Petition to end cruelty to farm animals

I will not be too soapbox-y on this blog, but I have to put this out there. Please consider this issue and, if you'd like, help it make the November ballot in California.

End Cruelty to Farm Animals

It's really easy to buy that steak, that pork chop, or those eggs without thinking about where they come from. The supermarket's a middleman and they're not going to spend a lot of time or money divulging where they're sourcing their products. Also, we don't think about how those animals live, how they're treated, and how they die. Hey, there's nothing wrong with not dwelling on it... unless you live on a farm, there's not a lot of reasons to ponder livestock handling (husbandry?). Well, the time has come where everyone, no matter where they're from or what they do, should probably give it a second or two.

This isn't about not eating meat. I'm the last person to advocate giving up meat. I'd make the worst vegetarian alive (well, second to D.). It is, however, making choices about what kind of agricultural practices and vendors to support. Gestation crates, veal crates, and caging egg-laying birds aren't necessary to bring meat and eggs to our tables. We don't have to give up much for ending these practices and the animals don't have to suffer to be our dinners. It's been said that animals that are not stressed or abused tend to produce better products (i.e. that omelet will taste damned good). I won't go too deeply into it, but I'll ask this: How would you feel if you were crammed into a box barely bigger than you and forced to stay in it for months, if not years, at a time?

Or consider this (quoted from Humane California's website), since it's a great analogy: "Basically, you're asking a sow [female pig] to live in an airline seat. . . "

We bitch plenty about airline seats and how airlines skimp by taking away those precious inches (I'm looking at you, United Airlines) and making us sit in those seats for 10-15 hours for an international flight. Now there's proof that conditions like deep vein thrombosis, which can result from sitting in one position for too long, can kill you. Well, imagine animals living their lives in those conditions. Joint deterioration and lameness come quickly. Sure, we eat them and they do die eventually, but if we still have the same products by eliminating these methods, then aren't we abusing them for the hell of it? For our own convenience?

All right, thanks for bearing with the rant.