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My experience at a slaughterhouse - Jade - 07-28-2017
At this point in time, I'm sure most of you have seen my post about visiting slaughterhouses and witnessing the animals that arrive there. If you haven't, then you must be aware by now that I am the resident loud mouthed vegan. I feel like I need to write about my experience here, because I feel like it has profoundly changed me in so many ways, and if I make the attempt, then maybe others can understand the position from which I come. I cannot even begin to articulate everything, but I feel I must try.
Where do I even begin...
Well, 2.5 years ago, I had the fortune to move to Colorado. Upon arriving here, the culture is obviously much different than that of Iowa. I joined a Vegan Colorado group on Facebook, so that we would know of the haps, learn about restaurants, etc. I'm not really a huge Facebook user, but I do post in groups far more than I post anywhere else. Occasionally, I would post in the vegan group, usually in "hot topic" threads, you know how I do... anyway, I started accumulating friends who were adding me because they liked what I had to say. It turns out, that by and large these people were directly involved in vegan activism.
We all know the eyeroll scene. I saw plenty of videos of overemotional hippies holding up signs and yelling at people eating out on patios downtown. I saw videos of Costco disruptions. Etc. Things that never really jived with me, to go and ruin someone's dinner out with veganism seems seriously counterproductive - one of the hardest things to give up in our culture is the ability to dine at any restaurant and choose from any number of exotic dishes. Obviously, going vegan seriously changes that part of your lifestyle, unless you live in a big town. Anyway, I also saw lots of really positive outreach events - like setting up a sample table of vegan goodies outside one of the health food stores. Brilliant! My circle of new vegan friends wasn't wide but it was active, and I admired their passion.
About two months ago, lightning struck. One of my more passionate activist friends started posting pictures of herself at a slaughterhouse where they were holding lambs. One video that she took stands out - of a door that was partially ajar, but held tight by a padlock - an unlocked padlock. One lamb had its nose stuck out and was trying to push the padlock off. Extremely heart wrenching and pitiful.
She stated her mission: To be there for these babies. There is actually a very large movement going on worldwide now - The Save Movement. These people visit slaughterhouses (usually giant ones) and "bear witness" to the animals in the giant trucks who are coming into the facility for their final breaths. Typically, these groups have signs, and they hold up the truck before it turns onto private property for two minutes - no more - and then let the truck go on its way. For busy slaughterhouses, they're stopping trucks like this all day, witnessing thousands of animals.
In Denver, it's different. This slaughterhouse is right downtown - buried between a bunch of junkyards. Parts of the building are even on public property (we have the official county assessor's maps). The truck has to park and unload, blocking the through traffic of a public street. We are able to walk right up to the truck, and be with it for the 30-60 minutes it takes to unload (usually faster when we are there...) and then the holding pens are just feet away from where we are allowed to stand. We are not allowed to touch the truck or the lambs (though we're not sure if this law applies, because you are allowed to touch a car on public property), and we are especially not allowed to give them any food or water. USDA regulations state that slaughtered animals must be void of food and water for 36 hours before being vivisected. The only purpose for this extreme and cruel torture is because when you are in a factory that is slaughtering hundreds to thousands of animals an hour, the excrement can get in the way of "cleanliness", so it's now just the law of the land. (Activists in Canada have been arrested for giving animals water) The ironic part is that the animals are ALWAYS, ENTIRELY covered in excrement by the the time they reach the slaughterhouse - but apparently it's more sanitary for it to be on the outside of the animal instead of the inside.
So, I'm aware in juxtaposition of many of the other Save chapters, that we have something special. And we all know this. And our main priority, first and foremost, is taking this opportunity to be near to the lambs and offer them comfort. We do just about everything we can to not step on anyone's toes and definitely not break any laws, because we don't want to lose this privilege. When I felt called to this, subversion was never a part of my plan. But, I must admit, that the "problems" we cause for the slaughterhouse are an extremely sweet side effect to our loving intentions. They've hired more security, bought a bunch of deterrent cameras (that aren't even plugged in....), put up black cloth along the kill pens (which before were totally visible from a bike trail that passes nearby), hired their own private assessors to come try rectify the property dispute, etc. We have not broke a single law, we just want to look at lambs that they slaughter adjacent to a busy public road.
