Earthlings (2005) - full transcript

Using hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, Earthlings chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit.

Since we all inhabit the Earth,

all of us are considered earthlings.

There is no sexism, no racism,

or speciesism in the term "earthling."

It encompasses

each and every one of us:

warm- or cold-blooded,

mammal, vertebrate, or invertebrate,

bird, reptile, amphibian, fish,

and human alike.

Humans, therefore, being not

the only species on the planet,

share this world with millions

of other living creatures,

as we all evolve here together.

However, it is the human earthling

who tends to dominate the Earth,

oftentimes treating other

fellow earthlings and living beings

as mere objects.

This is what is meant

by "speciesism."

By analogy with racism and sexism,

the term "speciesism"

is a prejudice or attitude of bias

in favor of the interests of members

of one's own species and against

those of members of other species.

If a being suffers,

there can be no moral justification

for refusing to take that suffering

into consideration.

No matter what the nature

of the being,

the principle of equality

requires that one's suffering

can be counted equally with

the like suffering of any other being.

Racists violate the principle

of equality by giving greater weight

to the interests of members

of their own race

when there's a clash

between their interests

and the interests of those

of another race.

Sexists violate

the principle of equality

by favoring the interests

of their own sex.

Similarly, speciesists allow

the interests of their own species

to override the greater interests

of members of other species.

In each case,

the pattern is identical.

Though among the members

of the human family,

we recognize the moral

imperative of respect,

every human is a somebody,

not a something,

morally disrespectful

treatment occurs

when those who stand at

the power end of a power relationship

treat the less powerful

as if they were mere objects.

The rapist does this

to the victim of rape.

The child molester

to the child molested.

The master to the slave.

In each and all such cases,

humans who have power

exploit those who lack it.

Might the same be true

of how humans treat other animals

or other earthlings?

Undoubtedly there are differences,

since humans and animals

are not the same in all respects.

But the question of sameness

wears another face.

Granted, these animals do not have

all the desires we humans have.

Granted, they do not comprehend

everything we humans comprehend.

Nevertheless, we and they

do have some of the same desires

and do comprehend

some of the same things.

The desires for food and water,

shelter and companionship,

freedom of movement

and avoidance of pain.

These desires are shared by

nonhuman animals and human beings.

As for comprehension, like humans,

many nonhuman animals

understand the world

in which they live and move.

Otherwise, they could not survive.

So beneath the many differences,

there is sameness.

Like us, these animals embody

the mystery and wonder

of consciousness.

Like us, they are not only

in the world, they are aware of it.

Like us, they are

the psychological centers

of a life that is uniquely their own.

In these fundamental respects,

humans stand "on all fours,"

so to speak,

with hogs and cows,

chickens and turkeys.

What these animals are due from us,

how we morally ought to treat them,

are questions whose answer begins

with the recognition of our

psychological kinship with them.

So the following film demonstrates,

in five ways,

just how animals

have come to serve mankind.

Lest we forget.

Nobel Prize winner

Isaac Bashevis Singer

wrote in his best-selling novel,

Enemies, A Love Story,

the following:

"As often has Herman had witnessed

the slaughter of animals and fish,

he always had the same thought:

In their behavior toward creatures,

all men were Nazis.

The smugness with which man could

do with other species as he pleased

exemplify the most extreme racist theories

the principle that might is right."

The comparison here to the Holocaust

is both intentional and obvious.

One group of living beings anguishes

beneath the hands of another.

Though some will argue the suffering

of animals cannot possibly compare

with that of former Jews or slaves,

there is, in fact, a parallel.

And for the prisoners and victims

of this mass murder,

their holocaust is far from over.

In his book, The Outermost House,

author Henry Beston wrote:

"We need another and a wiser

and perhaps a more mystical

concept of animals.

Remote from universal nature

and living by complicated artifice,

man in civilization

surveys the creatures

through the glass of his knowledge

and sees thereby a feather magnified

and the whole image in distortion.

We patronize them

for their incompleteness,

for their tragic fate of having

taken form so far below ourselves.

And therein we err and greatly err.

For the animal

shall not be measured by man.

In a world older

and more complete than ours,

they move finished and complete...

...gifted with extensions

of the senses

we have lost or never attained...

...living by voices

we shall never hear.

They are not brethren.

They are not underlings.

They are other nations...

...caught with ourselves

in the net of life and time...

