet. We seemingly remove all awareness that all these products are made from animals. Like many Americans I was ignorant and frankly didn’t care when it came to how these things got from the slaughter house to my table. My eyes were opened about a year ago. The images and sounds of what happens to these innocent creatures will forever be burned into my psyche.

            Sometime last year, I was taking my friend Eric home from work. We live and work in the same apartment complex so it was quite convenient for the both of us. I could tell he was a bit off he was quieter than usual as if he was thinking quite hard about something. “Eric what is up with you, you are so quiet?” I asked. Eric Replied “Dude I saw the worst video I have ever seen in my life.” Now coming from a guy who watches some seriously gruesome stuff on the web, I knew it was bad. I asked “Well what was it?” “Chinese fur farms”, he replied. We talked briefly about the things he had seen. The one thing I remember very clearly about the conversation is when he said “the rabbits scream while the cut off their feet”. We arrived at the complex and said our goodbyes and I rushed upstairs to my apartment and flipped on my computer. I typed in Chinese fur farms into the search engine in YouTube and to my surprise hundreds of videos popped up. I found the video Eric was taking about and clicked the link. As the video uploaded. I was trying to mentally prepare myself for what I was about to see and trying to convince myself I had seen worse. I now know nothing could prepare me for what I was about to see. The video starts with the beautiful Oliva Mun discussing what a fur farm is, their role in the fur distribution in the world, and who purchases these fur items. To my surprise the United States in one of the biggest clientele and funders. Furthermore, I was shocked to know that in China it is entirely legal to do this.

The video starts off with a clip of stray cats and dogs placed in small wire cages. These animals are not wild but someone’s pet that has gone missing and was picked up by the fur farms for slaughter. The animals are placed in small cages crammed in like sardines in a can. Ten to twenty dogs and cats are crammed in a single cage. The cages are the placed on top of on another the pure weight of all these cages begin to break the bones on the animals of the lower levels. The cages are then tossed off the trucks onto the ground, the impact of the cage hitting the ground instantly shatters the bones of the animals inside. Next was the skinning of the dogs they had caught.  In the next scene, a beautiful white husky, a dog that had been kept in a small cage for days with no food and water, he is then electrocuted and ripped out of his small wire cage. His head is the dragged by a leash, if the dog attempts to defend himself he will be beaten with wooden sticks into submission. He is then placed on a table and electrocuted again and hung upside down on a rack. Then one of the workers picks up a knife stabs it in the dog, removes his skin and then it is thrown into a pile of other skinned animals left to bleed to death. 

By this point, I’m in utter shock I think of all my dogs I’ve had and how could anyone do this to a living breathing creature. I’m in shock it was like watching a horror movie the only difference was I knew this was real and this was actually happening on the other side of the world. The next part of the video was something I’ll never forget. They show a whole bunch of rabbits all alive and hanging upside down. The rabbits are trying to break free from the tight clamps around there feet. The workers (or murders as I like to call them) take large knifes and saw off their feet. The rabbits let out high pitched screams out of pure pain. The noise of those screams filled my ears and my whole apartment it seemed. 

I remember shouting at the screen saying “Stop they can feel that stop!”  I thought back of all the times I was ever given a rabbit’s foot and was told it was good luck. I could remember always grossed out by the whole concept and the feel of a rabbit’s foot; but now I knew where that foot possibly came from, a fur farm. Finally, the video was over I was so angry and upset I kept thinking,” How could anyone be so cruel?” How could we kill an animal so inhumanly and for what so someone could have a nice fur coat? Why is this not talked about? Why is this not in the news so everyone knows? As I attempted to process what I had just seen, I happen to glance down a see in the related videos and saw one that was titled Meat Your Meat. Instantly, I clicked on the link telling myself America is different we care how animals are treated. We are the good guys! I could not been more wrong and farther from the truth.

The video starts with showing the treatment of cows. Most cows are injected with high amounts of hormones for the purpose of making them grow faster and fatter in a shorter amount of time. This often makes the cows joints painful and it’s hard for them to walk. It showed cows barely being able to walk due to joint problems. Female cows are repeatedly impregnated over and over again so they can produce milk. This has serious health effects on their bodies. They are placed in a small areas where they can barely move and are repeatedly milked. The lack of movement and the weight of their bodies deforms their hoofs making it hard for them to walk. Calves are removed from their mothers at a young age and placed in small cages unable to move and develop muscles for the European dish, veil. 

