Think Veggie This March

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

Have you been thinking about going vegetarian?

If so, Animal Aid's nationwide initiative - Veggie Month - provides the perfect motivation.

With Veggie Month running throughout March, it is the perfect time to make some lifestyle choices.

You will be joining a growing number of people, including celebrities, health professionals, chefs, government officials, teachers and people in your area, who believe that mass-producing, killing and eating other sentient beings cannot be justified.

In addition to saving the lives of farmed animals, going veggie can lower your risk of suffering from diet-related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.

A meat-free diet is also better for the planet as the farming and slaughter of animals is now recognised as a significant contributor to today's greatest environmental problems.

Each year in the UK, around 1,000 million animals are killed for food. This figure doesn't include fish, who are killed in such vast numbers that they are counted in tonnes.

Modern intensive farming exists to produce meat, dairy and products as quickly and cheaply as possible. To keep production costs down the animals are given the bare minimum they need to survive.

They are fattened in huge, dirty, cramped sheds and deprived of everything that makes life worth living. They can hardly stretch their wings or legs and will never be able to roam.

Most farmed animals are slaughtered at just a few weeks or months old.

Apologists for the industry pretend that, because the animals are purpose-bred on a farm, it is OK to treat them cruelly and then kill and eat them.

Yet these animals are sentient creatures who feel pain and fear just like a cat, dog, or, indeed, a human being.

Animal Aid campaigns for better animal welfare in order to lessen the suffering farmed animals endure. But, above all, they promote the adoption of an animal-free diet as the best single step anyone can take to stop cruelty to animals.