...fellow prisoners of the splendor

and travail of the Earth."

For most of us,

our relationship with animals

involves the owning of a pet or two.

So where do our pets come from?

Of course, one of the most obvious

ways animals serve man

is as companions.

For these pets,

it starts with a breeder.

Though not all breeders

are considered professional.

In fact, in this profession,

just about anyone and everyone

can be a breeder.

For pet stores, most of their animals

are acquired from puppy mills,

even if they may not know it.

Puppy mills are low-budget

commercial enterprises

that breed dogs for sale

to pet shops and other buyers.

They are often backyard operations

that expose animals

to filthy, overcrowded conditions

with no veterinary care

or socialization.

Dogs from puppy mills often exhibit

physical and psychological problems

as they grow up.

Strays, if they are lucky,

will be picked up

and taken to a shelter or a pound,

where they can only hope

to find a new home again.

An estimated 25 million animals

become homeless every year.

And as many as 27% of purebred dogs

are among the homeless.

Of these 25 million

homeless animals,

an average of 9 million

die on the streets from disease,

starvation,

exposure,

injury,

or some other hazard

of street life.

Many others are strays,

some of whom were presumably

dumped in the streets

by their caretakers.

The remaining 16 million

die in pounds or shelters

that have no room for them

and are forced to kill them.

Sadly, on top of all this, almost 50%

of the animals brought to shelters

are turned in by their caretakers.

Many people claim

they don't visit shelters

because it's depressing for them.

But the reason animals are crowded

into such dreary places as these

is because of people's refusal

to spay or neuter their pets.

Several pet owners feel,

particularly men for some reason,

that neutering a pet emasculates

the owner somehow.

Or they may just want their children

to someday experience

the miracle of life, so to speak.

In either case, pet owners like these

unknowingly take part

in the euthanasia

of over 60,000 animals per day.

Euthanasia, generally defined

as the act of killing painlessly

for reasons of mercy,

is usually administered

by an injection in the leg for dogs

and sometimes in the stomach

for cats.

It is a quick and painless procedure

for the animals

and by far the most humane.

But not always the most affordable.

Due to the increase

of euthanasia in shelters

and the growing, constant demand

for drugs like Euthasol,

some shelters

with budget constraints

are forced to use

gas chambers instead.

In a gas chamber,

animals are packed very tightly

and can take

as long as 20 minutes to die.

It is, by far, less merciful,

more traumatic, and painful.

But the procedure is less expensive.

Perhaps some of the tough questions

we should ask ourselves

about animals that we keep

as companions are:

can we keep animals as companions

and still address their needs?

Is our keeping companion animals

in their best interest,

or are we exploiting them?

The answers to these questions

may lie in the attitudes

of the human caretakers

and their abilities

to provide suitable environments

for companion animals.

Most human beings are speciesists.

This film shows

that ordinary human beings,

not a few exceptionally cruel

or heartless humans,

but the overwhelming

majority of people,

take an active part, acquiesce in,

and allow their taxes to pay for

practices that require the sacrifice

of the most important interests

of members of other species,

in order to promote the most trivial

interests of our own species.

The hope for the animals of tomorrow

is to be found in a human culture

which learns to feel beyond itself.

We must learn empathy.

We must learn to see

into the eyes of an animal

and feel that their life has value

because they are alive.

What happens in slaughterhouses

is a variation on the theme

of the exploitation of the weak

by the strong.

More than 10,000 times a minute,

in excess of 6 billion times a year,

just in the United States,

life is literally drained

from so-called "food animals."

Having the greater power,

humans decide

when these animals will die,

where they will die,

and how they will die.

The interests of these animals

themselves play no role whatsoever

in the determination of their fate.

Killing an animal is, in itself,

a troubling act.

It has been said

that if we had to kill our own meat,

we would all be vegetarians.

Certainly very few people

ever visit a slaughterhouse,

and films

of slaughterhouse operations

are not popular on television.

People might hope

that the meat that they buy

came from an animal

who died without pain.

But they don't really

want to know about it.

Yet those who, by their purchases,

require animals to be killed,

do not deserve

to be shielded from this

or any other aspect of the production

of the meat they buy.

So where does our food come from?

For those of us living on a meat diet,

the process these animals undergo

is as follows:

For beef, the animals are all branded.

In this instance, on the face.

Dehorning usually follows.

