By Dan Wilson
It never ceases to amaze me how companies that exploit and slaughter other animals twist and bury the truth in order to sell their “products” or boost their public image.
And they always get away with it. Why is that? Oh right, because we let them. Otherwise, we’d be complaining and writing letters to those who regulate and guarantee truth in advertising.
If a billboard went up today advertising that cigarettes are good for you, or make you look cool, people would go ballistic. In fact, the ad would never get approved in the first place.
But when it comes to animal agriculture, we turn a blind eye. We allow false advertising, even encourage it, so we’re not reminded of how our meat and other animal products get to our table.
That’s why Ribfest uses a smiling pig in a chef’s hat (or coveralls) for its logo. That’s why milk and dairy products come in packages bearing pictures of happy heifers in idyllic fields. And that’s why the egg industry lies to its customers.
A generic photo of egg-laying hens, crammed in 'battery cages', hardly free ranging. Photo courtesy of Liberation BC.
The question is: “Who Made Your Eggs Today?” And we have a picture of an egg farmer for the answer. Well my friends, the egg farmer didn’t make the eggs. He’s a man, a mammal, incapable of producing eggs. Chickens produce eggs, not humans.
If this billboard (one of many around the peninsula right now) was accurate, it would show a picture of six or seven birds, crammed into a battery cage, struggling to move around.
Their beaks would be cut off with a hot blade (and no pain-killers) so they can’t peck each other – a stress-induced behaviour – and risk damaging the production units (the industry’s term for chickens). And they might even be covered in fecal matter dripping down from the cages above them. Not a pretty picture.
So instead of the truth, we have a lie: a smiling farmer instead of a tortured little bird.
The truth is, the animals who make your eggs are sentient. That means they can feel pain, experience stress and terror, and suffer, just like your pet cat or dog. We shut down puppy mills that treat dogs in this manner, but support factory farms that treat chickens in this manner. Why?
I’d like to see some real truth in animal agriculture advertising. Maybe then people would consider going vegan.
(For more information on factory farming involving chickens and other animals visit the following link – http://www.chooseveg.ca/animal-cruelty-canada.asp )
Dan Wilson is a Niagara resident, frequent contributor to Niagara At Large, longtime advocate for all animals, and a vegan.
(Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to residents in our greater binational Niagara region.)
Niagara At Large 
For the record, I don’t endorse so-called “free-range” eggs, meat or dairy products. Free-range is just as cruel, and in the end, when the animals’ egg or milk producing days are over, they’re slaughtered for their flesh. That’s the business of animal agriculture. It doesn’t intend to be cruel; it’s simply the only way to be competitive and cost-efficient. But cruelty is cruelty and violence is violence. The only way to end cruelty and violence is to go vegan.
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Brilliant article, Dan.
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Thanks Dan! This is a fantastic piece.
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Great article Dan. Thanks for getting our collective rage on the page for this one.
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Great job, Dan!
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If we were not meant to eat animals why are they made out of food? On the other hand, I wonder what goes through the mind of a “sentient” rabbit as a plough slices through its home and its offspring? You turn a blind eye to the violence of crop agriculture. Such hypocrisy! I guess you have never wondered how many animals where slaughtered to deliver your veggie burger. I suppose that’s just acceptable collateral damage.
Your attitude is typical of generations of people that have never known hunger. Place you in a different part of the world you might just be greatful that someone was skillful enough to kill your supper for you.
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Is it too much to give some dignity to our food animals? I see why the Vegans are gaining traction with their message of no animal in their diets. many of the old native tribes gave a prayer for the bear or deer that gave it’s life for their dinner. even the jews were told to give a modicum of respect when they slaughtered an animal, it had to be quick and done in one slice of the knife, and drained of all blood. It is a nasty business but at the present time it is accepted.
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I hunt so I know what free range is but I also know you don’t support that Mr Wilson but why chickens?
Dan where can I find a vegan restaurant in Niagara? I would like to give it a try. As I get older I crave meat less and vegan is not out of the question forever. I still contend that passing on hunting skills to my kids is very important but that doesn’t dictate what I have to eat. So what is available locally in March “naturally”?
Yes all animals whether food, pets or otherwise deserve the respect we would give each other.
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Hi Wayne! I appreciate your comments and let me clarify if I can. You wrote: “If we were not meant to eat animals why are they made out of food?” Humans are also made of food (flesh, meat, call it what you will) but we shouldn’t endorse the killing and eating of them either.
It’s true that many animals are displaced/killed to grow crops, regardless of one’s dietary preference. I wish this weren’t so, but it’s a sad reality. I wish, and support, methods which reduce the number of “collateral” deaths to grow our food. We all make an impact on this planet. The idea is to reduce as much suffering and death as possible. But there is a big difference between accidentally killing an animal (walking in the park and stepping on ants hidden in the grass; hitting a bird or raccoon while driving your car) and going out of your way to slaughter an animal for your own personal pleasure (because you like the taste of her flesh).
You wrote: “Place you in a different part of the world you might just be greatful that someone was skillful enough to kill your supper for you.” I’m happy I live in a place and time where I have the choice NOT to cause other animals to suffer and die for me. But the point is, we DON’T live in a different part of the world so there’s no need to hunt or raise animals for slaughter.
And may I also point out that we both live in a country where many humans go hungry every day, even in our cities. If we gave the food we grow to people, instead of cows, pigs and chickens (a very inefficient and environmentally-devastating practice) we could rid our society, perhaps even the world, of hunger.
Thanks George for your comments too. It IS a nasty business. We should all try to reduce or eliminate all the nastiness from our lives.
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