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God’s Animals Depend on Our Capacity to Feel Compassion
March 31, 2014Welcome to the weekly CVA blog! In it you will find famous quotes, news and commentaries.
- Goat, Sheep and Chicken Bring Joy to Nursing Homes Residents
- Famous Quote: Dr. Will Tuttle, “The World Peace Diet
- Chickens Suffer Unimaginably
- Bible Verse: Matthew 5:7
- The Last Pig
- This Week’s Video: Dairy Industry Investigation
1. Goat, Sheep and Chicken Bring Joy to Nursing Homes Residents
Usually it’s dogs or cats that are brought to people who are sick, suffered abuse or are in nursing homes, because of the healing emotional effect these animals have on them. However, farmed animals also can help people feel happy for a moment and forget about their problems. The group of “kindness crusaders” out of Edgar’s Mission farm animal sanctuary in Victoria, Australia, takes rescued animals to nursing homes and residents love it!
Please visit Rescued farmed animals bring joy to nursing home residents (photos).
We, humans, wrongly assign categories to animals based on their use to us (pet, livestock, entertainment, clothing, experimentation) and our treatment to them is greatly affected on how we view them. God’s farmed animals, contrary to people’s beliefs, are no different than those animals that we call “pets” and if we looked at them for who they really are, we’d never think of abusing or killing them for food.
2. Famous Quote
“The act of regularly eating foods derived from confined and brutalized animals forces us to become somewhat emotionally desensitized, and this numbing and inner armoring make it possible for us as a culture to devastate the earth, slaughter people in wars, and support oppressive social structures without feeling remorse.
By going vegan, we’re taking responsibility for the effects of our actions on vulnerable beings and we’re resensitizing ourselves. We’re becoming more alive, and more able to feel both grief and joy.
Kahlil Gibran points out in The Prophet that unless we are able to feel our grief and weep our tears, we will not be able to laugh our laughter, either. Turning our pain and outrage into action on behalf of vulnerable beings will bring healing to us and to our world.”~ Dr. Will Tuttle, “The World Peace Diet”
3. Chickens Suffer Unimaginably
Birds are sentient beings; therefore, they are able to feel pain and fear. However, in spite of this scientific fact, poultry in the US suffer unimaginable pain and fear when slaughtered because the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) exempts poultry from being protected under the "Humane Slaughter Act". In fact, many of these birds end being boiled alive.
Please visit USDA: Time to Stop the Chicken Industry from Boiling Birds Alive .
The way chickens are raised and killed for food in the U.S. and the rest of the world is nothing short of a tragedy. We cannot possibly be living according to our Faith and values when we support an industry that doesn’t care about animals at all.
If we want to live out our compassion, mercy and love we need to include all beings in our sphere of compassion, doing our best not to harm them unnecessarily. This is the core of being good stewards of God’s Creation.
4. Bible Verse
(RSV) Matthew 5:7
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
Animal agriculture is an industry that cannot possibly show mercy to animals. By the same token, anyone who supports this industry (when having the choice not to) is not showing mercy to farmed animals, either. Therefore, if we truly want to be obedient to God and show mercy to all creatures, adopting a plant-based diet should be an unavoidable step.
5. The Last Pig
This piece raises an issue inescapable of slaughtering pigs that most people are unaware of: the last pig remaining in the pen after all the other pigs have been slaughtered. The author describes how pigs deeply enjoy and need other pigs around, and that when they find themselves alone they go through a state of severe emotional turmoil, many times injuring themselves.
Please visit What Humane Slaughterhouses Don't Solve: The Last Pig Problem and have a tissue ready.
Pigs are incredibly sensitive animals who thrive in the companion of other pigs and who form lasting relationships. What we do to them in order to raise them for food is atrocious. We should all ask ourselves: is the very transient enjoyment of the taste of their flesh so important that we are willing to pay others to cause them much pain and misery?
6. This Week’s Video: Dairy Industry Investigation
More than 80,000 calves are slaughtered every in the state of California, the nation’s largest dairy state. In this short video, Farm Sanctuary investigates the dairy industry.
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