25. A PLEA FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

"Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife - birds, kangaroos, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice, foxes, and dingoes - by the million in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billion and eats them. This in turn kills man by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal - health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals." (C.D.C.)

"There is a Y-shaped stand that lambs are put into so that their throats can be slit. One after another, the lambs were killed. As the workers got to the second-to-last lamb, the very last lamb in the group started running around through all the blood and guts on the floor -- frantically crying. The lamb didn't know where to run next because he couldn't get out. He was crazy with fear. The workers stood there and laughed and laughed. Then one said to the other, 'Get him Joe' and Joe ran after this lamb, slipping and sliding in the blood. Of course, he caught the lamb who was still crying pitifully. The lamb had just watched the killing of at least 25 other lambs before him and he was next." (S.A.C.A.)

Following is a typical example of factory farming: Pigs, proven to be at least as intelligent as dogs, are conceived, born, weaned, and fattened for slaughter in factory farms. Their entire lives are spent in metal cages barely big enough for them to fit, stacked upon one another, so that the top pig urinates and defecates on the pig below him, and that pig does the same to the pig below him and so on. Thirty-five to 60 percent of all confined pigs suffer from respiratory disease due to the dust level and the ammonia and other fumes the urine and manure give off Fifty percent of the pigs are lame by the time they reach the slaughterhouse due to lack of exercise. They spend their time engaging in "coping" behavior: gnawing the metal cage, sucking others' appendages, and most frequently biting each others tails and ears. To stop some of this "coping" behavior, the industry chops off the piglets tail, clips off eight teeth with wire cutters, and cuts off the males' testicles - all without anesthetics. Then, finally, we eat them.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated" -- Ghandi

The time has come for the way we treat our animals to be considered primetime news until the profit-driven animal exploiters are forced to change their methods.

SSU CENSORED RESEARCHER: TAHD FRENTLZEL

SOURCE: OLD MacDONALD'S FACTORY FARM
PUBLISHER: CONTINUUM PUBLISHING COMPANY 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017
AUTHOR: C. DAVID COATS

SOURCE: STUDENT ACTION CORPS FOR ANIMALS PO Box 15588, Washington, DC 20003-0588
TITLE: "THEIR EYES DON'T LIE"

COMMENTS: One of many nominations about animal rights in 1989 came from Jack Norris, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Norris said that two of the most under-reported stories of this century concern animal agriculture and medical research on animals. "Our society's raising and slaughtering animals for food is the number one source of environmental destruction. It is also the cause of illnesses such as stroke, heart disease, and many forms of cancer. The rain forests of Latin America are being destroyed to graze cattle, which end up in the United States' fast-food restaurants." Norris suggests that this issue is being ignored by the media because of the money involved and because even most liberals like the taste of animals. He adds that "Animal research on animals has done incalculable amounts of damage to human health. Animals react differently from humans" Norris points out that many drugs based on animal research "will later be found useless and/or hazardous to humans." Norris recommends Diet for a New America, by John Robbins, published by Stillpoint, 1987, for more information about animal agriculture, and Slaughter of the Innocent and Naked Empress, both by Hans Ruesch, published by Civis, for information about animal research.