Om goshala houses 65 animals rescued from the slaughter houses.They have cows, bulls,buffaloes and calves. It has a huge enclosure where the animals roam free.Most of them are the non descriptive local breed,old and malnourished.In India only 2 states permit slaughtering and that is Kerala and Bengal.The rest is done illegally.
Most people ask me why I make such a big deal about animal slaughter.Once you have decided to kill the animal for food,how does it matter how you do it?I feel only humans are cruel in their killings.Across species we see animals prey on other animals for food.That is ecology.They hunt for what they want,the killing is skilled and swift.But we follow no system,no rules.
Humans are omnivores.There is ample evidence to that in our dental structure.We have incisors to bite, molars to chew and canines to rip and tear.So I have never believed that every human should be a vegetarian.Once we were following some method to obtain our food.There were sects who ate meat and those who survived only on plants.Even amongst those who ate meat,the killings were regular and need based.In different parts of the world different kinds of meat was consumed.For example,in the middle east camel meat is very popular,those who live closer to the poles consume seals,people living along the coast eat different kinds of fish etc.There was a time when people reared their own meat.If a cow or pig was butchered,the meat would last the family for many months.It would be eaten fresh or cured and preserved for the winters.Many factors maintained that balance be it religion, geography,tastes,beliefs etc.
Now there is no balance.As human population increased,so did the killings.Not only that,every country exports meat all over the world.So,now we humans eat everything and many more have converted into meat eaters.We hoard,we waste.Killings are mechanised and not always accurate.Not only for food,meat and other animal product is used in several industries.And this is where the problem comes in.When 1000's of animals have to be killed per day,humane and relatively painless methods of killing take a back seat.
How many of you knew this?
1.In a lorry that should ideally load only 4-5 cows,40 of them are loaded.Animals are dumped one over the other so much so that those right below die of suffocation,fracture or are simply crushed to death before they reach the slaughter houses.
2.Many are tied together and made to walk for miles on end to their own deaths in scorching heat without food or water.When one animal collapses in the chain,the others have to drag the dead along with it.
3.Male calves of all foreign breeds introduced in India for dairy purpose have no use and are immediately sent for slaughter before they can even get their first drop of milk.
4.Calf meat being very minimal is sold by a special name called 'veel' or like in our country mixed with mutton as one can seldom tell the difference.
5.Once loaded into the lorry, to prevent the animals from moving, their eyes are smeared with chilli podwer or tobacco till they go blind and freeze with fear.Their tails are chopped and their flesh gored.
6.Before butchering piping hot water is thrown on them so that they can be deskinned easily.Many a times they are skinned alive.
7.Even the machines that butcher don't always do a perfect job.The animals head isn't severed completely and it is alive as it's sent to the next machine to be deskinned.
8.The moment a bull becomes weak to pull a cart,it becomes useless for the owner and is sent to the slaughter house.
It is said that we are what we eat.I don't know how far that is true or scientifically proven.But logically thinking this argument would hold.We consume meat for the high nutritional contents.But when animals die in such traumatic and fearful conditions definitely there bodies would secrete different kinds of hormones and enzymes all of which infuse into the meat that is consumed.How safe is it then?How would those chemicals react in our bodies?Maybe they are responsible for so many of our medical problems and behavioral changes about which we still don't know.
I am not fanatical to advocate veganism or vegetarianism.I want people to question the quality of their own food.Those who eat meat are the ones who should raise their voices against such cruelty.They have a right to consume safe food what with most of the table animals being grown on artificial feed and excessive hormone injections to fatten them.This perpetration of unnecessary violence has to stop.
3 comments:
Which summarizes my argument all along. If I know an animal (don't care which) was killed painlessly and swiftly, I would definitely eat it. But since no one can give me this assurance, I don't. But I will never understand people who will eat one kind of meat and not another when their excuse has nothing to do with the taste. Hypocrites!
Anushya, that is a excellent write up. i hope someone somewhere reads this and decides to give up meat.
sweet Ag, a comment on a comment, not on the post?
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