Cruel Intentions

I remember not eating chicken for a decade or so. I did not become a vegan. In fact, I now eat chicken and other kinds of animal meat with so much gusto that I am fairly convinced that either cholesterol will kill me or I will have haunting dreams of all my juicy victims. I stopped eating chicken for some time because as a child, I personally witnessed the execution of a chicken by lethal bleeding just so we could celebrate my brother’s decline into an older age. The sight of that blinking bleeding chicken distressed me so much that I couldn’t eat another drumstick for years. I never realized until now though that my brother’s birthday dish was by far a lot more fortunate than others of its kind or other animals for that matter.

• Dolphins- We see them all the time in television shows helping swimmers in distress. Well, someone should tell these dolphins that humans won’t be as kind. Many dolphins in sea shows are kept against their wishes. They go blind because of chlorine in the water and die only after a year or two in captivity in spite of the fact that they normally live up to 45 years.

• Orangutans- Ninety-seven percent of orangutan DNA is similar to human DNA. Unfortunately, humans still have the remaining 3% upper hand. The clearing of forests in Indonesia and Malaysia have led to the displacement of these creatures. Orangutans often raid plantations for food. To solve the problem, humans capture, bind and deprive raiders of their hands. In most cases though, orangutans are simply slashed or shot on the spot.

• Whales- The oil of these sea creatures is still used for cosmetics. Whale hunters shoot harpoons through whales. Modern harpoons have bombs at the tip which explode inside whales. The explosion is often not enough to kill them so a ship has to drag a whale down to drown it. It can take up to 30 minutes more of suffering before a whale dies.

• Sharks- The truth is that the fins of sharks do not have any taste. Even so, humans continually hunt sharks for their fins for shark fin soup that is really broth flavored. Since not a lot of people eat shark meat, fishermen simply cut the fins of sharks while they are still alive. They throw the bodies of the sharks back into the water where the sharks wait for death to claim them.

• Cats- Felines in China provide fur. The cats aren’t killed immediately prior to skinning. They are actually skinned alive. While under the knife, they are gradually strangled or drowned using water-filled tubes through the mouth. These techniques are said to improve fur quality.

• Bears- The bile of bears is an ingredient in some Chinese medicinal preparations. The bears that provide the bile are kept in cages lying down or in a crouched position. Some bears are clamped down to their cages. While in these positions, bile is extracted using a tube stuck through open abdominal wounds. Any bear in this situation would wish for death. Unfortunately, the bears in these farms live up to 5-15 years. They stay in the same cage, position and condition for the rest of their lives.

• Hens- Egg laying hens do not have it easy. In Mexico, some egg producers keep them in small cages where they cannot stand or move. These cages are kept in large, stuffy, closed storage rooms where they are piled over one another. Often, hens are deprived of food and water for some time so that they can lay more eggs once they are fed again. Sometimes, their beaks are mutilated to avoid injuring themselves out of distress.

• Chickens- Those that can’t lay eggs are candidates for digestion. Before they are slaughtered, human handlers may intentionally break their wings, tear off their beaks or break their legs for fun. Those that don’t get handled in this way get injured anyway when they are stuffed in large, windowless sheds too full to allow movement or even breathing. In slaughterhouses, their throats are slit by automatic machines. Those that survive the slitting are dunked into vats of boiling water alive!

• Others- Umm, apparently some humans like to have sex with animals of all kinds. To hell with mutual consent. This kind of sexual practice is apparently too controversial though to universally label as a form of animal cruelty. Some people (click here for an example) believe there is nothing wrong with having sex with animals.