The thing is - this is actually a "humane slaughterhouse". There is a USDA sign stating so on the building, and stating a list of rules that they must follow. However, we see them break these rules every single time we are there. For instance, they are not allowed to use dogs, and they are not allowed to do ANYTHING to make the lambs run out of the truck. However, usually the truck driver gets in the truck on all fours, basically being a dog, nipping at their ankles, grabbing them by the hocks and shoving them into each other. I've also seen them taunt these poor starving animals with Oreo cookies to get them to move off of the ramp faster.
A week ago, Kile and I spent most of the day at the slaughterhouse. We've mostly been doing weekly scheduled vigils with a larger group in the evening (15-25), but Kile and I and another girl went up early. Shortly after we arrived, a truck came. It was about 95 degrees, just before 2pm. The truck had arrived from Wyoming. The animals inside this metal truck hadn't had food or water in 36 hours. They are standing ankle deep in their own excrement. Not only is the temperature of the truck obscene - a giant metal cage with 200-250 wool covered bodies, sitting in the 95+ heat - but the smell. I can't even begin to describe what it's like being that close to a hot box full of so much ammonia and methane. The lambs are usually coughing and sneezing - and it sounds so eerily like human coughs and sneezes, my heart is wrenching in this moment just thinking about it. Just putting your face close enough to the truck will suck all the wind out of you and burn your throat and eyes.
Still, when you put your face near them, they will reach out to you. They will lick you. They will try to suckle your nose. When we start to sing, or play instruments, the lambs cry louder. They are begging for food, comfort, but ultimately, their mommies who they never even knew. They would obviously still be suckling. Usually the lambs are 5-6 months old, but we've seen them much, much younger - 2-3 months even. The truck we saw with the littlest babies was by far the saddest.
So, my feelings are: I've immersed myself in the suffering of animals, by choice. I'm trying to look at things and watch things that most people turn away from. Obviously this really upsets the slaughterhouse, even though they are "humane", even though their building is basically on public property, they are going out of their way to hide their routine daily practices from us. They hold trucks back when we are there - last week, we were witnessing til almost midnight, because after Kile, our friend, and I showed up for the 1:30 truck, they held TWO back until after 9pm when most of the official vigil crowd had dispersed. This event alone still haunts me and is extremely hard to deal with - yes, we have upped our practices to be a bit more "disruptive", just so they won't know exactly when we arrive. But knowing that they held two trucks, one that had already traveled in the sweltering heat from Iowa, one from South Dakota, and they made those poor babies sit in an unmoving truck somewhere in the pavement jungle of Denver - that directly I was part of the cause of that suffering - strong catalyst, indeed.
The first time the group showed up, we were not there - but they literally hid a truck. Around 11pm one of the guys finally gave up staying and left on his motorcycle because he had to work at 5am, and when he drove past one of the blocks he saw a transport truck parked behind a building, with the truck driver sleeping in the cab. So everyone descended upon the truck driver there, lol. Quite dramatic. Ever since they try to wait us out, or at least wait until most of the group leaves. So, part of me wrenches, because I know our presence there causes these babies even more suffering. But I also know that these babies have suffered every moment of their life, and their "caretakers" are the ones who choose to "hide" them, and my truest and purest intention is to be there and offer some form of comfort to these beings who have never experienced love, not even from their mothers.
The other extremely hard part is the fact that we cannot offer them any physical comfort. Ra says that when you see a starving entity, that you should feed it. These entities are starving, dying of thirst, begging to get out of their cage - and I cannot do a thing. All I am able to do is offer them metaphysical comfort, and I am so glad that I have the faith to know that it does far more than it seems like in the moment.
All I see, when I see these trucks full of lambs, are trucks full of puppies. They stick their long noses out, and their curly hair makes them look like poodles. Big puppies, who baa like lambs and cough and sneeze like people. I mostly tell them I love them, that they are beautiful, that I see them, and that I wish a better incarnation for them the next time they come around.
