Veganist_ Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World - Kathy Freston [62]
When stunners aren’t effective, hogs are sometimes sent into the scalding tanks, meant to soften the skin of dead pigs, while they are still alive and conscious.
Cattle often have their horns ripped out, are castrated and branded without painkillers, and end up standing in their own filth for months before they’re slaughtered. Because the rate of kills is typically up to 400 animals per hour, the line is not stopped if the stun gun is not effective—thus, animals may be dismembered while still alive.
More and more people are choosing to lean toward a plant-based diet out of a desire not to do harm to animals. That was most certainly what got me to think about what I was eating. I had put off for many years reading a few books about animals and food that I knew would change me forever. But once I started reading accounts and watching videos about what happened to animals as they made their way to my plate, I was consumed with the idea that there had to be a better way. It makes a huge statement—to forgo meat to reduce suffering. And it feels great to know that your food choices cause little to no harm.
In this chapter we’re going to look squarely at the way animals are raised for food. Let me say from the outset that this chapter will be hard to read. It was also the hardest for me to write. The reality is ugly, and not only is there no way to sugarcoat it, but it would be terribly irresponsible of me to avoid the subject or gloss over it. The way animals are raised and treated is, in a word, indefensible. If you are not already convinced, perhaps you will be, once you know all the facts about what goes on behind the scenes.
For this chapter I spoke with many people who have seen animal agriculture from the inside. You’ll hear directly from several of them. Let’s just say there is a reason you can’t simply peer into the windows of slaughterhouses, why they’re in out-of-the-way places and aren’t made of glass.
My friend Bruce Wieland told me the following story about growing up on a farm, and how he came to realize that a plant-based diet was right for him.
Bruce Wieland’s Story: A Journey Begins
I grew up on a farm in South Texas and I was five years old the first time I saw an animal slaughtered. It was November and the first norther of the season had arrived overnight, sending the temperatures down into the high forties. It had been hot the day before, and when I woke up that morning I was excited by the sudden change in the weather.
Cold weather meant the holidays were coming. It meant my mother would be baking cakes and cinnamon rolls. We would be getting a Christmas tree soon. It also meant I would finally be able to wear my “new” winter coat. It wasn’t really new. It was a hand-me-down from one of my older brothers who had long outgrown it. The coat was gray twill with a thick cotton fleece lining. It had a hood, deep pockets, a zipper in the front, and I thought it made me look very grown up. I had been trying it on for months, looking forward to having a legitimate reason to wear it, and now, at last, the first norther had arrived. It was the perfect weather for a new coat.
As it turned out, it was also the perfect weather for butchering a hog. On butcher days, my mother would close off the workroom from the rest of the house and open the doors and windows to let in the cold air, allowing us to work indoors with the meat without it spoiling. All this I learned about later. That particular morning in November, I was just excited about the cold weather and wearing my coat. My father was getting ready to go outside. He put on his heavy boots, his jacket, his winter cap, and got his .22 rifle out of the gun closet. When I asked if I could go with him, he said yes, but my mother looked at him disapprovingly and turned to me saying no, she