Animal Torture – I'm a Nazi…and so are you

At the end of WWII, the world woke up to the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. People treated as objects, systematically and efficiently killed, devalued to the point where a guard would think it normal to rip out a victim’s gold capped teeth. It’s as if the world had suddenly gone mad. It horrified us because the guards were just like us – regular people doing their job. We prayed that we would never see the like again and were grateful that it was over. But I learned something last night. It’s not. And I’m the cause.

Before you read further, let me make one thing clear. I’m not exaggerating. None of what I say is for effect. Nothing is overstated. In fact, I find it impossible to use words that are strong enough to state the truth as it is. Anything I say falls short of reality. That is why for the first time on this blog, I am using videos. In spite of being a professional writer, my skills aren’t sufficient to convey what I feel.

Last night my wife and I watched a documentary called “Earthlings.” Remember when you were little, and your parents told you that there was a place called Hell? Where you would burn alive in boiling oil, and were skinned? Last night, I realized that such a place exists. In fact, many do. For the sake of satisfying my trivial wants for clothing, entertainment and “quality” meat, animals are routinely mutilated, tortured, beaten, boiled, and skinned alive. Alive I say. Without anesthesia and without anything to dull the pain. In my name.

Fur Farms

It pains me to have to show this on my blog. I don’t like to manipulate people into feeling something by showing them well arranged footage with stirring music. But in order to convey the horror of what I feel, here is a 30 second clip from the video: (Warning – this is graphic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BWGk8SZPqM

Fur Farm in China

These animals have to undergo this brutal torture for being beautiful. Because we feel we have a right to their fur which was given to them by birth for their protection. Because we don’t believe that they have the right to keep it. Such a fur coat sells for $50,000 in US stores. If it were worth a million, it would still not be worth it.

Slaughter Houses

But most people who are reading this will say that they don’t use fur. That only a small handful of rich people can afford to wear genuine fur. This is true. But a very large percentage of us eat meat – including myself. There was once a time when I prided myself on saying “I’m a pure non vegetarian.” I absolutely hate vegetables. I was comfortable with the idea of animals dying for me.

But I never realized they were being tortured.

What I learned from “Earthlings” and confirmed by my own independent research was that all slaughterhouses indulge in the following (and none of it is with anesthesia).

Cows

For cows who are killed for meat and milked, their fate is:

1. Clipping their horns with shears (dehorning)
2. Branding with red hot irons on the face
3. Being made to stand while a machine milks them till they drop and die
4. Being hung up while still alive and drained of blood while they slowly die of asphyxiation

Here’s a 33 second clip showing a cow being branded on the face and dehorned.

Pigs

For Pigs who are killed for meat:

1. Their tails are casually plucked off by hand as the piglets scream in pain
2. Their teeth are ripped out with pliers (so that they don’t bite each other)
3. The male piglets are castrated by hand with the men simply tearing off their testicles. They then dig with their fingers to get the remaining flesh out

Watch this 82 second clip to see how men take pleasure in hitting the pigs, cursing them, tormenting them as part of their job. Here is a 135 second clip showing men ripping off the tails of piglets, cutting their teeth, and tearing out their testicles.

Chickens

For Chickens, the documentary shows little yellow chicks just born, who’re still unaware of what’s going to happen to them – chirping away happily before their misery begins. It’s very tough to watch. This is what happens to them:

1. Their beaks are burnt off so they don’t peck each other
2. To maximize the number of chickens per sq. foot, they’re crowded together in impossible densities
3. In desperation, they peck each other despite their severed beaks. Cannibalism is an everyday affair
4. They are thrown against the wall violently to kill them. Men then come and jump on them to kill those who don’t die.

It’s impossible to describe the casual way in which all this is carried out. Here is a 35 second clip showing them being jumped upon and beaten to death with rods.

Dolphins

Dolphins are then killed in a uniquely cruel manner. The commercial fishers attract a school of dolphins and just injure one to draw a lot of blood. Dolphins never abandon wounded family members and the rest of them flock to their companion and are then brutally caught. To see this happen, here is a 78 second clip.

But there is more. Much much more.

These are not isolated examples. A little bit of research will inform you that this happens everywhere and everyday. The documentary shows how cows in India are slaughtered for leather – how they’re transported to a state where their slaughter is legal, how their tails are repeatedly broken to keep them moving. None of this is isolated. When I first went to the US, I had thought it was better there. I was brutally disillusioned. I now know that it’s much worse.

The better infrastructure for killing in the US means that animals can be treated even more impersonally and brutally. The moment a killing system becomes a system, it becomes horrifying. Motivated by nothing more than profit, large corporations in the US cut corners to push through as many as 10 billion cattle a year. That’s almost twice the human population in just 365 days.

Circuses

We like to think that animals are trained using “positive reinforcement” instead of torturing them. In “Earthlings”, an elephant trainer says that he never uses the rod to hurt the animal. In this 50 second clip we see just how true this is. Notice how the trainer tries to impress upon his apprentice that he must cause the maximum amount of pain in order to successfully train the elephants.

A person like me may find watching these clips is too stressful. But if I eat beef, chicken, or pork I have no right to say that. If those animals can suffer the real torture, I have no right to spare myself the knowledge. After all, can my suffering be compared to theirs?

We are the Nazis

I hate to think that the Holocaust is happening right now. But twist it any way I wish, I can’t deny that it is. The effect that this documentary has produced on me is colossal. I find it very hard to love humans after seeing something like this. I’m not a person who easily gets upset by blood and gore. Not at all. But this is tough – real tough to watch. But I have a responsibility to see it. I must know what I am causing.

Can we stop the Holocaust from continuing? Compared to what these animals are going through, the original Holocaust was a piece of cake. I’m shaken and I have very little energy left. I hope this post has the ability to waken people who read it. To realize what is happening in our name and for our sakes. There is only one thing left for me to do. And I’ll save that for a later post.

People have many different reactions when watching and reading stuff like this. Sometimes we’re not sure ourselves how to feel. Put your thoughts down in the poll below.

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