So please, next time you imagine a vegan activist in your head, don't think of the angry people screaming at you at Costco. Think of the beautiful groups of people, such as my dear friends, who spend their free time next to a slaughterhouse, engulfed by the elemental of death, singing songs of peace, liberation, and oneness to sweet crying baby lambs who are moments from getting their throat slit and their hides skinned while they are still alive and bleeding out.
I am not posting this for kudos. Neither kudos nor scorn will affect my strong call and desire to perform this service. I just thought I should make an attempt to explain some of the extreme events that I have experienced in the past month or so, and why my "vegan activism" badge is sparkling clear and bright. I believe this place is as fertile as any to begin making huge changes to our social memory complex, with combined will and intentions. I'm not saying that I believe the whole forum should all go vegan, but I do think it would be a big step in the right direction for us to seriously acknowledge the immense trauma, suffering, and exploitation being done to our whole planet in the name of a bacon cheeseburger and a pair of Ugg boots.
RE: My experience at a slaughterhouse - Jade - 07-28-2017
![[Image: 6xu3NJ4.jpg]](http://imgur.com/6xu3NJ4.jpg)
Hundreds of nameless faces... they don't always stay that way, though.
![[Image: lBEBAi1.jpg]](http://imgur.com/lBEBAi1.jpg)
One little buddy trying to pull the pin out of its cage... this picture isn't special, every single one of them that is pinned against the door tries to do this. They're not idiots, they've watched humans use these mechanisms to lock them up their whole lives.
![[Image: DyiJBov.jpg]](http://imgur.com/DyiJBov.jpg)
One picture of what it looks like inside the holding pens after it gets dark and they turn the lights on inside. If the shift ends and there are still lambs left, they have to stay there until morning (no food or water).
![[Image: 27ep7zQ.jpg]](http://imgur.com/27ep7zQ.jpg)
One of my new friends playing for the lambs, while two cops watch by. This was last Thursday. After the group left, and a couple stayed behind, the two trucks came - and about 7 or so total of us were there. They called the cops and told them 30-40 people were there and 8 cops showed up, including their three security guards - so 11 officers for the 7 of us. It's amazing how quickly the cops arrive when a business calls to tell them (lies!) that people are interfering with their ability to make money... yet when I was in a car accident a few weeks ago I spent over an hour and a half directing traffic around my disabled car on a blind curve and no cops ever came - until after a second accident happened in the exact same spot.
RE: My experience at a slaughterhouse - isis - 07-28-2017
very moving. made me cry
RE: My experience at a slaughterhouse - Jade - 08-01-2017
Yesterday morning we held a vigil beginning at 5:30AM. They did not like this. Kile and I woke at 4am but didn't arrive until 6:30. Shortly after we got there, 5 cops arrived. One of the cops was very aggro (it's like a box of chocolates...) and one of the other cops was one of the first one's to deal with our organizer, and still doesn't like her.
Here was one of their first conversations:
Cop: Can I have your name, please?
Organizer: I'm sorry, I was advised by my lawyers to not give any information.
Cop: Oh, only animal rights lawyers advise their clients to do that - all other lawyers tell their clients to work with the cops.
Lol!
Anyway, so one of the cops decided that we were gonna get cited for trespassing. But only one of us was. It was their was of dealing with it, because they are sick of the slaughterhouse calling and saying we're trespassing when we have city records that say we are on private property. However, the slaughterhouse's private surveyors said something different... so the cops are siding with the private surveyors over the city. Of course the cops didn't say that, they said it wasn't even saying that we had done anything wrong (lol) it was just forcing us to go to court and have the surveyors settle it, I guess.
But, the slaughterhouse of course never got a citation. They've also never been chastised (or maybe finally they have now) for calling the cops repeatedly and lying about what we're doing. We are literally not even trying to interfere with their business - we just want to watch them do the business that they do on public property. This is our right. If they decide to hold back trucks, that's their choice. I think a judge will agree with that.
