We, your fellow creatures need your help. Many of us suffer greatly each day, and we need you to become more aware of this suffering and do something to help us. Here are some details and suggestions on what you can do:
Ban foie gras forever. For those who don’t know what this is, foie gras is a food item produced by shoving pipes down the throats of our goose and duck friends each day until their livers become so enlarged with disease, that they live in agony. All so you eat this over-rated French delicacy! Stop ordering this at restaurants. Stop going to restaurants that serve it, or ask the restaurant to remove it from the menu.
Buy only cage-free eggs. Or better yet, buy “certified humane” eggs (look for the stamp), which certifies the hens actually get out in the open air, get to peck in the dirt, and get to enjoy natural chicken behavior. How would you like to live your entire life in a cage where you didn’t even have room to flap your arms?
On the topic of eggs, try to use an egg substitute where possible — for instance when baking. Here are some substitutes for one egg:
Use a blender to grind one tablespoon of flax seeds to a powder. Add two and one-half tablespoons of water and blend until thick.
Blend three tablespoons of banana, applesauce, or soft tofu with one-half teaspoon baking powder.
Buy a product such as Ener- G Egg replacer and follow directions for use. Why do this? Hens eventually need to be replaced. The male chicks that are born are of little use to the industry, so are usually killed immediately. And you don’t want to know how. Write to the
USDA (The Honorable Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture,
U.S. Department of Agriculture,
1400 Independence Ave. S.W.,
Room 200A, Washington, D.C.
20250) and demand that research be done into “sexing embryos” so that the male chicks are not born to die. Milk: Many of the same issues with the male chicks mentioned above happen with the male dairy calves that are born.
Some go on to become veal
(equally unpleasant), but in general they are considered of little value in the dairy industry, and are usually removed from their mothers very soon after birth.
Write again to the USDA and ask for research to detect the sex of calves before they are born.
In the meantime, try soy or rice milk. In most cases (like in coffee) you can’t tell the difference.
Cut down on eating us. Have a vegetarian or vegan meal a few days a week. Not only will it help us, but it is also healthier for you.
And we hear some of the meatsubstitute products are delicious and very authentic tasting.
Don’t buy fur. We need our fur
— you don’t. How would you like to be scalped? And don’t tell us you need it to keep warm. The warmest materials are man-made.
You don’t see astronauts wearing mink coats in space.
Hunting is to an animal as a sniper is to a human. And we know you don’t like snipers. We don’t either.
Don’t go to the circus or other show where wild animals are forced into doing tricks. Most of them live horrible lives.
Slow down driving. We need to use the roads occasionally too.
If you see one of us hurt, get us help. We feel pain, too, you know. Many animal hospitals will take in a wild animal or non-pet as a good Samaritan case. Find out ahead of time.
Spay and neuter your pets. Most of the animals in shelters are eventually euthanized. It is so sad. And stop buying puppies and kittens when so many nice adult pets need homes.
If you see a feral (wild, untamed) cat living around your area, contact a humane shelter regarding feral cat “trap, neuter and release” programs.
We need water. A little vegetable or olive oil added to the water in the winter delays freezing. And we really need water during the hot summer months.
We’re sorry we eat some of your nice plants, but you’ve taken away a lot of our land and food sources. Try leaving the acorns when you rake your leaves. We need them to fatten up for winter. Feel free to grow fruit-bearing trees. They are pretty in the spring and we would love the fruit. If you would throw out some of your vegetable scraps onto a compost pile, we would surely eat some of those. And those undecorated pumpkins after Halloween are very yummy if you’d just split them open for us.
Unfortunately, the list could continue. We hope you will help us. Even if everyone did only one or two of the items above, the benefit to us would be enormous. Anything you can do to avoid using us or abusing us would really be appreciated. Thanks for listening.
Written by Dawn Zelinski of Middletown to give voice to exploited and abused animals.