Initially, I set out to plea that we humans should acknowledge and appreciate the sacrifice animals are forced to make in the march toward a new coronavirus vaccine. Around the world, in labs (some more conscientious of sentient creatures than others), myriad animals are dosed with concoctions to see how they fare, before human controls are tested.
But a recent Santa Fe New Mexican article inspired me to turn the corner from animals in labs, to animals on factory farms (“Pigs go to waste as meat plants shutter,” reprinted from the New York Times on May 15.)
I cannot think of a more persuasive piece to end factory farming for all time and to hail vegetarianism and veganism.
For starters, the photograph of hundreds of pigs squeezed painfully together bears the casual caption: “Greg Boerboom works Monday among young animals at his pig farm in Marshall, Minn.”
The misguided slant of this article goes on to completely ignore the suffering of these pigs. Instead, it’s all about the hardships of humans with too many pigs and no place to go for slaughter. That’s quite a choice for the pig: “Hmm … suffocate here or have my throat slit somewhere else?”
The article reveals indisputably that our modern way of producing meat is absolutely nothing short of concentration camps for animals. Consider these phrases:
“One Minnesota hog farmer sealed the cracks in his barn and piped carbon dioxide through the ventilation system.”
Or: “… forcing farmers to kill them and dispose … without processing them into food.”
Or: “The waste of valuable pigs at a time of great [human] need … “
Or: “… agricultural officials expect the backlog to reach 600,000 hogs over the next six weeks.”
Or: “[the needed] mental health resources [for] hog farmers, as well as money to compensate them for the pigs … not turned into meat.”
Or: “… raising barn temperatures to make [pigs] less interested in eating …” (so they won’t weigh more than 300 pounds and be unsafe for meatpacking workers).
Or: “… give injections to pregnant sows [causing] them to abort baby pigs.”
All of that ignores the fact that pigs have a high level of intelligence. As sentient creatures, they have fears and needs for space and kindness as much as we humans.
And the article’s final sentence sums up our human, calculating coldness:
“Some farmers who have had to cull large numbers of animals have lost as much as $390,000 in a single day.”
That reminds me of the words of Albert Schweitzer, who won the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his “Reverence for Life” philosophy. Said Schweitzer: “Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.”
In my view, capitalism reigns, while “humanity” dies a tortured death — out of the sight of most of us.
Susan Haynes is a former magazine writer, book editor and corporate communications director. She moved to Santa Fe five years ago.
