2010 College Veg Pledge

For the Animals

The vast majority of farm animals today are confined on factory farms, where they endure miserable conditions and are treated as little more than meat, milk, and egg producing machines. Animals are crowded by the thousands in barren sheds, confined in small crates and cages, mutilated without anesthesia, drugged with antibiotics and hormones, and bred to grow and produce at staggeringly unnatural rates. Farm animals are denied many of their most basic needs in the name of efficiency and profit. No federal law exists to protect the welfare of animals on farms and most states exclude farm animals from coverage under anti-cruelty statutes. Many cruelties that would warrant felony charges in the case of cats and dogs are standard practice in animal agriculture.

Dairy cows and egg-laying hens are treated no more humanely than animals raised for meat. Hens are confined in barren, filthy cages so small that they cannot flap their wings and are sent to slaughter once their production declines.  Male chicks, which are useless to the egg industry and don’t grow fast enough to be used for meat, are typically suffocated or ground to death upon hatching.  Dairy cows are repeatedly impregnated by artificial means to maintain their milk production. Every time the mothers give birth, their calves are immediately taken away and male calves are often sent to veal production where they are confined in crates so small they cannot turn around for their entire lives.  Like hens, dairy cows are sent to slaughter when productivity declines.

More and more meat, eggs, and dairy nowadays come in packages adorned with claims like “free-range” and “humanely-raised.” These claims are often misleading. For example, cage-free hens have their beaks mutilated without anesthesia, are crowded indoors in unsanitary conditions, are bred to produce far more eggs than is healthy, and are sent to slaughter at a fraction of their lifespan.

The good news is that we can fight this systematic cruelty by tweaking our everyday food choices. By going veg we spare the lives of innocent creatures and boycott the immense animal cruelty of factory farming.

Read more about going Veg for the Environment
Read more about going Veg for your Health