Save an Animal, Save Your Life

“Many animals die to please our palette, about 140 million cattle, pigs and sheep are slaughtered annually in the U.S. that is about half an animal for every man, woman and child, add that to 9 billion chickens and turkeys, that’s 30 birds for every American, plus millions of fish shellfish, and other creatures” (cspinet.org). This is despicable. How can we as humans allow this to happen? Are animals just not important? How would one feel if they were one of the animals in line fearing for their life and then in an instant it is lights out, or even worse one can still feel the pain as death lingers? A person needs to try to understand what these animals go through. For example, “industrial farm chickens are raised in enormous and crowded sheds may never see the outdoors and exhibit abnormal behavior” (cspinet.org). This is not how animals need to be treated. This is sickening and something needs to be done to prevent this problem. No animal should suffer like this. Do not think they are just animals, so why should I care. Take their place and feel the abuse they feel. These animals live in horrendous living conditions. Not only are the living conditions horrible, but one can read about how the animals are treated in these facilities. “Layer hens live in tiny cages, are debeaked, and are periodically starved to maximize egg production” (cspinet.org). This is just one example as to how these animals are treated. The abuse continues with these further examples: “breeding sows (female pigs) spend their entire lives in tiny metal crates so they cannot turn around, shortly after giving birth; they are once again forcibly impregnated, this cycle continues for years until their bodies finally gives up and they are sent to be killed” (animalsuffering.com). Still another example is that with cows. “Before they are hung up by their back legs and bleed to death, the cattle needs to be rendered unconscious. This 'stunning' is usually done by a mechanical blow to the head, but as the procedure is terribly imprecise, adequate stunning isn't acquired a lot of times. As a result, conscious animals are often hung upside down, kicking and struggling, while a slaughterhouse worker makes another attempt to render them unconscious. Eventually, the animals will be "stuck" in the throat with a knife, and blood will gush from their bodies whether or not they are unconscious” (animalsuffering.com). What is it that needs to be done in order for this abuse to stop? There are many things that could be done to help the animal abuse to stop. The one thing that should be done is for people to adopt a lifestyle as a vegetarian or the latter a vegan. This is a huge step towards a better world in which animals will no longer be abused, or at least the rate at which animals are abused or killed will drop. For those reading this, the question that needs to be answered is: will changing my diet to vegetarian be helpful to my health, or will it hinder it? There are many answers to this question. Answering the first part is a cinch. If one plans on becoming a vegetarian, it will change their diet and their health, but for the better. “Choosing a non-vegetarian lifestyle has a significant health and medical cost. The total direct medical costs in the United States attributable to meat consumption were estimated to be $30-60 billion a year, based upon the higher prevalence of hypertension, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, gallstones, obesity and food-borne illness among omnivores compared with vegetarians” (Craig par. 2). A person could read this and they would instantly want to become a vegetarian because of that paragraph. It shows that adopting a new lifestyle will make a difference in one’s health. This alone has increased an interest of becoming a vegetarian. One can look around and see magazines, cookbooks, and books about being a vegetarian. It has become a fad, among all. Whether it is becoming a vegetarian or adopting the concept of “Meatless Monday’s”. In Tempe, Arizona there is a restaurateur by the name of Damon Brasch who is an advocate for animal rights and lives a vegan lifestyle. He says “I want to show people that a vegan diet isn’t so weird” (Kearney). There is much to know about a vegetarian lifestyle. Such things as how to prepare a vegetarian meal and different kinds of foods someone could eat can be easily found in magazines and cookbooks. Not only does being a vegetarian have an effect on one’s health, it also helps to protect the environment. “In Livestock’s Long Shadow, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions is attributable to the total life-cycle of livestock production” (Weiss 636). Someone might be wondering about how this could be. The answer is this, cow’s produce methane which is a greenhouse gas, and with more cows comes more methane. This is why the number is relatively higher than some might expect. Imagine if even half of the U.S. decided to not eat meat, how it would effect the environment and animal rights. That by itself is a justifiable reason for becoming a vegetarian. In a unique way by changing a person’s eating lifestyle we not only save an animal, but save our lives as well. Becoming a vegetarian would not only help one’s health, the environment and most importantly the animals themselves. It is a complete triple whammy. It may not be simple for some, but for others it is just a matter of dumping the meat and picking up a vegetable.