MEAT ?
Meat
Anyone who tells you that humans are supposed to eat meat knows absolutely nothing about the human body because it's actually the length of your intestine that donates what you are designed to eat. See the table below:
Carnivore | Herbivore | Human |
---|---|---|
has claws | no claws | no claws |
no pores on skin; perspires through tongue to cool body | perspires through millions of pores on skin | perspires through millions of pores on skin |
sharp, pointed front teeth to tear flesh | no sharp, pointed front teeth | no sharp, pointed front teeth |
no flat back molar teeth to grind food | has flat, back molar teeth to grind food | has flat, back molar teeth to grind food |
small salivary glands in the mouth (not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits) | well-developed salivary glands, needed to pre-digest grains and fruits | well-developed salivary glands, needed to pre-digest grains and fruits |
acid saliva; no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains | alkaline saliva; much ptyalin to pre-digest grains | alkaline saliva; much ptyalin to pre-digest grains |
strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest tough animal muscle, bone, etc. | stomach acid 20 times weaker than that of meat-eaters | stomach acid 20 times weaker than that of meat-eaters |
intestinal tract only 3 times body length, so rapidly decaying meat can pass out of body quickly | intestinal tract several times body length (plant foods decay slowly so can take their time to pass through the body) | intestinal tract several times body length |
Note on omnivores: Just because we are able to eat meat, that doesn't mean we are meant to eat meat. If we were then we would have a shorter intestine. Anyone who has studied the human body in any depth would know we actually have the same bodily make-up as a frugivore, which is a type of herbivore that eats a substantial portion of fruit.
Humans are 100% herbivore. We don't have claws, or perspire through our tongues - our saliva is alkaline. So don't take any notice of the argument that cavemen ate meat - what's that got to do with now? It's the 21st century, we have evolved, and there's no longer any excuse for ignoring the facts. Put simply, when a human being eats meat it often stays in the gut (stomach) for up to 7 days, digesting, sometimes longer. Often, not all of it gets completely digested either, which means you can have rotting flesh trapped in your colon for ages! And you know what happens when you leave a piece of flesh in a warm environment - it smells and it rots. That's why all meat is kept in a cooler, but unfortunately our gut system is very warm and so meat starts to decay as soon as it enters the stomach. Doesn't sound very healthy does it?
Surprisingly Medical Doctors currently receive just one day of training in Nutrition over a six-year period (in the USA it is only 4 hours).
Thankfully though, these days more and more top scientists, the ones right at the top of their game, are saying "Don't eat meat" and here's why:
Meat that is sold in supermarkets and butcher's shops is loaded with growth hormones, antibiotics and pesticide residues. Worse still, we now know BSE (mad cow's disease) can pass from species to species, so if you eat dead cow's flesh you can get the human form of the disease, called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Figures released in 2007 showed that 130 people have now died of CJD and in humans there is an incubation period before the disease becomes rife. So, no doubt this number will climb considerably over the next few years.
But it's not just beef that's bad, almost all meat today is loaded with antibiotics, not to mention hormones which are an issue too whether you are eating beef, chicken, pork, lamb or any other type of meat. Meat is one of the worst foods for being loaded with chemicals, sauces and salt to add flavour to it. It's extremely acidic too and so is really bad for your gut.
Meat-eating is linked to heart disease and cancer, particularly stomach and colon cancer. A meat-eater is also likely to suffer from degenerative disorders (cancer, heart disease, alzheimers, arthritis, strokes, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, etc.) ten years earlier than a vegetarian.
People don't need to eat lots of protein, in fact high protein diets are extremely dangerous. There is a compelling case that animal protein alone increases the risk of getting cancer, osteoporosis and type 2 diabetes. Your kidneys too cannot handle large amounts of protein.
Kidney failure is becoming a common thing in hospitals across the UK. And in studies on individuals who had mild kidney problems, those who ate meat protein showed no improvement, only further deterioration.
Many people think that chicken meat is healthier than red meat but they are incorrect. Chicken and all meats are muscles, which are made of protein and fat. Chicken and turkey meat are the leading source of fat in most people's diets these days due to the misconception that white meat is a healthier option than red meat. Amazingly though, a medium sized chicken contains almost a pint of fat or gram for gram as much fat as a Big Mac! And let's not forget cholesterol because cholesterol from white meat is just as good at causing heart disease as any other cholesterol. The human body produces cholesterol on its own and doesn't need outside sources. Remember, plant foods contain NO cholesterol.
