Now to be fair , despite my many years of misunderstanding , I can ’ t really be too hard on my past self . After all , like the vast majority of my fellow humans , I had never spent any intimate time with animals ( p . s . visits to the local zoo do not count !) … I had never experienced firsthand how animals interact with one another . I had never experienced firsthand how they care tenderly for their young , or how they revel in their lives ’ joyous moments ( playing with each other , laying in the sun , eating a good meal ) or how they mourn their tragedies ( being cold & hungry , or losing a child or beloved companion ) … And , of course , I had never personally visited a slaughterhouse – I had never witnessed firsthand how the animals suffer there ; how they tremble and shake and wail and scream and writhe and cry out while meeting their most brutal end in those “ vile gulags of despair ” ( Philip Wollen ).
And so for awhile my ignorance became my “ bliss ” … … and then it inevitably became my shame .
You see , my Friends , what the meat & dairy and egg industries didn ’ t want me to know – indeed , what they have been actively hiding from all of us for decades – is that animals DO know that they are alive , that animals DO fear death & pain , and that animals DO suffer immensely when they are imprisoned , DO suffer immensely when they are “ processed ”, and DO suffer immensely when they are killed .
“ Humans who enslave , castrate , experiment on , and fillet other animals have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain . A sharp distinction between humans and ‘ animals ’ is essential if we are to bend them to our will , wear them , or eat them without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret . It is unseemly of us , who often behave so unfeelingly toward other animals , to contend that only human animals can suffer .”
~ Carl Sagan
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