Never with anesthetic,

but rather a large pair of pliers.

In transportation, animals

are packed so tightly into trucks,

they are practically

on top of one another.

Heat, freezing temperatures,

fatigue, trauma,

and health conditions

will kill some of these animals

en route to the slaughterhouses.

Milking cows are kept chained

to their stalls all day long,

receiving no exercise.

Pesticides and antibiotics

are also used to increase

their milk productivity.

Eventually, milking cows, like

this one, collapse from exhaustion.

Normally, cows can live

as long as 20 years.

But milking cows

generally die within 4.

At which point, their meat is used

for fast-food restaurants.

At this slaughterhouse,

the branded and dehorned cattle

are brought into a stall.

The captive bolt gun,

which was designed

to reduce animals unconscious

without causing pain...

...fires a steel bolt that is powered

by compressed air,

or a blank cartridge,

right into the animal's brain.

Though various methods

of slaughter are used,

in this Massachusetts facility,

the cattle is hoisted up,

and his or her throat is slit.

Along with the meat,

their blood will be used as well.

Though the animal has received

a captive bolt to the head,

which is supposed to have rendered

him or her senseless,

as you can see,

the animal is still conscious.

This is not uncommon.

Sometimes they are still alive

even after they have been bled

and are well on their way down

the assembly line to be butchered.

This is the largest glatt kosher

meat plant in the United States.

Glatt, the Yiddish word for "smooth,"

means the highest standard

of cleanliness.

And rules for kosher butchering

require minimal suffering.

The use of electric prods

on immobilized animals is a violation.

Inverting frightened animals

for the slaughterer's convenience

is also a violation.

The inversion process

causes cattle to aspirate blood,

or breath it in, after incision.

Ripping the trachea and esophagi

from their throats

is another egregious violation,

since kosher animals are not

to be touched until bleeding stops.

And by dumping struggling and dying

steers through metal chutes

onto blood soaked floors,

with their breathing tubes

and gullets dangling out...

...this "sacred task" is

neither clean or compassionate.

Shackling and hoisting

is ruled yet another violation,

nor does it correspond

to the kosher way of treating animals.

If this was kosher,

death was neither quick nor merciful.

Veal, taken from their mothers

within two days of birth,

are tied at the neck

and kept restricted

to keep muscles from developing.

Fed an iron-deficient liquid diet,

denied bedding, water, and light,

after four months of this miserable

existence, they are slaughtered.

Sows in factory farms

are breeding machines,

kept continually pregnant

by means of artificial insemination.

Large pig market factories

will "manufacture,"

as they like to call it,

between 50,000 and 600,000 pigs

a year each.

Tail docking is a practice

derived from the lack of space

and stressful living conditions

so as to keep pigs

from biting each other's tails off.

This is done without anesthetic.

Ear clipping is a similar procedure,

also administered

without anesthetic.

As well as teeth cutting.

Castration is also done

without painkillers or anesthetic

and will supposedly produce

a more fatty grade of meat.

The electric prods are used

for obvious reasons: handling.

Electrocution is another method

of slaughter, as seen here.

Throat slitting, however,

is still the least expensive way

to kill an animal.

After knife sticking,

pigs are shackled,

suspended on a bleed rail,

and immersed in scalding tanks

to remove their bristle.

Many are still struggling

as they are dunked upside down

in tanks of steaming water,

where they are submerged

and drowned.

In regard to poultry,

Americans currently consume

as much chicken in a single day

as they did in an entire year in 1930.

The largest broiler companies

in the world

now slaughter more than

8.5 million birds in a single week.

Debeaking prevents feather-pecking

and cannibalism

in frustrated chickens, caused

by overcrowding in single areas,

where they are unable to establish

a social order.

Today, done with infant chicks, the

procedure is carried out very quickly,

about 15 birds a minute.

Such haste means the temperature

and sharpness of the blade varies,

resulting in sloppy cutting

and serious injury to the bird.

As for their living conditions,

anywhere from 60,000 to 90,000 birds

can be crowded together

in a single building.

The suffering for these animals

is unrelenting.

It is a way of life.

Although their beaks are severed,

they attempt to peck each other.

For hens,

they live in a laying warehouse,

crammed inside so-called

"battery cages."

Many lose their feathers

and develop sores

from rubbing against the wire cage.

Crowding prevents them

from spreading their wings,

and the hens cannot even fulfill

minimal natural instincts.

