-burythepast:

1. The veal industry is a direct byproduct of the milk industry. We artificially impregnate (many consider it rape) female cows so they are constantly giving birth, and therefore able to produce milk. Since these cows are of a different breed than traditional beef cows, the males are of no use and are practically all sent to be raised as veal. Around half of the females go on to become dairy cows, but the other half also go to veal farms. So every time you drink a glass of milk, eat a piece of cheese, or buy a gallon of ice cream, you are supporting the slaughter of baby cows.

2. While we have found a “use” for the unwanted babies of cows, the same cannot be said of chickens. While female chicks are raised to replace their mothers as egg layers, male chicks are considered useless byproducts since they cannot lay eggs. These baby chicks are literally ground up alive or suffocated in large trash bags shortly after being born. The industry even has a term for this—it’s called chick culling. This means that consuming eggs is fueling the killing of baby chickens.

3. Once dairy cows and egg laying chickens are spent, they are slaughtered. Sometimes they are used as low-grade meat, sometimes they are just thrown in the trash. These animals have no use to the industry anymore, though, since they cannot produce a profit, so it is considered worthless to keep them alive. What this means as a consumer is that you’re still supporting the slaughter of animals by consuming their by-products.

4. Using animal products for clothing should be pretty self explanatory. If you’re wearing the skin of another animal, that animal has been murdered for you, flat out. Wearing wool also directly causes the slaughter of sheep. We have bred sheep so that they produce unnaturally large amounts of wool. This means that a lot of them die from heat exhaustion in the summer. Their wool is so thick that maggots breed there and can literally eat the sheep alive. Sheep are prematurely sheered to prevent them from shedding themselves, causing them to die from cold exposure. And, like all animals in industry, once they are spent, they are slaughtered. So, buying wool (and any other fabric made from an animal or insect, including cashmere and silk) directly supports the death and slaughter of animals.

5. Finally, using traditional beauty and household cleaning products promotes the death of animals. A lot of these products have animal by-products in them that would not be considered vegetarian if you ate them (lard in fabric softener, enzymes from flesh, etc.). A large portion of traditional products also test on animals (hint: unless it clearly says “not tested on animals”, it probably was). These tests inflict enormous amounts of pain on the animals, for they literally have corrosive materials rubbed onto their skin and eyes. If these animals aren’t killed by being forced to ingest poisons, they are killed once they are no longer useful to the researchers. This means that unless you are brushing your teeth, shampooing your hair, applying make-up, and cleaning your house with products that don’t explicitly say “vegan” or “100% cruelty free” on them, you are supporting the murder of animals.

A lot of vegetarians have made the choice to cut meat out of their diets in attempt to untie themselves from the unnecessary slaughter of animals. While it is certainly a great first step towards animal liberation to become a dietary vegetarian, it’s important to remember that the use of any animal products directly causes slaughter on a massive scale. Just because a bowl of ice cream, a wool jacket, and a tube of toothpaste aren’t literally dripping with blood like a slab of steak is, it doesn’t mean enormous amounts of pain, suffering, and death haven’t gone into them. If you became vegetarian to help the animals, please consider how your actions are still contributing to their unnecessary slaughter. The only way to truly wash their blood from your hands is to go vegan. Don’t consume or use anything that has animal products in it, or else you are still paying someone to kill an innocent animal for you—something you probably vowed to stop doing.