“Kicking Animals is WRONG.” So Is Killing Them.

Animal welfare charity Mercy for Animals (MFA) has a new “undercover” video.

Guess what? They have discovered that animals are kicked and otherwise treated badly at livestock markets.

Imagine that.

Sure it is. But MFA, here’s some news: using animals for food–whether they are kicked or not–is WRONG.

MFA urges: “SPEAK OUT AGAINST ANIMAL ABUSE: Sign the petition calling on the Livestock Marketing Association to protect animals.”

The Livestock Marketing Association is going to “protect animals”? Really?

Once again, MFA perpetuates the idea that an industry that exists to kill animals to satisfy our palate pleasure can “protect” them.

Once again, MFA promotes the fantasy that there is an abusive and non-abusive way to exploit.

Once again, MFA assures the public that animal exploitation can be effectively regulated.

Once again, MFA brings out people like Temple Grandin–the queen of happy exploitation–to support their campaign:

Once again, MFA pretends that the people who “abuse” animals are different morally from all of those who demand and consume meat and other animal products. The livestock market and, in particular, the workers at the livestock market, are the problem; the “bad people”–not those of us who happily demand and consume the products of that industry and who may even donate to groups like MFA so that they can continue to consume animals with “compassion” and “mercy.”

This is all part of the same thinking that leads animal welfare charities like MFA to make public statements expressing “appreciation and support” for “pioneering” programs of happy exploitation:

Although I do not question the sincerity of those at MFA, I sincerely believe that this is all wrong.

**********

If you are not vegan, please go vegan. Veganism is about nonviolence. First and foremost, it’s about nonviolence to other sentient beings. But it’s also about nonviolence to the earth and nonviolence to yourself.

The World is Vegan! If you want it.

Gary L. Francione
Board of Governors Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University