During transportation,

all animals suffer and many die.

And they suffocate when

other animals pile on top of them

in overcrowded,

poorly loaded cages.

Chickens and turkeys

are slaughtered in numerous ways.

Some may be clubbed to death

or have their heads cut off.

But most are brought through

the assembly lines of factory farms.

Dangled upside down

on a conveyor belt,

their throats are slit,

and they are left

to bleed to death.

Others may be placed head-first

in tubes to restrict their movement

while they slowly bleed to death.

Surely, if slaughterhouses

had glass walls,

would not all of us be vegetarians?

But slaughterhouses

do not have glass walls.

The architecture of slaughter

is opaque,

designed in the interest of denial,

to ensure that we will not see

even if we wanted to look.

And who wants to look?

It was Emerson who observed,

more than 100 years ago:

"You have dined,

and however scrupulously

the slaughterhouse is concealed

in the graceful distance of miles,

there is complicity."

Fuck on, bitch!

Fuck on, bitch!

And for those

who think eating seafood

is healthier than land animals,

just remember

how much irretrievable waste

and contaminated sediments

are dumped into our oceans.

In the past,

oil, nuclear, and chemical industries

have done little

for the protection

of marine environments,

and dumping on or under the seabed

has always proved a convenient place

to dispose of inconvenient wastes.

Today's commercial fishers intensify

this situation on massive scales.

They use vast factory trawlers

the size of football fields

and advanced electronic equipment

to track and catch fish.

Huge nets stretch

across the ocean,

swallowing up everything

in their path.

These factory trawlers, coupled with

our increased appetites for seafood,

are emptying the oceans of sea life

at an alarming pace.

Already, 13 of the 17

major global fisheries

are depleted or in serious decline.

The other four are overexploited

or fully exploited.

The recent outbreak of Pfiesteria,

a microorganism 1,000 times

more potent than cyanide,

spawned from millions of gallons

of raw hog feces and urine,

poured into rivers, lakes,

and oceans,

turning their ecosystems

into unflushed toilets,

is proving the most alarming.

Threatening sea life

and humans alike,

Pfiesteria has killed

over one billion fish,

the Southeast's largest fish kill

on record.

And it's spreading.

Traces of Pfiesteria

have already been found

from Long Island to the Florida Gulf,

at distances of up to 1,000 miles.

In fact, this water-based

Pfiesteria invasion

stands as one of the worst outbreaks

of a virulent microorganism

in U.S. history.

It is a Level 3 Biohazard.

Ebola is a 4.

AIDS is a 2.

And this bug mutated

as a direct result

of our mass consumption

of animals, particularly pork.

With hog farms fattening

millions of pigs for slaughter,

grain goes in and waste comes out.

This waste finds its way into our

oceans and water-supply systems,

contaminating the animals

that live in it,

as well as those who eat from it.

Finally, whaling.

Though the International

Whaling Commission

prohibited commercial whaling

in 1985,

many countries continue to kill whales

for their so-called "exotic meat."

They use harpoons...

...firearms...

...blunt hooks...

...even explosives...

...or drive them

into authorized whaling bays,

where they are made to beach

and can be killed with knives

in the shallows.

[NARRATION MISSING FROM

10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION]

Every winter, between the months

of October through March,

thousands of dolphins

are confined and brutally killed

in small towns across Japan.

Sounding rods

beneath the water's surface

interfere with the dolphins' sonar.

Once disoriented and enclosed

within the nets, the dolphins panic.

Fisherman often injure

a few captive dolphins

with a spear thrust or knife slash,

since dolphins never abandon

wounded family members.

Mothers and babies call out

in distress as they are separated,

hoisted up, and dragged off,

soon to be mercilessly

hacked to death.

These are benign

and innocent beings.

And they deserve better.

Yet here,

as they lay stricken and needful,

writhing helplessly on cement floors,

they are cut open with machetes...

...and left to slowly suffocate...

...convulsing and contorting

in the throes of agony,

while schoolchildren walk on by.

Such images of slaughter

and bloody red water

clearly show

the Japanese government

has little respect for the state

of the world's oceans

with their inhumane methods

of fishing,

often in violation of international

treaties, laws, and conventions

designed to protect

over-exploiting the oceans

and the creatures that live in them.

Dolphin meat is later sold

in markets and restaurants,

though often mislabeled

as "whale meat."