Anyway, it's very interesting. The truck drivers are becoming familiar faces now. Yesterday's truck was the same truck driver we saw when it was just Kile, one other, and me. Most of them, but this one especially, enjoys throwing the sheep's poop on us as he's clearing out the truck. I got a very clear video of it yesterday (even though my glasses were smeared with feces!). Oh well. They actually put straw down for the sheep to help absorb the waste at the bottom of the truck - I guess when you go witness the cows, they are just standing in liquid filth and you get covered in it.
These 'lambs' we saw today were the oldest yet. A lamb is a sheep under a year old, and I'm pretty sure this is only a lamb slaughterhouse, but Kile (who had sheep before) said it looked like they hadn't been sheared or had hoof work done in at least 18 months. most of their feet were overgrown and curled over - Kile said that means they likely have maggots inside their hooves. Most of them were so overgrown that the wool literally covered their eyes - making them blind.
These ones were really scared of us, and many of them were in heat stroke. The truck was too small for any of them to even be able to stand up straight. None of them had ear tags, because literally every single one of them had had the ear tag ripped out and had mangled earlobes.
This baby right here took a piece of me with it into that slaughter floor.
![[Image: 1dyy5q6.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/1dyy5q6.jpg)
Misery upon misery upon misery...
![[Image: bT7AYEJ.jpg]](http://imgur.com/bT7AYEJ.jpg)
![[Image: FW50mvY.jpg]](http://imgur.com/FW50mvY.jpg)
They were all shaved here on their ankles... presumably from injections they were receiving...
Shortly, one of my friends is arriving today from Denver so that we can go scout the one small slaughterhouse that is here in town and hopefully go to the county clerk's office to order a surveyor's map.
RE: My experience at a slaughterhouse - Steppingfeet - 08-01-2017
(07-28-2017, 01:16 PM)Bring4th_Jade Wrote: I'm not saying that I believe the whole forum should all go vegan, but I do think it would be a big step in the right direction for us to seriously acknowledge the immense trauma, suffering, and exploitation being done to our whole planet in the name of a bacon cheeseburger and a pair of Ugg boots.
I acknowledge the immense trauma, suffering, and exploitation being done to our whole planet in the name of insert myriad truly unnecessary things.
Thank you for keeping this vigil, Jade, and bringing awareness to places of pain where many would rather not look.
RE: My experience at a slaughterhouse - Jade - 08-04-2017
"Vegan activists tearfully protest as pigs head to slaughter - in pictures"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2017/aug/04/animal-activists-vegan-protest-los-angeles?CMP=share_btn_fb
RE: My experience at a slaughterhouse - Jade - 08-18-2017
Wearing diapers on the "disassembly line" at slaughterhouses is very normal, as the speed of the line is too fast and dangerous to allow people to walk away at their bladder's discretion. Would you work a job where you had to wear a diaper, if you thought you had any other choice?
http://www.morganton.com/news/groups-protest-outside-case-farms-for-right-to-use-bathroom/article_c0620152-8147-11e7-8f98-877e2616926c.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share
The thing that often keeps people at their horrible jobs is not the wages, but the insurance benefits. Often people have a sick child or spouse who depends on the freedom of being able to obtain doctor care when a crisis happens. If the slaughterhouse offers good benefits, which they almost have to because it is one of the most dangerous jobs around, it is a huge incentive for people to force themselves to do this awful, terrible job, for the direct wellbeing of their loved ones. The whole system is so messed up, all of it. The lack of single payer healthcare in the US is merely so the plutocrats can continue to control the working class in such a way: slavery through their own free will. Such an amazing playground we live in!
RE: My experience at a slaughterhouse - YinYang - 08-20-2017
UK supermarket may have infected thousands with Hepatitis E virus from sausages and pork of EU pigs, researchers warn
Quote:Imported pork infects between 150,000 and 200,000 British people a year with the virus, the new research claims, and the products mainly come from Holland and Germany.
Quote:Hepatitis E, which is officially called HEV G3-2, can cause liver cirrhosis (scarring of the liver which prevents it working properly) and neurological damage.
Quote:One person interviewed had to go to intensive care after suffering a paralysed diaphragm when he contracted the virus from Dutch salami. He told The Times he had not recovered yet.
Dutch scientists claimed the virus is spread by collecting slaughtered pigs' blood before adding it back to the meat after processing it but without sterilising it.