The risk of contracting the modern world's no.1 killer - heart disease - is considerably raised by eating animal protein. Don't forget that saturated animal fat is solid at room temperature, some is even solid at body temperature, so it's no wonder it clogs your arteries. The world's no.2 killer - cancer - is also linked to consumption of excessive animal protein. It is now a well-known and well documented fact that a cancer cell will not survive in an alkaline environment. However, it will thrive in an acidic environment and you are turning your system acidic every time you eat animal proteins.
Animal proteins also have a negative effect on calcium stores because the amino acids contain sulfur, which in turn affects the body's pH balance. Plant-based proteins tend to have lower concentrations of sulfur-based amino acids and are more alkaline in nature.
Meat, being very acidic, causes the body to re-balance itself by leeching alkaline calcium out of the bones to neutralize the acid. This calcium is then excreted in the urine. This phenonomen, called the 'calciuric response' may well contribute to an increased risk of developing osteoporosis.
What you eat can greatly affect your health and well-being. Scientific studies have shown time and again that choosing healthy foods, namely plant-based ones, can reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. Very simply, if you care about your health, let your lifestyle habits evolve and eliminate meat from your diet today!
Holford, P., 57, The New Optimum Nutrition Bible
www.viva.org.uk/guides/healthiestdietofall.htm
Dr Robert O. Young, The pH Miracle
Dr Michael Klaper, A Diet For All Reasons
Holford, P., 58, The New Optimum Nutrition Bible
Dickerson, J.W.T. et al., Disease patterns in individuals with different eating patterns', Journal of the Royal Society of Health, vol 105, pp. 191-4 (1985)
Holford, P., 60, The New Optimum Nutrition Bible
www.pcrm.org/news/commentary090402.html
Knight, E. et al., Annals Internal Medicine, vol 138 (6), pp. 460-7 (18 March 2003)
Dr Michael Greger, Latest in Clinical Nutrition 2008
www.drlam.com/articles/2002-No2-BeefChickenorFish.asp#ShellfishNoThanks
www.vegetarian.org.uk/
www.viva.org.uk/
www.animalaid.org.uk/
www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nutrition/
www.veganhealth.org/
www.vrg.org/nutrition/
www.nutritionmd.org/index.html
www.pcrm.org/
THE ANIMALS
Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife - birds, kangaroos, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhog, mice and fox by the million - in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed.
Then he kills domestic animals by the billion and eats them.
This in turn kills man by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative and fatal health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease and cancer.
So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases.
Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals.
Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year sends out cards praying for 'Peace on Earth'.
In 2001, 45 billion animals were slaughtered worldwide for human consumption. Latest figures indicate it has risen up to 55 billion.
Each year, approximately 900 million (about 10%) of animals in the U.S. raised specifically to be eaten, never even make it to the slaughterhouse. These animals die prematurely because of stress, disease, handling, transportation and deprivation.
Each year in the UK alone, more than 900 million animals are slaughtered for food. That's about 2.5 million animals killed every day; 100,000 an hour; 1700 per minute and 30 every second. This figure doesn’t include fish, who are killed in such vast numbers that they are counted in tonnes.
Sources:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Agricultural Statistics Service; Animal Aid
Farm animals are sentient, complex, and unique. They are as capable of feeling pain and frustration, joy and excitement as those dogs and cats we welcome into our families, yet industrialised agriculture treats them merely as meat, egg, and milk-producing machines, instead of the living, sensitive beings they are. Just like those animals we consider to be our companions or those in the wild, these animals deserve our respect and compassion.
Factory farming is the biggest cause of animal suffering in the world today. To find out what the life of a intensively farmed pig, dairy calf, battery hen, goose and wild caught ocean fish is like, read the following stories:
Hetty the Hen
Hello, my name is Hetty and I'm a battery hen. This is the true story of why I was born...
The first thing I knew about life was a big grubby hand snatching me away from my mother. I was thrown onto a conveyor belt at the hatchery with hundreds of other little yellow chicks. The belt was so fast we couldn't even stand so we kept tumbling over. As we moved along we were roughly grabbed and thrown onto separate belts, boys one way, girls the other. As I looked towards the boys I could only watch helplessly as my brothers and hundreds of other male chicks dropped into an ominous chamber where their fluffy yellow feathers turned red. They were being crushed, alive, to end up in the likes of cat and dog food. I thought this must be hell but little did I know what was about to happen to me. The next thing I knew I was being grabbed again and a searing pain was coarsing through my face as a red hot blade cut through my beak. Blood was all over what was left of my mouth and nose and I could see that some of the other babies had died there and then from shock.
