Animal rights activists in California have made strong efforts to expose the horrid conditions in some slaughterhouses around the country.
Recently a large group stood inside and out at one butcher stop in Oakland. Of them, 23 people were arrested and charged with trespassing for entering the facility and for removing three animals in their attempt to save them. The activists described seeing unbelievable suffering, abuse and cruelty to these animals.
They also reported seeing bunnies standing on top of each other, while some dead rabbits rotted in the same cages. Carcasses of these animals could be visibly seen. Along with the smell of death, the bunnies and other animals were eating each other, due to the fact that they were starving and extremely thirsty. Live quails were reportedly being thrown inside trash cans filled with dead ones.
Fortunately, the activists were able to save one rabbit, a quail and a lamb. They are currently recovering at a shelter. Police at the scene stopped the activists from saving more.
One animal rights activist named Samer Masterson, a 23-year-old software engineer, described the scene as “especially disgusting” and claims that he’s seen many slaughterhouses before.
“When I walked onto the kill floor, I wanted to throw up. The stench was overwhelming,” recalls Masterson. “All I saw were buckets full of dismembered legs and wings and heads. It looks like a scene from a horror film and it’s just down the road from where I live.”
No worse than industry standards
Despite these conditions, the activists believe they are no worse than the industry standard, which are run by large corporations. If anything they believe that some butchers and slaughterhouses are far worse because of the scale of abuse and advanced machinery, which makes it easier to remove human conscience from the process.
Perpetrated by the egg and poultry industries, debeaking is to painfully cut off the tip of a bird’s beak, usually with a hot blade 💔🐔 pic.twitter.com/JLTR0lycXC
— Mercy For Animals (@MercyForAnimals) October 30, 2017
Animals aren’t trash. pic.twitter.com/wtMbDuatah
— Mercy For Animals (@MercyForAnimals) October 31, 2017
Like all pigs on factory farms, Sarah’s life was grim. The only time she saw the sun was on her way to slaughter. 💔🐷 pic.twitter.com/mAHU3DFnb5
— Mercy For Animals (@MercyForAnimals) November 1, 2017
Why love one and eat the other? pic.twitter.com/jB6EJXkBuj
— Mercy For Animals (@MercyForAnimals) November 1, 2017
Masterson also claims that humans should question their right to be superior to animals when it comes to suffering.
Protests are getting much larger than they have been in the past, and activists are crediting increased involvement to their online presence. They believe that animal rights are on the brink of becoming a fully mainstream cause.
Animal rights have started to become a hot-button issue over the past couple months, especially when this video of a shark being dragged behind a boat went viral.
As seen, the shark was being tortured behind the boat. Many fishing groups and animal rights groups spread the video to raise awareness.
What are your thoughts on animal rights? Have you been to a slaughterhouse before? Will more attention be focused on the issue? Let us know!
— PJ Amirata