But as though cruelty toward animals

raised for food wasn't enough,

we've also found ways of making use

of them for all our clothes:

jackets, shoes, belts, gloves,

pants, wallets, purses, and so on.

The next question is obviously:

"where do our clothes come from?"

The demand for leather comes

primarily from the United States,

Germany, and the U.K.

Just about everybody wears it,

with little or no thought

of where it came from.

Thousands of India cows

are slaughtered each week

for their skins, purchased from

poor families in part of rural India

who sell them

only after the assurance

that the animals will live out

their lives on farms.

To relocate the animals to a state

where they can legally be killed,

since cattle slaughter is forbidden

in most of India,

the animals must be shoed and roped

together in preparation

for a harrowing "death march,"

which could last for several days.

Forced to walk through the heat

and dust without food or water,

coupled with the sheer stress of this

terrifying experience for them,

many of the animals collapse

and are unable to continue.

Bear in mind that most of the cattle

are being placed in a truck

for the first time in their lives

and are likely to be frightened,

especially if they have been handled

hastily or roughly

by the men loading the trucks.

The noise and motion of the truck

itself is also a new experience,

one which makes them ill.

After one or two days inside the truck

without food or water,

they are desperately thirsty

and hungry,

especially since it is normal

for such cows

to eat frequently throughout the day.

But when the cattle become weary

and grow faint,

the bones in their tails are broken

in an effort to get them

back up on their feet.

This is done by repeatedly pinching

the tail in several areas.

Handlers must constantly

keep the cattle moving,

pulling them by nose ropes,

twisting their necks, horns, or tails.

They lead, or rather force,

the cattle down embankments

and in and out of trucks

without ramps,

causing injuries like broken pelvises,

legs, ribs, and horns.

Chili pepper and tobacco are also

used to keep the animals walking.

This practice is done by rubbing

the pepper directly into their eyes,

in order to stimulate the animal

back onto his or her feet.

And all this before the slaughter.

As many as half of the animals

will already be dead

by the time they arrive

at the slaughterhouse.

But to make the experience

even more traumatic and terrifying,

they are often killed

in full view of each other.

And instead of the required

"quick slice" across the throat

with a sharp knife,

they are generally killed through

hacking and sawing with a dull blade.

Afterwards,

the skins from these animals

are sent to tanneries

that use deadly substances

like chromium and other toxins

to stop decomposition.

Remember, leather is dead flesh.

It is dead skin,

and, therefore, it's natural for it

to decompose and rot away

unless treated

with such potent substances as these.

And for people, the health effects

of such chemicals in tanneries,

in lieu of the continued demand

for leather goods,

is yet another issue.

Ultimately, leather from Indian cattle

make their way to clothing stores

all around the world.

Most major chains

sell Indian leather.

Leather that comes from completely

different cows than those we eat.

And what about fur?

Over 100 million wild animals are

murdered for their pelts every year,

25 million in the United States alone.

These animals,

obtained by hunting and trapping,

are kept on fur farms

in conditions like these.

Naturally, these undomesticated,

wild animals

are not accustomed to being caged.

And cage madness develops when

frightened and frustrated animals

are driven crazy

from the stress of confinement.

These wild, free-roaming animals

and their offspring

find themselves

unable to live a natural life,

can never take even a few steps

or feel the earth beneath their feet.

Instead, they are reduced

to scratching,

circling, and pacing endlessly.

The physical injuries

these animals endure on fur farms

involve broken and exposed bones...

...blindness...

...ear infections,

dehydration and malnutrition,

exposure to freezing temperatures,

lack of veterinary care,

and slow death.

No laws indicate

the killing of animals on fur farms.

Therefore, the least expensive

methods are the most appealing.

Carbon-monoxide poisoning,

strychnine, suffocation,

breaking the neck,

and anal electrocution

are some of the more common

methods used.

Removed from his or her cage

with a heavy neck pole,

the animal is walked past the rows

of bodies of slaughtered foxes,

sables, raccoons, and wolves,

among others.

Death by anal electrocution

is a crude process

that requires a probe

to be inserted in the rectum

while the animal bites down

on a metal conductor.

Oftentimes this inept procedure

must be repeated

to actually kill the animal.

And the skinned carcasses seen here

will later be ground up

and fed to the animals still caged.

And so we move on to entertainment.

