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Calculate Your Love for Animals What are the total number of “no” answers? Divide number of “no” answers by 9 to determine the “no” percentage. This is the percentage you “love” animals. Subtract “no” percent from 100%. This number symbolizes the percent you are potentially supporting animal cruelty and exploitation. If you are surprised by your score, we ask that you consider increasing your awareness of the cruelty and exploitation imposed on animals. We are not asking you to change who you are, we are simply asking you to consider that the day-to-day suffering endured by animals is not only institutionalized, but it has been supported and perpetuated by the very “humane” organizations that should be protecting animals. At SVAR, we believe the time has come for animals to be given rights and for abolition of laws that perpetuate cruelty and exploitation. Rights may not come in our life time however it’s necessary to move in the direction that abolishes cruelty and exploitation. What can I do to help? 1. Understand the issues (SVAR will identify some of them below) 2. Resolve to “love” animals by setting an example (e.g., eliminate chicken / eggs from your diet). Realize that it will not happen over night. SVAR’s executive director became a vegetarian at age 14 because she wanted a healthy diet. It wasn’t until recently that she became a vegan in response to the ethical issues surrounding the treatment of animals. This meant eliminating all animal food (e.g., butter, cheese, honey) and animal products (e.g., leather). 3. Support laws that “abolish” cruelty and exploitation and oppose laws that merely perpetuate institutionalized cruelty. For instance, support an ordinance that prohibits the circus from entering your county or city, not one that merely states not to poke the elephants. Abolish the income producing source and you abolish the circus. 4. When asked, please write letters. Even if it’s one paragraph. Your elected officials respond to your concerns. Quick Definition of Vegetarian v. Vegan Vegetarian Life. Food consumption does not include animal killed but includes cheese, eggs, milk, honey and other food produced by animals. In addition, wearing leather or use of leather in cars, furniture, etc. Vegan Life. Food consumption does not include animal killed or other food produced by animals due to reasoning that they are brutalized, exploited or killed. A vegan’s life excludes meat, diary (milk, yogurt, butter, cheese), eggs, honey, leather, wool as well as avoid partaking in venues where animals are caged, exploited for exhibit or to make a profit or otherwise made to exist in an unnatural manner (e.g., zoo, circus, marine parks, etc.). Animal Rights and Compassionate Living "Animal rights" is a concept based on the belief that humans have a moral responsibility to treat animals with respect, and that the interests of humans and animals should be considered equal. This means that in any decision that could potentially affect the life of an animal, that particular animal's interests should not be dismissed simply because it is inconvenient for us to consider them. Although it may not always be easy to determine accurately the best interests of an animal, we can safely assume that animals generally prefer to live, to be free from pain, and to express their natural behaviors. The failure of humans to consider an animal's needs/interests, as equal to those of humans, is an expression of prejudice called speciesism. Defenders of speciesism often argue that humans are superior to other species because of their greater intelligence. Taken to its logical extreme, this argument would imply that humans with higher I.Q. scores should have more rights than humans with lower I.Q. scores. However, in western society, we have the sensitivity to extend basic human rights to all humans, whether or not they meet any criteria for intelligence, capacity, or potential. But animals are commonly experimented on without their consent, and even killed, for food or for many other reasons, if it suits human purposes. This gross inequality is what we are trying to address with the concept of "animal rights." Another common assertion is that humans are superior to animals because we possess the capacity to understand morality, as well as the ability to determine right from wrong. Since animals may lack these same abilities, it is argued that humans are not obligated to treat them in any particular way. However, if only those who are capable of making and understanding moral judgments were to be accorded basic human rights, then infants, young children, and the severely ill or mentally challenged would be excluded. It is equally logical to affirm that, since humans are the only ones who can make moral judgments, that it is our responsibility to do so on behalf of the animals. All animals, including humans, have the ability to experience pleasure and pain. Unfortunately, humans have chosen to inflict tremendous amounts of pain and suffering on animals without any consideration of how this affects the animals. By making compassionate daily choices, you can help end widespread animal cruelty and exploitation. We know changes in your daily choices will take time to consider and implement. Giving consideration is a large step. Below are just a few examples of what you can do to help. What You Choose to Eat Every year, billions of animals are raised and killed for human consumption. Unlike family farms of the past, today's factory farms are high-revenue, high-production entities. On a factory farm, animals are confined to extremely small spaces, allowing farmers to concentrate on maximizing production. Because this type of overcrowding breeds disease, animals are routinely fed antibiotics and sprayed with pesticides. They are also fed growth hormones to enhance productivity. These chemicals, antibiotics, and hormones are subsequently passed on to the environment, as well as to consumers of meat