ĐƯỜNG TỚI ĐOẠN ĐẦU ĐÀI


Thông thường, khi những con ḅ, bê, heo được chở tới ḷ sát sinh th́ chúng đă phải đứng liên tục, kề vai nhau trên suốt đoạn đường dài dằng dặc. Chuyến đi khiến cho chúng bối rối, kiệt sức, và trong nhiều trường hợp, quá ốm yếu. Ít nhất là suốt một ngày rồi, chúng không được ăn, v́ về phương diện kinh tế th́ chẳng c̣n có lợi lộc ǵ khi cho những con vật ăn bữa cuối cùng, cái bữa mà chúng chẳng c̣n kịp tiêu hóa khiến cho đồ ăn biến thành thịt trước khi bị giết được!

Và trong khi những nhân viên ḷ sát sinh có thể vốn không phải là những kẻ ác độc bệnh hoạn từ bản chất, nhưng áp lực của công việc ghê gớm đă khiến cho nhiều người trong số họ trở thành nhẫn tâm đối với những con vật sắp lên đoạn đầu đài. Kết quả là họ tuôn ra hàng tràng la hét giận dữ, và tống những cái đập, những cái đâm lên những con vật bối rối, kinh hoàng. Tụ tập hàng trăm hoặc hàng ngàn, những con vật khiếp đảm chen chúc nhau đứng phía ngoài ḷ sát sinh chờ tới phiên ḿnh bước vào cơi chết.

Vẳng nghe tiếng kêu hấp hối thống thiết từ những con vật đi trước vọng ra, bầy gia súc tê dại với h́nh ảnh của chết chóc. Bây giờ th́ chỉ một nhát đập mạnh và một cú điện giật là đủ khiến cho con vật đành phải líu ríu bước vào pḥng tàn sát.

Trái với điều có thể quư vị tưởng, không làm ǵ có cách giết nhân đạo theo chỉ thị! Nhân viên ḷ sát sinh có thể chọn bất cứ cách giết nào (thường là cách rẻ tiền nhất!), bất kể là man rợ hoặc tàn ác. Trong nhiều ḷ sát sinh, những con vật trong cơn kinh hoàng được giáng cho một đ̣n bất tỉnh bằng một nhát vào đầu (thường là một thanh sắt giáng vào sọ), hoặc bằng một luồng điện giật, hoặc bất cứ cách nào khác trước khi chúng bị cùm chặt, rút lên cao và bị đâm liên tục vào ngực, cổ, để làm đứt những động mạch chính. Máu phun ra từ nhiều vết thương khiến cho con vật chết lẹ v́ cạn kiệt.

C̣n kinh hoàng hơn nữa, một số ḷ sát sinh không làm cho những con vật bất tỉnh trước khi bị giết. Thay v́ thế, họ cùm chân chúng lại, treo lên, rồi đâm vào cổ trong khi những con vật c̣n đầy đủ cảm giác và ư thức (trong sự đau đớn tột độ v́ cái thân ḿnh nặng hàng nửa tấn của chúng chỉ được treo lơ lửng bằng một cẳng sau).

Những sinh vật tội nghiệp này bị đâm và đổ máu tới chết trong khi c̣n tỉnh táo.

Cũng trong cung cách giống vậy, gà không được làm cho bất tỉnh trước khi bị giết. Với hai chân cột chặt, những con gà bị treo ngược trên một đường dây cáp di chuyển tự động về phía lưỡi dao bén để bị cắt cổ (và gần như cắt cụt luôn đầu). Qua khâu cắt cổ, chúng được ném vào bồn nước nóng sôi có guồng với những que sắt quay đều đập vào thân ḿnh chúng để cho lông tuột ra. Tuy nhiên, v́ có những con gà tội nghiệp đă vùng vẫy dữ dội, hoặc v́ có thân h́nh khác cỡ, nên trên đường tiến vào máy chém, chúng đă bị trượt ra ngoài. Đó là nỗi bất hạnh cuối cùng của cuộc đời, chúng bị đẩy vào vạc nước sôi, giẫy giụa kêu cứu, c̣n đang sống!