Mark Twain once said:

"Of all the creatures ever made,

he (man) is the most detestable.

He's the only creature

that inflicts pain for sport,

knowing it to be pain."

In rodeos, bulls and broncos

don't buck because they're wild,

but because they're in pain.

A belt called a flank strap

or a bucking strap

is secured around the animal's body,

over the genital area.

As the animal leaves the chute,

a tight jerk on the belt

is enough to start him

bucking in pain.

Apart from other injuries

animals incur at rodeos...

...such as broken legs...

...they are also worked up

by being slapped, teased,

given electric prods,

and otherwise tormented,

to bolt out of the chute in a frenzy.

Roping, as seen here,

involves throwing a rope

around the neck

of a frightened animal

running full speed,

jerking the poor creature to a halt,

and slamming him or her

to the ground.

Like any other business,

dog racing and horse racing

are industries motivated

by a common denominator:

profit.

At fair grounds across the country,

animals are used to race,

bet with, and spectate over.

Training for these events

is accomplished

by withholding food

and sometimes water.

These animals,

unfamiliar with their surroundings,

the noise, the crowds,

even what they're supposed

to be doing,

are all too often

injured and discarded,

in pointless, trivial,

outlandish contests

designed to make profits

and entertain.

Besides loss of habitat,

hunting is the number-one threat

to wildlife today.

Hunters kill over

200 million animals every year.

Deer, rabbits, and squirrels

top the list of desirable targets.

There is no denying it.

If hunting is a sport,

it is a blood sport.

The targets are living,

and they undergo violent deaths.

Fishing is also a death sport,

wherein the nonhuman animal suffers.

Researchers have distinguished

that fish show pain behavior

the same way mammals do.

Anatomically, physiologically,

and biologically,

the pain system in fish is virtually

the same as in birds and mammals.

In other words,

fish are sentient organisms,

so of course they feel pain.

For those who think

fish die "gentler" deaths,

consider that their sensory organs

are highly developed,

their nervous systems complex,

their nerve cells

very similar to our own...

...and their responses to certain

stimuli immediate and vigorous.

When going to the circus,

rarely do we stop for a moment

and consider:

What incites an animal to do

something unnatural, even dangerous,

such as jumping through flames,

balancing on one foot,

or diving into water

from shaky platforms high in the air?

Animal trainers would like

for the public to believe

that animals are coaxed into such

behaviors with the promise of rewards.

But the truth is that animals perform

because they fear punishment.

Let's go, let's go, let's go!

All right, let's go.

Let's get going.

In essence, circuses condemn

animals who are wild by nature

to live out their days

isolated in tiny, barren cages,

denied normal exercise

and socialization...

...shuttled around

from place to place...

...and shackled in chains

for up to 95% of their lives.

Elephants are taught to perform

with positive reinforcement

and never hit.

Never hit.

Never, never, never will you see

anyone use the ankus

as anything other

than a guide or a tool.

No!

Dominance, subservience, and pain

are integral parts

of the training process.

We know animals feel.

They feel fear, loneliness, and pain,

just like humans do.

What animal would choose to spend

their entire life in captivity

if they had a choice?

Are zoos valuable educational

and conservation institutions?

Sure, zoos are interesting,

but they are only educational

in the sense

that they teach a disregard

for the natures

of other living beings.

Besides, what can we learn

about wild animals

by viewing them in captivity?

Zoos exist because we are intrigued

by exotic things.

And to zoo-goers,

zoo animals are just that:

things.

In both cases, at circuses or zoos,

wild and exotic animals are captured,

caged, transported, and trained

to do what humans want them to do.

At best, the term "bullfighting"

is a misnomer...

...as there is little competition

between the sword

of a nimble matador,

which is Spanish for "killer,"

and a confused, maimed,

psychologically tormented,

and physically debilitated bull.

Many prominent former bullfighters

report that bulls

are intentionally debilitated

with tranquilizers and laxatives,

beatings to the kidneys,

and heavy weights hung around

their necks for weeks before a fight.

Some of the animals are placed

in darkness for 48 hours

before the confrontation,

then are released,

blinded, into the bright arena.

In a typical event, the bull enters

and is approached by men

who exhaust and frustrate him

by running him in circles

and tricking him into collisions.

When the bull is tired

and out of breath,

he is approached by picadors,

who drive lances

into its back and neck muscles,

twisting and gouging to ensure

a significant amount of blood loss

and impairing the bull's ability

to lift his head.

