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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Aug 21, 2012 - 11:18pm PT
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Glen Plake gave me a noogy and ruffled my mohawk...Don't ever ski near that as#@&%e...RJ
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Aug 21, 2012 - 11:40pm PT
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One thing positive that everyone can do whether vegetarian or non veg, is give money to the ASPCA which rescues animals, especially those who have been abused, and sends people into farms and factories suspected of animal abuse to film what goes on there. As a result, many factory farms and animal breeding businesses have had to establish more humane proceedures.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Aug 22, 2012 - 12:28am PT
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So some friends came by today and invited me to their picnic. I ate a few pieces of their salami as I didn't want to be holier than thou after beating on people back on this thread.
Then I got home and this happened to be on a friend's facebook wall:
Food for thought about food
+++++
A day at the slaughterhouse
“Every time I approached a pig with my prod it would look at me with fearful eyes, begging me not to hurt it. My ears had gone deaf from the screaming of the pigs and I wondered how many I had killed. On my conscience are the deaths of a few hundred pigs, and I hope to settle the score in some way by doing everything in my power to ban factory farming.”
Fabian Gort describes his first day working at a slaughterhouse.
“Once I entered the slaughter hall, I smelled the penetrating and unpleasant smell of death, but I would get used to that soon enough. The great speed with which pig cadavers on meat hooks moved through the hall startled me. Although it was a strange experience, I was really witnessing animal mass production. Everyone had their own task. Some were assigned to removing entrails or skin. I was given a hose to remove lard from between pigs' ribs. Not very clean, but definitely not hard work. We also had the opportunity, despite the noise, to talk amongst ourselves and to make jokes.
After lunch I was about to go back to my work, but my supervisor ordered me to come with him to another department where someone had called in sick that day. I followed him to my new destination, and as we got closer, the screaming of pigs got louder. I was starting to feel worried when I got an idea of where we were going. We came to a large stable where pigs were chased through a maze to finally be driven together through hell's gates to be electrocuted. I was given a cattle prod and I had to chase the pigs into the electrocution machine. A bit further there was a man to slice the pigs' throats after they were electrocuted.
The pigs were driven in my direction with cattle prods and if they were reluctant they got kicked. I had to 'process' 15 to 20 pigs each time. To make sure the pigs wouldn't run back, a gate was closed behind them and they were all literally packed together in a pen of about two by three meters. There was just a small opening the pigs had to go through one at a time. Once inside that opening the pigs landed on a conveyor belt, and there was no way back.
I had to chase the pigs that tried to escape their fate with a surge of current. It was no simple task to lead 15 pigs, struggling in fear and panic, to their end destination in an orderly fashion.
I hardly dared to use my prod and that's why I was assisted by experienced colleagues now and again, who seemed to have no trouble at all in helping these animals to their cruel ends. Even worse, they liked their jobs and seemed to think my reluctance was funny. One of my colleagues said 'it may not be the greatest job, but you get used to it'. How could I ever get used to murder?
Time passed and all kinds of thoughts were in my head. I mostly wanted to flee that place or release the pigs if nobody was paying attention. It was horrible, but still I did my job. I was too ashamed to just up and leave without telling anyone, and I knew it was useless to try and free the pigs. The thought that the animals were better off with someone who would try not to hurt them, made me continue my job. I also thought that it would be more just if their executioner would suffer like them, instead of having fun like my colleagues.
Unfortunately some pigs needed more than a surge of current from the electrocution machine to kill them. They tried to escape and had to be stopped by several men, and then got administered a final surge of current with a clamp. But one pig was so resistant that they had to give it four or five jolts before it finally died. The animal screamed a lot and I tried not to watch because it was just too awful. During an afternoon coffee break a colleague told me that when you have to support a family, you accept your job when you can get no other work. I could understand that, but in the end I thought his attitude was cowardly. My ears had gone deaf from the screaming of the pigs and I wondered how many I had killed. I estimated around 200, but maybe it was a lot more than that.
After some rest I realized that I only had to hold out for another hour. But that was the longest hour I ever lived through. Every time I approached a pig with my prod it would look at me with fearful eyes, begging me not to hurt it. I often didn't even have to touch them. At the least movement from me they would crawl away from me and flee into the narrow opening of the electrocution machine. Once when I was all alone I tried to stroke one of the pigs to show it that I didn't want to hurt it, but it cringed in fear. I didn't try that anymore.
In their fear and pain the pigs sh#t all over the floor and it became very slippery from their thin manure. In their panic and hustling they kept slipping. One pig held its leg in a funny position, and I could only conclude that it was broken. The poor animal would not and could not go into the machine. One of my colleagues picked up a long hook, stuck it inside the pig's rectum and lifted it. It was then pushed and kicked toward the opening. I didn't understand my colleagues' cruelty. In the meantime I had driven a couple of hundreds of pigs to their deaths, but fortunately it was finally five o'clock and I could go home! Crying and completely upset I arrived home, and I didn't eat meat that night.
It took another six months before I became a vegetarian. On my conscience are the deaths of a few hundred pigs, and I hope to settle the score in some way by doing everything in my power to ban factory farming.”
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Port
Trad climber
San Diego
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Aug 22, 2012 - 12:39am PT
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Nice dose of reality there Karl.
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Fluoride
Trad climber
West Los Angeles, CA
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Aug 22, 2012 - 03:24am PT
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Karl - couldn't get through more than a few paragraphs but it reaffirms why I've been a vegetarian since the age of 4.
