Children recruited into animal cruelty

9.

Those of us who don’t subscribe to the economic rationale, who think using animals is wrong, also realise that animal protein is unnecessary and indeed harmful to humans. We also see it as a tragedy for both animals and young people. Both are powerless victims in this dangerous game. Kids can’t fend for themselves. They must do as they’re told and eat what they’re given. Misinformed and kept generally uninformed, they inevitably become believers in the necessity of farming animals for food. They grow up never being told how their food comes to them because everything that happens to farm animals is kept secret from them. These days no one, adults and kids alike, is allowed to visit intensive animal farms or abattoirs; so no one ever sees for themselves what happens there.  If we, as a society, weren’t ashamed of our treatment of farm animals, we’d allow and encourage school students to see for themselves every stage of the processing of animals for food. Children would be taken to factory farms and processing plants and shown how meat, milk and eggs are produced … putting them in a position to decide for themselves whether they should use the produce of these animals. But since this would seriously affect the fortunes of the animal-food market, it doesn’t happen!