Conveyor Belt of Death
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EXCLUSIVE By Sean Poulter
Last updated at 6:58 AM on 4th November 2010This is the reality for millions of chicks in Britain every year.
Fluffy yellow youngsters travel on conveyor belts at hatcheries dotted across the country – half to their death, the other half to egg farms.
The males are immediately discarded – and either gassed or thrown into macerating machines, which kill instantly.
Undercover filming by the campaigning welfare group Viva has captured the reality of the early days of factory farm chickens.
Once hatched, the chicks are placed onto a conveyor belt system to be sexed and sorted.
Bleak existence: Once hatched the chicks are placed onto a conveyor belt system to be sexed and sorted
Immediately killed: These male chicks have been gassed and are falling out of the machine
While the females will survive this initial process, their heads are placed into machines that will automatically clip away the ends of their beaks and inoculate them against disease.
In some hatcheries the tips of the beaks are removed using a hot wire.
This is done to ensure the birds do not peck and injure each other out of the frustration of spending their lives in cramped wire battery cages.
The same machine will inoculate them against various diseases common in the cage systems used on farms in Britain and around the world.
Even chicks going into other systems, such as free range, will have the end of their beaks cut off.
There was nothing illegal in the activities witnessed by Viva’s undercover team, however the images demonstrate the reality behind the idyllic farmyard pictures plastered over supermarket egg boxes.
Viva is a pro-vegetarian organisation and would prefer people to turn their back on eating eggs. The filming took place at two hatcheries in this country in August.
At one, the male chicks are gassed in a machine before the bodies are then packaged to be fed to reptiles.
Life and death: This woman is sorting males from females to catch any that were missed in the gassing room and is pictured flinging a male chick from the conveyor belt into a crate
Coming up for air: This little chick’s head was poking out of a crate
At the second the male chicks are picked up in handfuls and dropped alive into a mincing machine in a process known as IMD – Instantaneous Mechanical Destruction.
Even chicks going into other systems, such as free range, will have the end of their beaks cut off.
The official line of the UK egg producing industry is that this destruction method is uncommon.
However, the recent footage demonstrates IMD is routinely used by at least one major hatchery.
Both of these slaughter methods are approved by Government’s food and farming department, Defra, and the Humane Slaughter Association.
Viva campaigns manager, Justin Kerswell, said: ‘It is the hidden horror that the egg industry does not want you to see.
Star support: Actor Martin Shaw – aka Judge John Deed – backs Viva‘For the first time ever in the UK, the egg industry’s number one secret has been exposed: what happens to male chicks.
‘In egg production male chicks are surplus to requirements, which means that they are sorted from the females in vast warehouses and then killed in their thousands at just a day or two old.
‘Identical to the chicks you see on Easter greeting cards, these uncomprehending young birds are either sent on a conveyor belt to be gassed or thrown alive into electric mincers.
‘Our undercover investigator has revealed the awful truth that underpins the British egg industry.’
He said: ‘The female chicks don’t get it much better. Roughly sorted from the males, they too are transported on a seemingly never ending conveyor belt.
‘However, they are vaccinated and have the tip of their beaks cut off, which is potentially painful to these young animals.’
Mr Kerswell said the conveyor belt system in the egg hatcheries is not unique to the chicks that go into battery cages.
The same system is used to sort those which move to barn, free range or even most organic egg farms.
‘It is an unimaginable waste of life – and all just to bring an egg to your morning table,’ he said.
The actor Martin Shaw, who starred as Judge John Deed is a vegetarian and supporter of Viva. He described the footage as ‘shocking’.
He said: ‘This exposes the mass murder and mutilation of thousands of baby chicks – at the hands of the British egg industry.
Common abroad: Masceration is more widespread in other countries (file photo)
‘Supporting this cruel industry sees the continuation of the slaughter of male baby birds for no reason, other than their sex.’
The British Egg Information Service defended industry practises.
Despite the evidence of the Viva footage, the organisation claimed it was unusual to put live chicks into mascerators in this country – although not illegal.
It said: ‘In the egg industry, on hatching, chicks are immediately segregated into the male and female sexes by feather colour identification. Obviously, only females lay eggs.
‘In the past the male chicks were used for poultry meat but the broiler meat industry has now developed specific strains of chicken which grow quickly. The male chicks from egg-laying breeds are not suitable.
