The images
in the following program
are very sensitive
and may be
as disturbing to viewers
as they were to us.
However,
we have to show the truth
about cruelty to animals.
Informed viewers, today’s
Stop Animal Cruelty
program features our
presentation of Part 2 of
the award-winning
2005 documentary
on animal suffering
“Earthlings”
directed by vegan US
filmmaker Shaun Monson,
co-produced by
noted vegan US actresses
Persia White and
Maggie Q and narrated
by Golden Globe- and
Grammy-winning vegan
actor and artist
Joaquin Phoenix.
The film features music
by the world-famous
vegan DJ
and musician Moby
from the United States.
“Earthlings” has received
numerous honors,
including
the Proggy Award
given by the US-based
animal welfare group
People for
the Ethical Treatment
of Animals, and the Best
Documentary Award
in the Animal Advocacy
category at the International
Artivist Film Festival,
held annually
in California, USA.
The film is known
as “the vegan maker”
because it has prompted
so many people
to transition to
the compassionate
and life-affirming
plant-based diet.
Such individuals include
the Emmy award-winning
US talk show host
Ellen DeGeneres
as well as the well-known
Canadian professional
ice hockey player
George Laraque.
Mr. Laraque
was so moved by the film
he agreed to narrate the
French language version
of the documentary.
We spoke with Mr. Laraque
about his efforts
to promote the film.
Yes, every time I show it
there’re a lot of people
that make lots of changes,
lots of people
that became vegan.
So that’s why today
I did a presentation
with a nutritionist
because people
want to know options;
what they could eat.
Because now there’re
more and more people
that are making
the big change,
so it’s really good.
And I keep doing stuff
and try to get
as many people as we can.
Because everybody
that is vegan,
it’s a step forward
towards the direction
of a better environment
around us.
Last week on Part 1,
“Earthlings” covered
why animals should be
respected and loved and
given the same liberties
and freedoms
that humans enjoy.
The horrors
of the pet industry
were examined including
the untold suffering
of our canine friends in
puppy mills and shelters
that euthanize animals
after a period
if they are not adopted.
This week “Earthlings”
explores the nightmarish
lives of animals
raised for food.
Before we begin,
let us first hear from
director Shaun Monson
about the cruelty
of the dairy industry.
It’s not all grazing
green flowing grass
and cows singing
like in the cheese ads
you see here for instance
in California (USA),
where they’re all happy.
I mean some animal groups
tried to sue them
for misrepresentation
because show us this place!
Where is this place where
the three cows have acres
of rolling land and
are just walking around?
That’s not the case;
those cows aren’t
churning out cheese
like that.
They have to be
perpetually pregnant
because cows aren’t
pregnant 12 month a year,
24/7. They are not.
So they have to be kept
continually pregnant.
Instead of
a 20-year lifespan
they actually fall over
from exhaustion
after four years;
they literally just fall over.
And when the calf is born
one of two things
will happen.
If it’s a female she will
become a milking cow,
if it’s a male
they become veal.
So the milk industry
is directly related
to the veal industry.
And naturally,
as I said earlier, animals
are very similar to us
in some of
the most basic areas.
A mother certainly loves
her child, her offspring.
And the day they come to
remove that baby
which is two, three days
after it’s born, the mother
will do everything
in her power
to get in the way
of them doing that.
And they use usually
some sort of a barrier that
they can move and carry.
They try to put a wedge
between the mother
and her young
and divide them, and
they can separate the two,
and the mother will be
literally pounding it.
They’ll break their necks
trying to get to their baby,
calling out.
And you know what’s
really, really amazing?
Talk about the emotion
of compassion
in another species, is that
when they take that baby
away in that truck,
and it goes away
and the baby is bleating,
bleating out, calling out
for its mother and
the mother is mooing,
calling out for her calf,
the mother will clearly
show signs of depression.
She will literally
just mope and go down.
And what’s truly remarkable
is that the others cows
come around
and try to boost her up,
bolster her up,
try to lift her up,
try to encourage her.
We now present Part 2
of the documentary
“Earthlings.”