The next experience I can remember is the day I was sent to the cages. This was to be my home... a wire cage with three other hens and the cage was no larger than an A4 piece of paper! No natural light, no fresh air, nowhere to dust bathe or make a nest, no privacy and I couldn't even stretch out my legs or my wings. It was pure torture. I was desperate to move but however much I tried to I just got more squashed by the other hens. We all felt panicked by the claustrophobia. The wire floor of the cage was cutting into my tender feet and my eyes were watering from the dust and the burning fumes of ammonia. Already my feathers were falling out as they constantly chafed against the rough sides of the cage and the excrement and urine from the hens in the cages above constantly dropped through the wire and burned my sore skin and caked around my cut feet.
There was no way out of this hell. Nobody ever came to help us or rescue us. Day in day out for more than a year I was forced in a drug induced, unnatural manner, to lay eggs. I was fed a continual supply of anti-biotics, hormones and stimulants while the unrelenting artificial farm light shone 24 hours a day, tricking my body into producing more and more eggs and causing the calcium in my bones to be stripped to the point they were so brittle they could snap from the slightest of touches. I was in a state of collapse, all of us were sick, there was not a single healthy hen in any of the cages, and there were thousands. The lowest point came when my friend Cathy, who had been in the cage with me from Day One, found that she had been squashed in one position for so long that her feet had grown around the wire floor and she was unable to reach the feed. She starved to death right there in the cage with us and there was nothing we could do to help. She was there for many months, rotting...
There is so much more that I would like to tell you but I'm feeling too weak now. At this point I have no more use to the farmer, I have become what's known as a "spent hen", destined now to become an ingredient in a cheap soup or pie. My final day is here yet I am little more than a year old. My last moments are truly horrifying. I am hanging upside down in the slaughterhouse, shackled by my feet, looking into the eyes of all the hens who have shared this past tortuous year with me. My legs are already broken from the rough handling of the farm worker as he dragged me from my cage and threw me into a crate and I can't tell you what is going to happen next...
I now realise that I was not an individual, my life was only ever going to be exploited... all I am is a by-product of the egg industry.
For more information about the egg industry see Hetty's Myspace profile: www.myspace.com/eggs_exposed
Chickens are inquisitive and interesting animals whose cognitive abilities are more advanced than those of cats, dogs, and even some primates. Chickens understand sophisticated intellectual concepts, learn from watching each other, demonstrate self-control, worry about the future, and even have cultural knowledge that is passed from generation to generation.
Source: www.meatstinks.com
Editors note about "Cage Free" and "Free Range" eggs: "Cage-free" means only that the animals are not in cages; beyond that, anything goes, and the animals are often crammed inside faeces-ridden sheds, with no ability to engage in any natural behaviours, for their entire lives. "Free-range" birds also generally spend the majority (if not all) of their lives inside a dark shed with thousands of other birds. These sheds have 'popholes' which allow birds access to the outside and the producers to label their eggs 'free-range'. However, because birds are territorial, the stronger ones monopolise the area around the popholes, while the weaker ones may never cross these territories to get to the exits. These weaker birds may never get outside at all. The areas around the popholes are, not surprisingly, the most desirable areas of the shed, and consequently fights break out amongst the congregated birds. Because aggression, injuries and even cannibalism are rife under these stressful conditions, free-range hens may still be debeaked, a painful practice in which the ends of the birds' sensitive beaks are sliced off.
Jessie the Calf
Hello, my name is Jessie and I'm a baby cow. This is the true story of why I was born...
My mother has to remain pregnant to produce milk and because of that she has a baby every year. This year that baby was me.
I never did meet my Daddy, I only knew my mother for a few brief days and then our bond was forcibly broken by the dairy farmer. As I was being dragged away by my tail I could hear my mother screaming and bleating non-stop. I was held by a rope round my neck and tied to a steel loop against a concrete wall. Although I never saw my Mummy again I can still remember her cries which continued for up to three days and three nights. I never tasted my mother's milk because the dairy farmer stole it all to sell to humans and that is why my Mummy now stands broken hearted, her throat dry and sore, unable to bleat any longer. I was cold, frightened and hungry. Then the farmer came back and untied me and I thought for a moment I may see my Mummy again, but how wrong could I have been? Instead I was taken to an exportation truck and roughly herded in with hundreds of other baby calves. All of us were frightened and crying for our Mummies. The journey began. We were so cramped we could barely move and there was nothing to eat or drink. I thought the journey would go on forever, it lasted for hours and I heard noises I had never heard on the farm. It was so frightening and all the baby calves felt terrorised. Finally we arrived at the port in Dover, hungry, exhausted, terrified, with nobody to help us. The truck was driven onto a ship and another tortuous journey began.