‘It is therefore necessary to dispose of the male chicks using a method approved by DEFRA and monitored by the Government’s Animal Health Agency.
‘Disposal is normally carried out by exposure to carbon dioxide or a mixture of carbon dioxide and argon, which is quick and painless, following a Code of Practice approved by the Humane Slaughter Association.
‘The male chicks then provide a valuable source of food for other species such as reptiles and birds of prey.’
It said hatcheries are required to have mascerators by law, but said these are mainly used to dispose of unhatched eggs.
‘It is not in the industry’s commercial interest to throw chicks alive into mascerators, although this is not illegal,’ it said.
‘Masceration of live chicks is common in other countries including the USA.’
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Thank you for sharing this. Horrible but necessary to see the truth.
Other animals such as pigs, sheep and cattles that are destined to be our food also live and die horribly.
As best as i can, i will abstain from taking meat, especially red meat. But i find that increasingly most foodstall or food court meal/dishes have pork in them. Even the vege and soup they also put pork inside...
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http://www.causes.com/causes/343216-watch-earthlings?recruiter_id=151968601
Watch this documentary, Earthlings. Grown men can cry watching this.
hehe dun mind the the causes link ya?
thank you Wisdomeye for sharing this article.
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i am also guilty of taking eggs... as best as i can, i think i will definitely watch and reduce my own intake...
meat wise, i have cut due to the help and blessings of my teachers... many enlightened masters who can see into countless past lives and the causes-and-effects of situations, have advised to be vegetarian... in fact, many of our sicknesses and calamities now are due to the killing karma we have accumulated... i personally opine that one who takes meat all his life in this day and age will almost be certain to have not inconsiderable suffering at the point of his death, not to mention the karma that can ripen in afterlives and in the bardo.
Of course, that is just my opinion and people can call me an extremist fanatic. I can only suggest that people read up on case-studies of other people who have sickness and how they cured it and what the teacher suggested etc. Back in an earlier post, i posted a link to the website of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche who strongly advocates vegetarianism and has many case-studies of helping people who were very sick... if one reads such case-studies, then one may have a deeper conviction of the karmic laws involved.
In Singapore, the most venerable Drubwang Konchok Norbu Rinpoche has highly emphasized vegetarianism. Most of his disciples will know that Drubwang Rinpoche has attained the view of the inseparability of samsara and nirvana and in the film on Tibetan Yogis, he has admitted that he has seen into his countless past lives about how he has gone into the lower realms many times... he is renowned for knowing things in the past, present and future... one of his most urgent advice for people is to stop taking meat. So it goes to show that there is serious consequences for taking meat.
The problem with taking meat in this present time (compared with the time of our ancestors) is greatly exacerbated by our heavy meat dependent lifestyle and the way animal factories are run to increase productivity and to meet heavy demand. The animals are put in extremely great suffering all their lives, many of them actually going mad in captivity, and you can imagine that due to that, the amount of suffering brought upon fellow-sentient beings will not be the same level as it was in the past when animals were reared in a more natural fashion... for many reasons such as these, it is the responsibility of those who understand and have some sense of sympathy in them to do something.
It may not be full vegetarianism, but one can always reduce intake, be vegetarian on certain days, advise friends & family, share awareness of the situation.
We cannot afford to keep inflicting so much harm on others for our own petty enjoyments... one day, the collective backlash will come and it won't be easy to bear... so i hope people will at least consider and think further... to practise Buddhism, it is not sure that many people will realise the ultimate stage of emptiness and liberation, but at the very least, love and compassion for all beings is a very possible goal and a way to tame & train our minds and reduce mental defilements.
We should not consider that love and compassion or bodhichitta is not an important part of Buddhism, because without it, the very lifeforce of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will be gone. Think about it, it is only due to the past aspirations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas made through their unbearable compassion for beings, that now we can reduce karma and gain blessings through reciting their names, mantras and praying to them. If the very notion of bodhichitta were not present, then the Buddhadharma would not be present today, as it would have been wiped out long ago by many external and internal obstacles. It is only due to the compassionate and arduous efforts of bodhisattvas who return in many forms to help, that the Buddhadharma today still exists. Truly, we can't repay the kindness of the Buddhas or bodhisattvas enough.
