As an epidemic of foot and mouth disease swept through Britain in the
spring of 2001, the public was treated to the grisly spectacle of animals
being shot by the thousands, and their corpses stacked up and burned.
On one evening television program, a tearful farmer said: "We're so sorry
to see our lambs die-they should be the symbol of spring, of new life.
But now they die due to this awful disease."
Before you start feeling too much sympathy for that farmer, ask yourself
one question: What would have been the fate of the lambs if there had
been no outbreak of foot and mouth disease? He would have taken these
little symbols of spring away from their mothers, packed them into
trucks, and sent them to slaughter. The symbol of new life would become
dead meat. Then the farmer would have happily banked the check that he
was paid for doing this. (He'll still get his check-the government compensates
farmers whose animals are killed to prevent the spread of disease.)
The earlier outbreak of mad cow disease taught the European public
that agribusiness has changed cows from herbivores to cannibals. To
increase the protein in their diet, they are fed ground-up slaughterhouse
remnants. Now, with hecatombs of animal corpses on the vening news,
millions of people have seen indisputable evidence of the fact that modem
animal agriculture is based on treating animals as things, mere means
to our ends, with no other reason for existing. Many of these people have
been contacting animal groups and vegetarian organizations, seeking
alternatives to animal products. Going meat-free is the right decision to
make, and better late than never, but the wonder is that it has taken so
long for people to understand the real nature of the animal industry
today.