As I’m watching this I instantly become sick to my stomach. I replay all the moments of me eating a hamburger and beef. I think of how much dead cow I’ve consumed in my life and these animals died because I wanted a hamburger or roast beef on my sandwich!

Pigs were next to be shown in the video and I can barely watch any mre but I had to watch the rest. No more was I to live in this place of not knowing what happens to these creatures. The next is a scene of pigs all crammed into tiny stables. They can barely move I felt like looking at this scene the probably can’t breathe to well. With the pigs being in such tiny spaces with each other they will often fight or bite each other. These cuts and wounds often get infected due to the feces in the stables and often go untreated. If a pig becomes too ill or injured they are killed by having their head slammed down on concrete floors. I remember hearing the sound of their bodies being thrown into the floor. I remember my bones hurt and I thought how painful and scary that must be for them. Regardless, if a pig has an open wound that is infected it still gets sent to the slaughter house and possibly in someone’s breakfast omelet. The next scene was of newborn baby pigs they were all cute and huddled around their mother. The workers would snatch them up and with dull scissors castrate them without any form of analgesic. Then shave down their teeth or simply pull them out to prevent them biting each other. The squeals of the baby pigs rattled my brain and my whole body. All I could think was they are just babies! How could you do that to a baby animal? I instantly regretted ever eating bacon or ham. How many pigs were killed so I could have a ham sandwich! Why haven’t I cared enough to ask how were these pigs killed.

Turkeys and chickens popped on the screen I immediately became nauseous. The scene was of chickens in cages. If the chickens didn’t produce enough eggs the farmers would electrocute or starve the hens so their bodies would produce eggs faster. Turkeys are beaten to death with steel rods and wooden sticks to be shipped off to slaughter. When the slaughter house came up on the screen it was like I was looking at a house of horrors. Cows and pigs are strung up upside down this motion usually breaks or dislocates bones. The animal on this conveyer belt rack contraption are then placed in boiling hot water to remove all fur or feathers. Many animals survive this process if so have their throat cut to bleed to death. The video was finally over and I was at a loss for words. America was no better we were just as cruel and heartless as the people working in the fur farms.

Two videos and thirty minutes later, my entire view of the world had changed drastically. Animals were no longer beautiful majestic creatures they were dollar signs in the eyes of this greedy twisted world. Pain, torture, and execution were tools for making profit. My eyes were opened and I now realized just how cruel humans have become. Killing is now profitable and as long as the profit outweighs the daily massacres it is all justified. I began to try and think why I had not cared to know? Why did I not care how these animals were treated and how they get from the farm to on my dinner plate?

 That day I swore I’d never put animal meat in my mouth ever again! I ran to my fridge and freezer threw everything away that contained meat. I, no longer would contribute to the profits of murder and torture. After everything that contained a trace amount of meat was thrown out I knew I could never go back.

As I looked around my new meat free apartment, I felt a sudden sense of dread! I work in a deli at a grocery store!! The next day at work was horrible! I looked around the glass meat cases, and all I could think was flavored animal carcasses oh gross! Every piece of meat I picked up I nearly gaged. Every time a customer ate a sample of meat I wanted to be like say “Do you know how that animal you’re inhaling was killed!” I pronounced my new found knowledge to my fellow deli workers expecting them to be in utter shock and horror. To my surprise some didn’t want to hear it, or didn’t care enough to even inquire further. That night after work, I went home confused and in disbelief. How could anyone not care or not even want to know? Then as if someone turned on the lights in my brain! Everything made perfect sense! My coworkers didn’t care because they are not directly affected. They have more important things in life to worry about bills, family, and work. How your food is killed doesn’t matter as long as it gets to the dinner table. I became very sad when I realized this. Is that what we as the “superior” race of this world have become? We care only about one thing, ourselves and our happiness? Even if that happiness murders millions and millions of animals a year? That moment I swore I would no longer remain silent. I took to my Facebook and I professed my new found awareness. To my surprise, my cousin Pamela is huge into animal rights and is a huge activist. Now I take to my Facebook and post many things about animal rights and saving the natural world. I believe now more than ever we as humans have to stand up for the ones that have no voice. These creatures should not have to live a life or torment and anguish. We need to treat them like we treat each other with respect, kindness, and love.