It must have been for many hours but it became so unbearable that I passed out and when I came round we were being driven onto dry land and then onto a farm. We were now in France. Here I was to end my days chained in a veal crate so I couldn't even move my legs and head. I would never see grass, the sun or feel the rain on my back. I was only a baby but for me there was no milk, something I needed and craved. Instead I was fed a weak sugary substitute which kept me anaemic and my flesh pale and soft for the delicacy of veal which human beings eat. This horror lasted for eighteen long weeks until one final day the farmer came and briefly I was free of the crate. But the moment was short-lived and then I was in a room, more horrific than anything I could ever imagine. There were no windows and the friends I had travelled with were there too. The smell of fear and death was everywhere and I can't tell you what happened next...
I now realise that I was not an individual, my life was only ever going to be exploited... all I am is a by-product of the dairy industry.
For more information about the dairy industry see Jessie's Myspace profile: www.myspace.com/dairyexposed
In addition to having distinct personalities, cows are generally very intelligent animals who can remember things for a long time. Animal behaviorists have found that cows interact in socially complex ways, developing friendships over time, sometimes holding grudges against cows who treat them badly, forming social hierarchies within their herds, and choosing leaders based upon intelligence. They are emotionally complex as well and even have the capacity to worry about the future.
Source: www.meatstinks.com
Gus the Goose
Hello, my name is Gus and I'm a goose. This is the true story of why I was born...
I was born in a hatchery along with scores of other goslings one sunny April day. I had never met my mother. My sisters and all the other girls born that day met their deaths within an hour of hatching... dropped through a huge funnel onto slicing blades that crushed their tiny bodies while still alive, to end up in some kind of animal feed. Being a boy my life was spared, which some might think makes me one of the lucky ones. I don't agree. Though the sun was shining that day I was never to see it or feel the warmth on my feathers, I was only ever going to know darkness, pain and misery.
Within days of my birth I was sent to a farm, a filthy sprawling place hidden away in the countryside. I was raised here for four weeks, in a crowded windowless shed. There were so many other goslings in there with me that I could barely move. We huddled together to comfort ourselves because we didn't know what was happening to us but it was frightening to be so squashed and a lot of the smaller babies got trampled on, some even suffocated. The floor was thick with excrement and the stench was unbelivevable. Though we are naturally water birds there was barely a trickle of water between us so there was no way to clean our feathers. I ate and ate and I grew quickly.
The next experience I can remember is the day I was sent to the cages. This was to be my home... a wire cage in another dark shed with nine other geese. No natural light, no fresh air, no water to bathe in and I couldn't even stretch my wings. It was pure torture. I was desperate to move but however much I tried to I just got more squashed by the other geese. We all felt panicked by the claustrophobia. Before long the wire floor of the cage was cutting into my webbed feet and my eyes were watering from the burning fumes of ammonia. We were fed and fed, a high-protein, high-starch diet to make us grow as quickly as possible. I could barely stand and my feathers began falling out as they constantly chafed against the rough sides of the cage. I had open sores too, that burned from the excrement and urine that surrounded us. It was a living hell that I couldn't escape from and worst of all was the fact there was no water to bathe in, something I desperatey craved.
I thought things couldn't get any worse but I was wrong. When I was ten weeks old the true horror began. A steely eyed farm worker suddenly descended upon us and I was grabbed by my neck and my head dragged through an opening at the front of the cage. I was terrified as he forced open my beak and thrust a huge metal pipe down my throat. The pain was unbearable but I couldn't move to get away - then the most hideous thing happened, a massive gush of feed began to pump down the tube, filling my oesophagus to the point I thought I was going to burst. It didn't stop until a pound of grain had been forced into me and afterwards I lay spent, vomit around my beak as I listened to the same thing happening to my friends all around me.