Danny Việt dịch

Hoàng Vân: Đây là bài viết đă khiến con trai tôi bỏ thịt cá để ăn trường chay cách nay đă mười năm, khi ấy nó được 14 tuổi. Thật ra là nó đă đọc bài tiếng Anh dưới đây:

Arriving to the slaughterhouse

Typically, the cattle, calves, or pigs just arriving at the slaughterhouse have come a long distance, standing shoulder to shoulder the whole way. They're confused by the trip, exhausted, and in many cases, quite ill. They haven't been fed for at least a day as it would make bad economic sense to feed an animal a final meal that won't be digested and turned into marketable meat before slaughter.

And while slaughterhouse workers may not be innately sadistic people, the pressures of their grisly work cause many of them to be harsh with the animals. Consequently, they pour down a torrent of angry shouts, slaps, and punches upon the disoriented livestock. Assembled by the hundreds or thousands, the terrified animals must wait outside the slaughterhouse for their turn to enter and be put to death.

As they hear the anguished cries of animals that have preceded them, the livestock are gripped by the specter of death. It is now only by severe blows and electric shocks that the animals grudgingly make their way into the killing rooms.

Contrary to what you may think, there are no mandated humane methods of killing animals! Slaughterhouse operators may choose any means (usually the cheapest!), however barbaric or cold-blooded. In most slaughterhouses, the terror-stricken animals are first rendered unconscious by a blow to the head (often a steel bolt is fired into the brain), or by an electrical shock, or by another technique before they're shackled, hoisted, and stabbed repeatedly in the chest and neck in order to sever the major arteries. With blood spurting out of numerous wounds, the animals quickly bleed to death.

Even more shocking, a number of slaughterhouses do not first stun the animals. Instead, they're shackled, jacked up, and pierced while fully conscious (and in great pain from having their half-ton bodies suspended just by a hind leg). These poor creatures are stabbed and bled to death while wide-awake!

In a similar fashion, chickens are not knocked out before being killed. With their legs shackled, the birds are hung upside down on an overhead moving chain and guided toward spinning, razor- sharp blades that cut their throats (and nearly decapitate them). The chickens then are passed through tubs of seething hot water to loosen their feathers. However, because some birds squirm or are in irregular in size, they miss the cutting blades entirely. It is to their final misfortune that they enter the cauldrons of boiling water - alive and struggling.

(David A. Gabbe -- Why Do Vegetarians Eat Like That?)

Why Do Vegetarians Eat Like That:Everything You Wanted to Know(and Some Things You Didn't) About Vegetarianism

 

 

If you are reading this issue of Vegetarian Voice (and I guess you'd have to be or you wouldn't have a clue what I'm talking about!) then you probably already know a great deal about why vegetarians eat the way they do... after all, you might very well be eating like a vegetarian yourself!

 

So why should you read this book?

 

Not just because I told you too!

 

Author David A. Gabbe spent nearly 20 years as a vegetarian before putting together this straightforward question-and-answer text on a myrlad of toplcs relevant to anyone who wants to know more about vegetarianlsm. He writes In hls preface:

 

"... while so much is now known about the beneflts of a vegetarlan diet, many people stlll harbor numerous misconceptions about vegetarianism. In fact, even many vegetarians don't always know how to respond to inquiries about their lifestyles. Which is really a shame, because each question is really a wonderful opportunity to portray vegetarianism as it really is - bursting with taste and color, devoid of environmental destruction and economic waste, and untainted by animal misery and slaughter."

 

And so we're off, in search of answers to the 150 questions posed in the book's six chapters, running the range of vegetarian basics; nutrition and health; economics, ecology and ethics; pregnancy, children, athletes and pets; lifestyle issues; and marketing meat. Also included is a glossary (with brief entries ranging from almond milk to whole wheat flour) and two appendices (one listing resources for networking, the other listing a bibliography and recommended books.)

 

Each question is followed by a relatively brief response - simple, straightforward and often provocative.

 

Case in point:

 

Q. If humans were meant to be plant eaters, why don't you have a spare stomach, Iike cows? And what are your canine teeth for if not for ripping meat?