PART TWO FOOD
Oh, I missed.
I missed you, honey.
But I'll get you again!
I got you!
What happens
in slaughterhouses
is a variation on the theme
of the exploitation
of the weak by the strong.
I got you! Good boy!
More than 10,000 times
a minute, in excess of
six 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.
branding
For beef, the animals
are all branded.
In this instance, on the face.
dehorning
Dehorning usually follows.
Never with anesthetic.
But rather
a large pair of pliers.
transportation
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
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 four,
at which point
their meat is used
for fast-food restaurants.
meat
At this slaughterhouse,
the branded
and dehorned cattle
are brought into a stall.
captive bolts
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.
bleeding
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.
knocking boxes
kosher slaughter
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.
When we return
we’ll continue
with our presentation
of “Earthlings.”
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
This is Stop Animal Cruelty
on Supreme Master
Television.
We now resume
our presentation
of the documentary
“Earthlings”
that was directed by
Shaun Monson
and narrated by
Golden Globe
and Grammy winner
Joaquin Phoenix.
veal
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.
pigs
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.
FACTORY CONDITIONS
GESTATION CRATES
RUPTURES &
ABSCESSES
CANNIBALISM
WASTE PITS
tail docking
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
Ear clipping is
a similar procedure,
also administered
without anesthetic.
teeth cutting
As well as teeth cutting.
castration
Castration is also done
without painkillers
or anesthetic and will
supposedly produce
a more fatty grade of meat.
electric prods
The electric prods are
used for obvious reasons:
handling.
electrocution
Electrocution is another
method of slaughter,
as seen here.
throat slitting
Throat slitting, however,
is still the least expensive
way to kill an animal.
boiling and hair removal
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.
We conclude
today’s program
with some thoughts
from the compassionate
Shaun Monson.
To be a vegan it's not just
the food you consume,
it’s the products
that you wear.
So it's clothing, leather
and animal products
that might be
in cleaning products
in your home,
that sort of thing.
So you become mindful
more and more of that
and you make a choice.
It's like every time
you spend a dollar, you
essentially cast a vote.
So you just choose,
“Well I'm not going to
vote for that anymore.”
That's the power
the consumer always has
every day.
We would like to thank
director Shaun Monson
and the others
involved in its production
for allowing us
to air this
moving documentary.
Let’s all immediately
adopt the loving,
organic vegan diet and
end the heartless cruelty
inflicted on
our animal friends
so they are allowed to live
in peace and happiness.
"Earthlings" may be
viewed online at
www.Earthlings.com
The "Earthlings" DVD
is available at the same website.
Thank you for joining us
for today’s program.
Please watch Part 3 of
our six part presentation
of “Earthlings”
next Tuesday
on Stop Animal Cruelty.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
after Noteworthy News.
May the Divine light
of Heaven
shine within all of us.
Here, warm surprises
are waiting for you
at every corner!
People can sit down
and kiss a pig and
hug lots of horses.
It’s a very warm and
spontaneous tour.
What happens depends
a lot on what free range
animals are approaching
us on a tour….
Join us on
Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants
for an inspiring visit
to a caring home
for farm animals
in New York, USA
founded by vegan author
Kathy Stevens on
“Catskill Animal Sanctuary,
A Green Haven for All”
with Part 1 airing Friday,
April 9 and Part 2
on Saturday, April 10.
In our society,
the law only punishes
someone who has done
something wrong
to the society.
The animals, they have
never done us any wrong.
They live their life
quietly, they’re eating
whatever God provides
them; they don’t harm us
in any way.
If we want to
call ourselves
a civilized human race,
we must protect
the animals’ lives, which
are linked to ours.
We have to protect them
because they are us –
because if we don’t
protect them,
we are vulnerable
because Heaven will not
forgive us, if we treat
other co-inhabitants
unkindly.
Also because now
we are at the point where
we must change
while there is still time,
otherwise we will face
disastrous consequences
and we might lose
the whole world,
our lives altogether.
If we want to receive
the mercy of Heaven for
our life here on Earth,
we must first be merciful
in granting the same
dignity and freedom
of life to the animals.