Yet, i believe, through my own experience and understanding, that the main way to repay their kindness is to help them carry out their work of benefitting beings, by developing the compassionate attitude within ourselves. This is also the greatest way to please their holy minds and the best way to develop spiritually. If one neglects the path of bodhichitta, then I feel that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will never be pleased. In a sutra it is said, if all the teachings of the Buddha were to be encapsulated, it would be great compassion.
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poor chickies!!
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someone from other faith told me. god created them to be eaten by us, no need to feel guilty about it. thats the callous comments from some major religion.
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I do remember seeing a video of the chicks being sent into an industrial grinder to be grinded alive
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Poor chicks.
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
someone from other faith told me. god created them to be eaten by us, no need to feel guilty about it. thats the callous comments from some major religion.
He should visualise someone stabbing him the pain. This might make him realise Animals have rights to live too.
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Originally posted by Pure Emptiness:
He should visualise someone stabbing him the pain. This might make him realise Animals have rights to live too.
well, cant blame them for their beliefs, because they have been taught like this.
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
well, cant blame them for their beliefs, because they have been taught like this.
My freethinker frenz said some animals are meant to be killed n be food on our table.Some animals are in zoo for ppl to see. Some animals are pets.
Different animals different reason of existence.
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Originally posted by Pure Emptiness:
My freethinker frenz said some animals are meant to be killed n be food on our table.Some animals are in zoo for ppl to see. Some animals are pets.
Different animals different reason of existence.
we ourselves are also an animal higher up in the food chain. that is the dilemma and plight of existence isnt it. that is life.
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As buddhists, we should pool up money to buy those chicks and then release them back to their natural habitat. It is an important way of demonstrating buddhist piety.
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Originally posted by googoomuck:
As buddhists, we should pool up money to buy those chicks and then release them back to their natural habitat. It is an important way of demonstrating buddhist piety.
Buddhists are smarter than you because they understand the law of demand and supply. I advise you to read up more so you will not appear so ignorant in forum.
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Originally posted by googoomuck:
As buddhists, we should pool up money to buy those chicks and then release them back to their natural habitat. It is an important way of demonstrating buddhist piety.
The solution you offered is not feasible because:-
1) the sheer number of chicks born, and lack of suitable habitable, that is the traditionally run farming, like a small kampong farm where chickens roam freerange and not really economically feasible in modern terms.
2) Chickens are are fowl, and the chicks will follow the creature or person once it is imprinted as it's parents. It follow the mother hen every to forage for food.
These mass slaugther is connected to modern affluence, I can even remember there was one American party slogan"A chicken in every pot "
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Be calm and peace, vow to liberate them all when you recover supreme enlightenment. If Buddhist and vegetarians eat eggs, you can show your compassion by avoiding from it. Compassion brings bliss, harmony and well beings. According to enlightened master such as Venerable Bao Zhi Gong, they are living beings' past life parents who had fell into the virtual animals realm due to ignorance.
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Everytime i go home. I c foodstall I felt tempted to buy. Cant be vegetarian this life.
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hi pure emptiness,
i think you can succeed but take time... why don't u just reduce meat intake first... don't be impatient... rejoice that others are vegetarian and for yourself, encourage people to reduce meat intake...
by reducing meat intake yourself, and encouragin others gently, u r creating the causes for more lives to be saved, creating merits and further causes for yourself to be vegetarian in future ok...
everything takes time, even plants you can't hurry them to grow faster, we have to just practice diligently,consistently, train our minds and be contented and happy... let the results take care of themselves. If you are very anxious to have results fast, you will make many mistakes... every single attainment or result in practice comes from small drops of practice accumulated day by day over long time to form a great ocean of qualities or merits... it is not something easy to get... but we have to start right now, as time is running out always.
(p/s: please don't be pushy or judgemental of others who choose to continue their diet... we can only suggest in a way that they can accept... if they can't, then just forget it ...)
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Originally posted by wisdomeye:
hi pure emptiness,
i think you can succeed but take time... why don't u just reduce meat intake first... don't be impatient... rejoice that others are vegetarian and for yourself, encourage people to reduce meat intake...
by reducing meat intake yourself, and encouragin others gently, u r creating the causes for more lives to be saved, creating merits and further causes for yourself to be vegetarian in future ok...
everything takes time, even plants you can't hurry them to grow faster, we have to just practice diligently,consistently, train our minds and be contented and happy... let the results take care of themselves. If you are very anxious to have results fast, you will make many mistakes... every single attainment or result in practice comes from small drops of practice accumulated day by day over long time to form a great ocean of qualities or merits... it is not something easy to get... but we have to start right now, as time is running out always.