 

A. Yours is one of the most frequently repeated arguments used to justify the human fondness for animal flesh. But it's simply not factual to assert that human beings are built like flesh-eating carnivores. Have you ever considered yourself capable of chasing down a deerand sinking your stubby canines into the poor beast's hindquarters? Those canines that you say were meant to tear meat wouldn't get past the deer's thick skin, let alone have a chance to rip anything. Human canine teeth don't often get mistakenfor the true canines found in all carnivorous animals. Those teeth are long, pointed and razor sharp. They don't have any trouble piercing the toughest hide... " The author continues the narrative with a further discussion of teeth, salivary glands, digestive tracts and other anatomical differences.

 

Want to try another question?

 

Q. Why is meat eating considered a wasteful practice?

 

A. You be the judge. Consider what it takes to produce just one pound of beef: After about six months of foraging on public grazing lands, a typical beef steer is shipped to the feedlot for fattening. Weighing in between 700 and 800 pounds, the animal will spend the next three months devouring about three-fourths of a ton of plant proteins (chiefly grains and soybeans). At the end of this binge, the steer will weigh about 1,000 pounds.Although it has gained several hundred pounds on the feedlot, only about 100 pounds of that increase is edible beef: The rest is bone, hide, hair and other inedibles that will never grace anyone's dinner table... "

 

And the narrative continues.

 

I'll conclude with a few final questions of my own:

 

Q. Should you read this book? Should you give it to a friend or family member who is grappling with issues such as these?

 

A. You be the judge. (But I'll give you a hint: There's a lot of easily accessible information packed into this fun-to-read primer. And you might just find - as I did, even after nearly 20 years as a vegetarian myself - that I'm not such a know-it-all after all.)

 

- Reviewed by Jennie 0. Collura

If Vegans and Vegetarians are so repulsed by meat, why do they eat things that are supposed to be "like meat"?

I don't get it - so many vegetarians, and ESPECIALLY vegans, love to pontificate to me about how disgusting they find meat to be, and then they turn around and eat Boca Burgers, Smart Dogs (tofu hot dogs), Tofurkey, and fake chicken made from tempeh or tofu. They then go on to tell me "Oh, it tastes JUST LIKE the real thing, but it's better, it's not made from an ANIMAL!!!" Not to mention tofu based fake cheeses (like fake "parmesan" cheese) and the ultimate funniest one, fake Sausage links!!!

Why can't these people practice what they preach and stick to just plain old vegetables and fruits and tofu??? It's hilarious to me that so much of their food is designed to be a "meat alternative" and even look and taste like the very meat which they supposedly "hate". And don't try to tell me that they only hate that meat comes from an animal, most vegetarians say they hate and cannot stomach the actual taste and texture of meat (yet they try to duplicate it with veggie alternatives!)

I have to admit I agree with you 100%, but I think it is because they are trying to "fit in" with the general crowd. I especially want to ask these same people to stop wearing or using any leather good, stop sleeping on feather pillows or using down jackets, etc.

Source(s):
 

The Book of Diana

4 weeks ago - Report Abuse
 


 

Because humans, by nature, are omnivores, not just herbivores (vegetarians). We're predisposed to eat meat.
Vegetarianism is not by nature, it's a personal belief.
They still have a genetic need to eat meat, they just choose not to.
Vegetarian "meats" satisfy both needs.
Don't get too jacked up about it.


 

Because genius I like the taste of meat, I just hate how the animals are treated and the cruelty is what I find disgusting about meat certainly not the taste. I loved eating meat but I gave it up because I do not want to support such a cruel and heartless industry. If a vegetarian says they are disgusted by the taste and texture of meat it is probably just the idea that it is dead tortured animal flesh. There is nothing funny about it. I am making a sacrifice b/c of a moral belief. Let's see you give up something you love b/c of strong held belief. My bet is that you are much too selfish.
And Diana what is your problem? If we wanted to fit in, we'd just discard our beliefs and eat meat like the majority of the population. And FYI vegans do not do any of the things you listed. Your ignorance astounds me.
Why waste your time putting down people who are trying to do something positive? Why not do something useful yourself? People like you make me sick.

Source(s):

common sense