This ordeal would happen three times a day and each time a pound of feed was forcibly packed into my oesophagus, making me heave painfully. I came to dread the sound of footsteps coming towards the shed but I lay helpless with my head hanging, alone in my silent nightmare, unable to move as my body was so heavy. Some of the other birds had broken beaks and open lacerations on their necks from the rough handing. The workers were so violent in the way they handled us, grabbing us by our already excruciatingly painful necks and ramming the pipe down our throats past tumours that had grown, sometimes totally rupturing the flesh from the inside. This happened to one of my fellow captives and he bled to death on the floor of the cage. Nobody even bothered to remove his body and the rats feasted on him. The force-feeding went on for three long weeks, I could never have imagined such horror. I was raw with open wounds on my body by this time and covered in my own vomit, faeces and blood. So weak and ill I couldn't lift my own head any longer. I didn't know it but my liver had now swollen to 10 times its normal size, something that would later be eaten as a delicacy by humans and called "foie gras".
There is so much more that I could tell you, so much more hideous detail, but I have to go now. I've reached the point the farmer has been waiting for. My final day is here yet I am little more than three months old. My sparse feathers have been sprayed with paint so that the person from the abattoir knows that I'm to be taken. My last moments are truly horrifying. I am hanging upside down in the slaughterhouse, shackled by my feet, looking into the eyes of all the geese who have shared this past tortuous few months with me. My legs are broken from the rough handling of the worker as he dragged me from my cage and threw me into a crate and I can't tell you what is going to happen next...
I now realise that I was not an individual, my life was only ever going to be exploited... all I am is a victim of the foie-gras industry.
For more information about thefoie gras industry see Gus's Myspace profile: www.myspace.com/foiegras_exposed
Geese are very loyal to their families-they mate for life and are very protective of their partners and offspring. If a goose's mate or chicks become sick or injured, she will often refuse to leave their side, even if winter is approaching and the other geese in her group are flying south. Those who have spent time observing geese report that they experience emotions just as we do-when a goose's mate is killed or her eggs are destroyed, she will seclude herself from other geese while she mourns. After a partner dies, some geese spend the rest of their lives as widows, refusing to mate again-this can be a long time, because geese live up to 25 years.
Source: www.meatstinks.com
Jimmy the Pig
Hello, my name is Jimmy and I'm a pig. This is the true story of why I was born...
The first thing I knew about life was my brothers and sisters screaming and scrambling to get to our mother's milk. We were in a big shed with no windows and Mummy just lay there - all the time - on her side on the concrete floor, feeding us. She could barely move as she was enclosed in a small confined crate with meant she couldn't even reach us properly. It was dark and noisy from the squealing of all the piglets and there was a terrible stench from the excrement and urine we were forced to lie in. There was no sunlight, so no warmth reached us. Life was a constant regime of day in day out feeding as we were all being held there to be fattened up as quickly as possible. The only human we ever saw was the farmer and he never showed any affection towards us, only anger and exasperation. When he opened the door to come in we could see outside and there were wonders out there! Sunlight, soft grass, places we wanted to explore, and fresh earth which we longed to roll in.
One morning the farmer came in and one by one he picked us up by our tails and crudely sliced them off. We were all screaming in pain, there was blood everywhere and we could see our poor Mum desperately trying to protect us from this horror but she couldn't even get to us as she was imprisoned in her crate. She was distraught and we were terrified. We needed to get close to her for comfort but the bars of the pen we were in only allowed us to reach her milk, they didn't allow us to cuddle up to her body.
The next morning we saw the door open and we gasped in fear, wondering what might happen to us now, as after yesterday we had realised that humans were capable of anything. And we were right to be afraid because again, one by one, we were grabbed and this time the farmer crushed our teeth with a pair of pliers until our mouths were filled with nothing but blunt stumps. We were all still in pain from losing our tails yesterday but this was even worse! My mouth hung open with the agony of it and I felt I would never be able to close it again - this mutilation hurt more than anything I had ever known.
We all hoped that there would be no further horrors but of course there were more to come. When we were only 3 weeks old we were suddenly taken away from our mother. It was such a shock! The shed we were put in was barren and lonely and we cried for her for days. Most of us felt sick from the antibiotics that we were dosed with in our feed. We were also on veterinary growth stimulant so that we would produce as much flesh as possible in the shortest time. I was growing very fast...
