Page 14 - UK The Official Veganuary Starter Kit

THE OFFICIAL VEGANUARY STARTER KIT

WHY VEGAN?

There are lots of reasons why people decide to switch to a plant-based diet,
but most people say it is for one of three reasons: to end their contribution to the
suffering of farmed animals, to better protect the environment and reduce their

climate impact, and to improve their own health. What is really interesting is that
often people try vegan for one reason but decide to stay vegan for all three.

This is why …

ANIMALS CHICKENS

Chickens are probably the most exploited
Most of us feel uncomfortable about the animal on earth. Typically, tens of thousands of
factory farming and slaughter of animals. birds are crammed together in a warehouse,
We find images and films upsetting and on a farm that may hold millions of birds.
prefer not to think about it, and yet we Here, the farmer’s first job each morning is
know deep down that not to pick up the bodies of those who did not

thinking about it doesn’t make it through the night and to wring the
change anything at all. necks of the weakest, the smallest and the
Rather than turning away, sick. Individual care is not possible when there

we would urge people are so many birds, and so these victims suffer
to have courage and read on.
and die out of sight. They will never scratch
in the earth, sunbathe or do any of the things
that make life worthwhile for a bird. Their first
NO ANIMAL ESCAPES THE
HORRORS OF FARMING, NOT EVEN breath of fresh air will be on the day they are
THOSE WE THINK ARE HAPPY IN transported to the slaughterhouse, at the age
FIELDS. of just six weeks.
Did you know that sheep have hormone- Chickens farmed for their eggs are a different
soaked sponges inserted into their breed to those reared for meat. Although tiny
vaginas to control their fertility, and that battery cages are banned in the UK, slightly
many are inseminated surgically? And
that there is a whole raft of ‘mutilations’ bigger cages are not, and around 16 million
that are legal and commonplace, hens on UK egg farms still live their lives
from tail docking and teeth clipping to inside cages. There is no doubt that they
dehorning, ear-clipping and tattooing. suffer as a consequence of those cramped,
The lives of farmed animals are unnatural conditions. And when their
characterised by suffering, fear and loss. productivity declines, they too are sent to the

slaughterhouse.

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