Then come the banderilleros

who distract and dart around the bull,

while plunging more lances into him.

Weakened from blood loss,

they run the bull in more circles

until he is dizzy and stops chasing.

Finally, the matador,

this "killer," appears

and, after provoking a few exhausted

charges from the dying animal,

tries to kill the bull with his sword.

And this bloody form of amusement

is bullfighting.

The pleasure derived from

all of these activities and sports...

...a communion with nature,

some would say,

can be secured

without harming or killing animals.

The commercial exploitation

of wildlife

erroneously assumes

that the value of wild animals

is reducible to their utility

relative to human interests,

especially economic interests.

But wild animals

are not a renewable resource,

having value only relative

to human interests.

That perception

can only be that of a speciesist.

Nevertheless, these practices exist

only because we do not take seriously

the interests of other animals.

In this light, are humans not

the most callous speciesists of all?

The term "vivisection"

is used to apply

to all types of experiments

on living animals

and is said to be a form

of medical science.

The reason for experimentation

of this type

is to allegedly discover cures

for human ailments and illnesses.

But those who hope

to find remedies for human ills

by inflicting deliberate sufferings

on animals

commit two fundamental errors

in understanding.

The first is the assumption

that results obtained on animals

are applicable to mankind.

The second concerns the inevitable

fallacy of experimental science

in respect to the field

of organic life.

Since animals react differently

from human beings,

every new product or method

tried out on animals

must be tried out again on man

through careful clinical tests,

before it can be considered safe.

This rule knows no exceptions.

Tests on animals

are not only dangerous

because they lead

to wrong conclusions,

but, furthermore,

they retard clinical investigation,

which is the only valid kind.

Just remember the fact that

any disease deliberately provoked

is unlike any disease

that arises spontaneously.

Unfortunately,

such methods still sail today

under the flag of science,

which is an insult to true science,

as well as human intelligence.

And so, vivisection applies

to medical experiments,

done with the administration

of noxious substances...

...electric or traumatic shocks...

...unanesthetized operations...

...burns...

...drawn-out deprivations

of food and drink...

...physical and psychological tortures

that lead to mental imbalance,

infections, and so on.

Head-injury research involves

partially or fully conscious baboons

strapped down with restraints

and their heads cemented

into a metal helmet,

which will be thrust

at a 60 degree angle

at a force of up to 1,000 gs.

The purpose of this experiment

is to simulate auto crashes,

football, boxing,

and other head-related injuries.

And this process is often repeated

again and again on the same animals.

And finally, military research.

This one speaks for itself.

From sending monkeys

into outer space...

...and testing atomic blasts

on helpless dogs,

to exposing primates

to nuclear radiation.

20 years ago, the number of animals

dying of tortures

through the practice of vivisection

was astronomical,

estimated at 400,000

per day worldwide

and growing

at an annual rate of 5%.

Today that number

is almost beyond comprehension.

19,000 per minute.

10 billion per year.

Some uneducated persons

pretend to know

that less-intelligent animals

don't feel pain the same way we do.

In truth, we know very little about

how specific animals may "feel,"

except that they must also submit

to the universal law

that causes every organism

dying by unnatural means

to suffer greatly

before that final release.

But it's nonsense to say

that animals do not suffer

because they have

a lower order of intelligence.

Pain is pain,

conveyed by nerves to the brain.

And there are other nerves

than those of intelligence,

nerves such as sight,

smell, touch, and hearing.

And in some animals, these nerves

are much more highly developed

than in man.

We know that there

has never been an epoch

in which we could learn something

about the physiology of man

by torturing animals.

We only learned something

about animals.

And if there is something we can learn

from them on the psychological level,

it is not by means

of steel or electricity,

much less so

through psychic violences.

The systematic torture

of sentient beings,

whatever the pretext

and in whatever form,

cannot achieve anything

more than it already has:

to show us what is the lowest point

of debasement man can reach...

...if that's what we want to know.

Ignorance is the speciesist's

first line of defense.

Yet it is easily breached by anyone

with the time and determination

to find out the truth.

Ignorance has prevailed so long

only because people

do not want to find out the truth.

"Don't tell me.

You'll spoil my dinner,"

is the usual reply

to any attempt to tell someone

just how that dinner was produced.