and dairy products. Beef Raised on the range or in feedlots, when large enough, cattle are crammed into metal trucks and taken to slaughter. On the way to slaughter, these cattle may travel for hours in sweltering temperatures with no access to water. Animals unable to stand due to broken legs or illness are called "downers" by the meat industry. Downers are electrically prodded or dragged with chains to the slaughterhouse, or left outside, without food or water, to die. Pork Factory-farmed pigs are raised in crowded pens, which are enclosed inside huge barns. The air in these barns is filled with eye- and lung-burning ammonia created by urine and fecal waste that collects below the floors. Breeding sows (or "animal production units") spend their lives in metal crates so small that they cannot turn around. Denied adequate space and freedom of movement, these sows often develop stereotypical behavior -- repetitive movement such as head bobbing, jaw smacking, and rail biting. At the slaughterhouse, pigs are stunned (often inadequately), hung upside down before their throats are cut, and then bled to death. If workers fail to kill a pig with the knife, that pig is carried on the conveyer belt to the next station, the scalding tank, where he or she may be boiled alive. Chicken Crowded and unable to express natural behavior, chickens begin to peck excessively at each other. Rather than solve this problem by providing sufficient space for the chickens, farmers "debeak" them, a painful procedure where the bird's sensitive upper beak is sliced off with a hot metal blade. Chickens raised for consumption have been genetically altered to grow abnormally large. As a result, the bones of many broiler chickens' are unable to support the weight of their muscle tissue, which causes them to hobble in pain or become crippled. At the slaughterhouse, chickens, while still fully conscious, are hung upside down by their feet and attached to a moving rail. Birds missed by the mechanical neck-slicing blade are boiled alive. These birds are referred to as "redskins" by the industry. Eggs Battery hens are forced to produce 10 times more eggs than they would naturally. When egg production slows, farmers use a method called "forced molting" to shock the hens into losing their feathers, which causes them to begin a premature laying cycle. "Forced molting" involves starving the hens and denying them water for several days', during which many hens die. To keep hens from pecking each other in their crowded cages, farmers "debeak" them. Male chicks, considered by-products of laying hen production, are either tossed into plastic bags to suffocate slowly, or ground into animal feed while still alive. Milk To continue milk production, a cow must bear a calf each year. Although calves elsewhere stay with their mothers for a year or more, on the dairy farm they are immediately removed from their mothers so that the milk can be sold for human consumption. Calves are sold to the beef or veal industry or become replacements for "burned out" dairy cows. What You Choose to Wear Leather Besides the initial environmental hazards from raising cattle (deforestation, erosion, water use, pollution, wildlife eradication, etc.), the leather industry uses some of the most dangerous substances to prepare leather, including formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, various oils, and some cyanide-based dyes. Wool In Australia, where 80% of all wool originates, ranchers perform an operation called "mulesing" where huge strips of skin are carved off the backs of lambs' legs. This procedure is performed to produce scarred skin that won't harbor fly larvae, so that the rancher can spend less time caring for the sheep. The shearing of sheep at most wool ranches can be a brutal procedure, as workers are encouraged to shear as quickly as possible. As a result, an estimated one million Australian sheep die every year from exposure. Sheep that are no longer useful for their wool are sent to crowded feedlots and then transported to the slaughterhouse. Fur Farm-raised fur comes from animals kept in tiny, filthy cages, deprived of adequate protection from the elements. As a result, animals develop stereotypical behavior, including pacing, head bobbing, and self-mutilation. The techniques used to kill animals on fur farms vary. Small animals such as mink are killed by neck snapping or "popping”. Larger animals, such as foxes, are electrocuted by placing a metal clamp on the snout and forcing a rod into the anus, and then connecting the metal to a power source. Some animals are forced into bags or boxes and gassed with carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide. What Household Products You Choose Despite the modern alternatives to animal testing, millions of animals suffer and die each year for the "good" of cosmetics and household products. No law in the U.S. requires cosmetic, household product, or office supply companies to test on animals, but many companies do so to protect themselves against liability. (More than 550 companies do not test on animals.) However, animal testing does not necessarily make a product safe for humans. Most animal tests were developed over 50 years ago and are significantly flawed and inferior to modern alternatives. Zoos and Aquariums Many animals in zoos and aquariums exhibit abnormal behavior as a result of being deprived of their natural environment and social structure. Some zoos and aquariums do rescue animals and work to save endangered species, but most animals in zoos were either captured from the wild or bred in captivity for the sole purpose of public display, not species protection. The vast majority of captive-bred animals will never be returned to the wild. When the facility breeds too many animals they become "surplus" and often are sold to laboratories, traveling shows, shooting ranches, or to private individuals who may be unqualified to care for them.
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