THOSE WHO CANNOT SPEAK NEED OUR VOICE!

• Six billion animals are killed for food every year in this country alone. One would think that these animals would be treated somewhat humanely. Afterall, their lives are sacrificed for our food. In reality, however, these animals are placed in gruesome conditions. Ninety percent of animals raised for food are kept in confinement. No room to exercise, to move, and in some cases, no room to stretch their legs or flap their wings.

• Cows in waiting on the factory floor drop from exhaustion and sickness. They are called 'downers' and are dragged with chains or bulldozed into piles and left to die.

• Ok, granted, slaughterhouses aren't pretty. What about the dairy industry? It is perhaps even worse than the slaughterhouse. Dairy cows are pumped full of hormones, maybe you have heard of some (BHG- Bovine Growth Hormone)? Two to three times a day they are milked by machine, sometimes leaving their udders swollen and diseased.

• Hens in the egg industry are kept in small, enclosed spaces their whole lives. Artificial lights are kept on 24/7 so that the hens will keep laying eggs day and night. There is no need for male chicks in the egg industry. They are suffocated in plastic bags, gassed, or crushed alive and ground into animal feed.

• The veal industry is also a gruesome sight. Veal is made from the calves of dairy cows. These calves are kept in crates their whole lives, tied with a chain around their neck. They are not allowed to exercise because exercise would cause their muscles to toughen. They are fed replacement milk to keep their flesh white. This causes the calves to become anemic.

You might not directly save the lives of many of these animals, but every person makes a difference. By not eating meat, I'm showing that I do not support the treatment of animals in the meat industry.