Even people who are aware

that the traditional family farm

has been taken over

by big-business interests,

that their clothes

come from slaughtered cows,

that their entertainment

means the suffering and death

of millions of animals,

and that some questionable

experiments go on in laboratories,

still cling to a vague belief

that conditions cannot be too bad,

or else the government

or the animal welfare societies

would have done something about it.

But it is not the inability

to find out what is going on

as much as a desire

not to know about facts

that may lie heavy

on one's conscience,

that is responsible

for this lack of awareness.

After all, the victims

of whatever it is that goes on

in all these awful places

are not members

of one's own group.

It all comes down

to pain and suffering.

Not intelligence, not strength,

not social class or civil right.

Pain and suffering

are, in themselves, bad

and should be prevented

or minimized,

irrespective of the race, sex,

or species of the being that suffers.

We are all animals of this planet.

We are all creatures.

And nonhuman animals experience

sensations just like we do.

They, too, are strong, intelligent,

industrious, mobile, and evolutional.

They, too, are capable

of growth and adaptation.

Like us, first and foremost,

they are earthlings.

And like us, they are surviving.

Like us, they also seek their own

comfort rather than discomfort.

And like us,

they express degrees of emotion.

In short, like us, they are alive,

most of them being, in fact,

vertebrate, just like us.

As we look back on how essential

animals are to human survival,

our absolute dependence on them,

for companionship,

food,

clothing,

sport and entertainment,

as well as medical

and scientific research...

...ironically, we only see mankind's

complete disrespect

for these nonhuman providers.

Without a doubt,

this must be what it is:

to "bite the hand that feeds us."

In fact, we have actually stomped

and spit on it.

Now we are faced

with the inevitable aftermath.

This is evident in health reports

due to our over-excessive

consumption of animals:

Cancer, heart disease,

osteoporosis, strokes,

kidney stones, anemia,

diabetes, and more.

Even our food has now been affected,

and at its very source.

With antibiotics

used to promote weight gain

in animals who can't gain weight

under the stressful, overcrowded

living conditions in factory farms,

with the overuse

of pesticides and insecticides

or artificial hormones

designed to increase milk production,

litter size, and frequency,

with artificial colors, herbicides,

larvicides, synthetic fertilizers,

tranquilizers,

growth and appetite stimulants,

it's no wonder that Mad Cow Disease,

Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Pfiesteria,

and a host of other

animal-related abnormalities

have been unleashed

on the human public.

Nature is not responsible

for these actions.

We are.

So a change is inevitable.

Either we make it ourselves,

or we will be forced to make it

by nature itself.

The time has come for each of us

to reconsider our eating habits,

our traditions,

our styles and fashions,

and, above all, our thinking.

So, if there is any truth

to the age-old saying:

"What goes around,

comes around,"

then what do they get for their pain?

Do we even give it a second thought?

If what goes around comes around,

what do they get for their pain?

They are earthlings.

They have the right to be here

just as much as humans do.

Perhaps the answer is found

in another age-old saying...

...and one equally true:

So of course animals feel,

and of course they experience pain.

After all, has nature endowed

these wonderful animals

with wellsprings of sentiment

so that they should not feel?

Or do animals have nerves

in order to be insensitive?

Reason demands a better answer.

But one thing is absolutely certain.

Animals used for food,

used for clothing,

used for entertainment,

and in scientific experiments,

and all the oppression

that is done to them under the sun,

they all die from pain.

Each and every one.

Isn't it enough

that animals the world over

live in permanent retreat

from human progress and expansion?

And for many species,

there is simply nowhere else to go.

It seems the fate of many animals

is either to be unwanted by man

or wanted too much.

We enter as lords of the Earth,

bearing strange powers

of terror and mercy alike.

But human beings

should love animals

as the knowing love the innocent

and the strong love the vulnerable.

When we wince

at the suffering of animals,

that feeling speaks well of us,

even if we ignore it.

And those who dismiss love

for our fellow creatures

as mere sentimentality

overlook a good and important part

of our humanity.

But it takes nothing away from

a human to be kind to an animal.

And it is actually within us

to grant them a happy life

and a long one.

On the heath,

King Lear asked Gloucester,

"How do you see the world?"

And Gloucester,

who is blind, answered,

"I see it feelingly."

"I see it feelingly."

Three primary life forces

exist on this planet.

Nature.

Animals.

And humankind.

We are the earthlings.

Make the connection.