The hell of the slaughterhouses.

Every year, approximately 268 million mammals and 6 billion birds are killed in the Americas and Europe for food. But few are those who consciously establish the relationship between this slaughter and the meat that makes up their menu. Here is a relevant example:

A television commercial shows a clown, Ronald MC Donald, informing the children that burgers grow in squares of land reserved for this purpose. The truth is not so rosy, commercial slaughterhouses are hell. The howling animals, stunned with hammers, electric shocks or automatic pistols, are hoisted into the air by the legs and conveyed on conveyors to these factories of death. Often, their throats are slit and butchered while still alive.

Describing his reaction to a visit to the slaughterhouse, tennis champion Pater Burwash writes in his book “A Vegetarian Primer”:

“I am not a sensitive and shy person. I played hockey until I lost half of my teeth. A great competitive spirit drives me on the tennis court... But this visit to the slaughterhouse really moved me. When I got out, I knew I would never hurt the animals again. I knew all the physiological and ecological arguments in favor of vegetarianism, but it was this experience of human cruelty to animals that convinced me of the need to be vegetarian”.

Gandhi and Vegetarianism

It stands to reason that Gandhi, the apostle of nonviolence of the twentieth century, was a vegetarian. His parents, pious Hindus, never fed him meat, fish or eggs. Under British rule, the ancient customs and principles of Indian culture were greatly threatened. Under such pressure, many Indians adopted the western meat diet. Even Gandhi fell victim to the advice of his classmates, who prompted him to eat meat under the pretext that it would increase his strength and courage. But, returning later to vegetarianism, he writes:

“We must correct the misconception that vegetarianism has made us weak in mind, passive or inactive. I do not deem animal foods necessary at any stage”.

Author of five books on vegetarianism, Gandhi ate daily on wheat germ, marzipan, green vegetables, lemon and honey. He founded “Tolstoy Farm”, a community based on the principles of vegetarianism. In his book “Moral basis of Vagetarianism”, he writes:

“I argue that meat eating is not suitable for gender human. We are wrong to imitate animals if we are superior to them”.