(p/s: please don't be pushy or judgemental of others who choose to continue their diet... we can only suggest in a way that they can accept... if they can't, then just forget it ...)
I reduced meat intake.
I don't force ppl to be vegetarians or judge them. Shui Yuan.
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Originally posted by Pure Emptiness:
Everytime i go home. I c foodstall I felt tempted to buy. Cant be vegetarian this life.
Don't say you can't. When you say that, you weaken your own resolve to be one. Always say "Yes, I can be a vegetarian and I will be one."
Whenever you think you can't you can ask yourself "why is it that millions of people like me can be vegetarians but I can't? why can't I renounce the flavour of meat?"
For some people, it is necessary to set a date to go forth on the path. It's like travelling. If I just say "I will go to X place one day, I am trying to plan to go to X place one day, I am gathering info on X place and such" but if I never set a date to go, I can continue to say that forever without ever reaching X place. If we tell ourselves we are reducing A food in our meals, but we keep telling ourselves we are reducing without having a firm resolve to cut it off by a certain stage we will be stuck at the "reducing: stage.
For a firm resolve, try and build a firm altruistic motivation. If a person goes veg with reasons that is more personal or self-benefitting, it is not so easy to stay a vegetarian. If a person builds the motivation on other sentient beings, and deepens the motivation, the motivation will be stronger.
Some suggestions on steps for going veg
1) Build a firm motivation to go veg
2) Reduce meat intake
3) Do research on what is a healthy balanced veg diet and start incoporating into your diet
4) Pick a certain date to go veg from that on
5) Make some like-minded veg friends and keep in touch
6) Re-read and do further research to increase your understanding and keep you motivated to stay vegPoints 2) - 6) give you support to stay veg and while you are at 2) - 6) keep increasing point 1) to strengthen your resolve.
After a while on a veg diet, you may start to find your body may change to become more sensitive to unhealthy food, so you will need to tweak your diet to adjust by sourcing for healthier unprocessed foods.
Forgot to add... on cravings - you may get them once in a while or often. Just ignore them, if you give in to them once, it is very easy for the 2nd and 3rd to follow. And in no time at all back to eating meat. Also those thoughts in your head, and talks outside your head telling you to eat meat or telling you veg will make you weak etc. ignore them. In this aspect remember "Ignorance" is bliss haha..
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Hi Pure emptiness,
I'm struggling to become a full-time vegetarian. Everytime i succeed.. i feel really happy.
I used to be really greedy and i can't get over the taste of some burger etc. Till now, i'm still greedy but okay at least i know i am greedy. Just slowly cut down on taking meat and also getting to know some really nice vegetarian food for a glutton. Okay i also know being a glutton also not healthy and wholesome... so i'm still trying to change for the better.
If we put our feet in the animal's shoes.. i think it will be really horrific to be reared in a very inhumane condition and finally be slaughtered. Bottomline: Animals have feeling and they are not only just animals. To them, their life is also as precious as ours..
you can try becoming a vegetarian......
During the holy month of Saka Dawa(Buddhas Enlightenment and Paranirvana) one can take one of the following pledges:
* To become vegetarian for this whole life
* To become vegetarian for one year
* To become vegetarian for the month of Saka Dawa ( June 1 - June 30)
* Keep precepts for the whole month of Saka Dawa
* Keep precepts on all special days of Buddha and all precept days for the whole life
* Not to eat meat during all special days of Buddha (4 days in a year) for one year
* We can also promise not to get angry during this month of Saka Dawa.just my few cents
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Thanks ISIS.
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what's the use of being a vegetarian, but one's pride, anger, stubborness and ego are still as strong.
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
what's the use of being a vegetarian, but one's pride, anger, stubborness and ego are still as strong.
Reduce karma of eating meat. -
What's the use of eating meat when one's pride, anger, stubborness and ego are strong? Eating meat does not help in reducing these negativities. Not eating meat does help in lessening some negativities, but it does not mean acquiring a "holier than thou" attitude. Even if going veg has no impact on the negativities, it can still lessen the impact on earth, by preventing cancer, creating less demand for animal husbandry, and helping to reduce the impact on environmental destruction. So why not?