House of Horrors for Farmed Animals Funded By Taxpayers

Earlier this week, the New York Times admonished “the moral depths to which the federal government — working as a handmaiden to industrial agriculture — has sunk in pursuit of cheaper meat and fatter corporate profits.” The editorial board was referring to Michael Moss’ gut-wrenching expose of a facility in Nebraska, where pigs, cows, and lambs suffer immense cruelty – without any oversight whatsoever – in the name of agricultural research.

This front page story blew the lid off of a taxpayer-funded house of horrors, where genetic manipulation, surgery, and “tools” are being used to facilitate unnatural twin and triplet births in cows. Up to 12 legs of often weakened and deformed calves become entangled within the mother cow, resulting in death rates that even meat producers cringe at. And then there are the lambs – “giving birth, unaided, in open fields where newborns are killed by predators, harsh weather and starvation.”

The whistle was blown by an insider, Dr. James Keen. As a scientist and veterinarian working inside of the US Meat Animal Research Center, Dr. Keen was horrified by what he saw. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was witnessing industrialized abuse – and that he had to speak out.

Dr. Keen took a stand in the name of compassion, and so did The New York Times. And now that Americans are learning where their hard-earned taxpayer dollars are going, they’re raising their voices too, flooding social media platforms, and submitting letters to the editors with their outrage, disappointment, and feelings of betrayal.

Individuals across the US are standing up for what has been true all along – that farmed animals deserve kindness and compassion like any other animals – and we could not be more thankful for the brave people who continue to risk their reputation, or worse, to expose the truth about institutionalized, government-condoned animal abuse in this country.

The very best thing each of us can do to help end this cruelty is to leave animals off of our plates.  We can start with one meal a week, or have meals delivered to our home – or we can begin a new journey with the support of the community at Compassion Over Killing. Whatever path you choose, make it a righteous one.