Then one terrible morning the door opened again and we cowered in fear. The farmer had a big iron rod in his hand and I knew something very bad was about to happen. He began hitting us and roughly herding us towards the opening and out into a huge truck. We were packed tightly into the vehicle and all the other pigs were panicking, my heart was pounding with terror and I could hardly breathe. The journey began, it seemed to last for hours. I couldn't understand what was happening, why we were being treated in this way. I didn't realise that my life worth was going to be based on the price of pork chops, sausages and bacon. And then I was in a room, more horrific than any nightmare. The friends and family I had travelled with were there too. The smell of terror and death was in the air and I can't tell you what happened next...
I now realise that I was not an individual, my life was only ever going to be exploited... all I am is a product of the meat industry.
For more information about the pork industry see:
www.piggles.org.uk
Pigs are curious and insightful animals thought to have intelligence beyond that of an average 3-year-old human child. They are smarter than dogs and every bit as friendly, loyal, and affectionate. When in their natural surroundings, not on factory farms, they are social, playful, protective animals who bond with each other, make beds, relax in the sun, and cool off in the mud.
Source: www.meatstinks.com
Phillipa the Fish
Hello, my name is Phillipa and I'm a fish. This is the true story about what happened to me...
Life started for me swimming free in the the ocean with all the other fish, my mother and father always nearby. We would swim to the surface to feel the heat of the sun and then dive deep to see the sands. Every day was a new adventure and there was always something exciting happening. I had heard all the horror stories from the older fish, they told me never to trust humans, that they would hurt me and even kill me. I thought that they were just teasing me because I was young. I thought why would they hurt me when I had never hurt them? One afternoon we were swimming and diving in the sea and I noticed something in my Daddy's mouth. It was a steel hook. There was blood in the water. I didn't know what was happening. As my Dad fought to get closer to my Mum he was being pulled away against his will. We all swam closer to him and for the first time I saw terror in my father's face. We all tried to help but I saw a line pulling him from the sea and there was nothing we could do. This was the last I ever saw of him.
Later, one early morning I was playing with my friends, we were the same age - all about a year old - when suddenly a huge net descended upon them and they were swept away, their little faces terrified from the shock of it. As they were dragged so quickly from the sea I saw some of their eyes popping from their heads, it was truly terrifying and I swam away as fast as I could, my heart ringing with fear. They looked so helpless and I knew there was no hope for them. My Mum tried to comfort me but I was traumatised by what I had seen. I never felt truly safe again so I stayed near to my Mum. She swam with such grace, glistening in the water and I loved her so much. Then one terrible day I realised my worst nightmare was happening. I saw a shiny hook in my mother's mouth! She was being dragged, out of control... her graceful swimming had ceased. My poor Mum, her whole body was writhing and I knew she was in pain! The hook was tearing into her lip as she struggled to swim to me. I now knew that all those horror stories were true, first my Dad, now my Mum. I still remember her looking back at me and then to my horror a gaff hook tore into her eye as she was lifted out of the sea. The sea turned red and I was screaming. The other fish tried to come to me but I was inconsollable.
Months and months went by but eventually it was my turn. I always knew it would come. When I felt the cold steel hook in my mouth I realised I was about to find out for myself exactly what humans do to fish. I was dragged away from my home just as I had seen happen to my parents and as I reached the surface I was gasping and helpless to my fate. The hook was tearing into my fleshy mouth and I was suddenly out of the sea for the first time in my life. The pain in my chest was unbearable and I knew I was struggling for life at this point. I saw the human and his son in the boat, triumphant at having caught me. The man pulled me off the hook, he didn't seem to care as he took half my lip with the barb. I was still fighting, writhing in pain and then he took a heavy weight, I don't know what it was, and he smashed it into my face. I could see the boy watching and I pleaded with my eyes for him to help me but his expression was cold. I had stopped moving now but I was still conscious and aware of what was happening. The horror was so clear to me, everything my parents had warned me about, the fears they had tried to express, and somthing I would never be able to tell my own offspring about... the violence these humans inflict on us, they teach it to their own children!
I now know that I was never going to be allowed to be an individual, that my life was always going to be at risk of harm from humans. I am nothing more than a piece of flesh on someone's dinner plate...
For more information about the fishing industry see Phillipa's Myspace profile: www.myspace.com/fishingexposed
Fish are smart, interesting animals with their own unique personalities-just like the dogs and cats we share our homes with. Fish can learn to avoid nets by watching other fish in their group and that they can recognize individual "shoal mates". Fish like to be touched and often gently rub against one another-like a cat weaving in and out of your legs. Like birds, many fish build nests where they raise their babies; others collect little rocks off the seafloor to make hiding places where they can rest.
Source: www.fishinghurts.com