Animal Rights: Yet Another Reason

Warning: This post focuses on a controversial topic. I'm only reflecting on my personal experience and don't see myself becoming an animal rights activist per se, but only more conscious of the many reasons people decide to eat what they eat (or don't eat).

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As my husband and I drove to see a movie recently, I could not stop thinking about one factoid I had heard from a coworker during work that day. She mentioned that around 10 billion animals are slaughtered every year for human consumption, (although while doing research for this post, I saw a much higher stat sourced from USDA documents). I couldn't shake that number. I'd also been reading Skinny Bitch, which is a hardcore, no BS approach to veganism.

By this point, I had only relapsed with cheese and was looking for a kick in the rear to get me back on track. Other than the cheese, I was on board and probably 95% vegan, although nothing less than 100% will cut it. However, as I was reading Skinny Bitch, I hit a chapter that was so much harder to stomach than the rest.

The chapter, while short, was packed full of direct quotes from slaughterhouse employees who had witnessed some crazy stuff first-hand. I won't go into the gory details (pick up a copy if you want the deets), but there were basically some references to animal abuses and even tossing animals back into the production line after they fell onto the disgusting bloody floors. Ew.

As I mentioned all of this to my husband, he groaned, "Oh, you're not going to become one of those vegans, are you?" Well, no, not exactly. I was just kind of surprised to read all of that and then I added yet another reason to my growing list for why I've made the switch. I'm always interested in learning more about why people do the things they do, and the subject of veganism is no exception. 

Even if you aren't a fan of animal rights, understanding where your food comes from is always a good thing to know. I'm also talking myself into watching Earthlings, which is another documentary that goes into this topic quite heavily, and from what I've heard, in great detail. I've included the trailer below!