My mom said even as a baby I never liked meat flavored baby food. When I was old enough to eat meat, I always spat it out. I hated the taste and especially the texture. I didn't know meat from oatmeal but I knew I hated it.
The only thing I liked was bacon. Who doesn't love bacon?
My folks gave up on me trying to eat meat after spending too many days of saying "if you're not going to eat what we made for dinner, then you'll have to find your own dinner." Didn't work, I'd just go get a bowl and pour Cheerios in it and eat it for dinner over eating pot roast. Or just go to bed hungry and not have a problem with it. Better to be hungry and cry my eyes out over being forced to eat ham.
I officially became vegetarian when I was four and my mom and I were reading "Charlotte's Web" together. One day over breakfast I asked her where bacon came from. She told me it came from the meat of a pig (Mom's always been honest with me. When I was 5 and questioned if Santa really existed cause there's no way a guy on a sled with magical reindeer can give gifts to every kid in the world let alone all my friends on the block in one night she told me yeah, Mom and Dad were really "Santa." I was relieved to know the truth. Yes, I was cynical even as a child).
When I asked what she meant by the meat of a pig she explained that pigs have to be killed for us to have their meat and turn it into bacon.
That's one of my earliest memories, looking up over bacon and saying "so I'm eating Wilbur??"
I went down to our basement and cried for hours over my farmhouse animal toys. I felt horrible that I'd been made to eat them.
I've been a vegetarian since I was four as a result. My parents accepted this and raised me well with vegetarian proteins.
In my adult years I've tried to eat fish (I'm not as idealistic as I was as a child. Animals will always be killed for meat and my not eating it won't change a thing) but I still can't stand the texture of meat. I love the smell of a grilled steak, fish smells amazing (especially lobster) but I just can't eat it now. I'd like to, it would be a more efficient protein source than what I have now, but I am vegetarian for life.
Karl, I'm glad you show what goes into bringing meat to the table. I'm not one of those "how can you eat meat" veggies....I really don't care what others eat like they shouldn't think about mine (unless you're eating something endangered). But it's nice to have someone here who does have an understanding of the issue.
ps - that lion farm photo was so troubling. Those majestic animals born and raised just to be slaughtered. 60 Minutes did a story on farms in Texas that raise endangered species on ranches just to cater to hunters who want to kill them. It's legal in the US. That story broke my heart. Nothing I can do to change it, but I can't understand the mentality of getting joy in killing something rare, living and special.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Aug 22, 2012 - 03:45am PT
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The only thing I liked was bacon. Who doesn't love bacon?
Bacon is like the crack of meat. The gateway drug for falling vegetarians!
For some reason, I could never stomach red meat either. My parents would try to pressure me to eat it and I'd choke it down. When I was twelve I was under the gun to eat a steak and actually vomited it back up right on my plate. They stopped compelling me to eat it after that
Peace
Karl
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splitter
Trad climber
Hodad, surfing the galactic plane
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Aug 22, 2012 - 08:50am PT
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"Their daughter told the Boston Globe, that her mother jumped into the water despite not being able to swim."
She jumped in after the husband, not the dog, after he became distressed while attempting to rescue their pet.
"The Cyres were a devoted couple of 40 yrs and they could not have survived without each other."
Very tragic, very sad!
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James Doty
Trad climber
Phoenix, Az.
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Aug 22, 2012 - 11:12am PT
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Corniss,
that is a badass picture. Two warriors not leaving a third behind.
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James Doty
Trad climber
Phoenix, Az.
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Aug 22, 2012 - 11:45am PT
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I would try for all I was worth and before the "what about people" trumpet starts blaring, I would do the same for a human.
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James Doty
Trad climber
Phoenix, Az.
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Aug 22, 2012 - 11:47am PT
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But I wouldn't put the dog in that position in the first place
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Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
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Aug 22, 2012 - 11:48am PT
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wow karl posted some pulled pork! kewl.
anyone gots a smoker?
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Aug 22, 2012 - 05:08pm PT
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Ron anderson. you say that you will castrate anyone who mistreats a dog. What is your take on the Romny dog deal?
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crasic
climber
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Aug 22, 2012 - 06:10pm PT
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Who would have thought that when working in a slaughterhouse you would encounter pig carcasses and pigs being led to slaughter. Oh the huge manatee.
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corniss chopper
climber
breaking the speed of gravity
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Aug 22, 2012 - 07:40pm PT
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R.A - Ok. Right; should have qualified that carrying a dog that's doing its best to imitate a bag of jello at 13k-14k is not the same as doing it at 7k.
Good chance the owner is barely up to talus hopping with only a sandwich and a water bottle in his day pack.
We can speculate with a bit of certainty that Missy's owner is not a he-man like we are. Couldn't do the high step onto the next block of talus with Missy's weight in his arms more than a few times before his own legs gave up.
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crasic
climber
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Aug 22, 2012 - 07:52pm PT
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Good chance the owner is barely up to talus hopping with only a sandwich and a water bottle in his day pack.
From the thread on 14ers he's apparently done a few 14ers with the dog already.
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corniss chopper
climber
breaking the speed of gravity
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Aug 22, 2012 - 08:17pm PT
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Reflections on the Society of Dogs and Men
A strange sight likely met the Spaniards several days march north of the
Pecos River in 1541. Thousands of Indians crossing an endless stretch of
flat country, with tents, packs, children, even round river boats—all their
possessions...—dragged and carried by dogs mixed among
and coaxed by the women, a moving city spread out as far as the eye could
see, searching for the great woolly cattle that sustained them....
( -if Karls pig report mad you cringe don't read this)
http://doglawreporter.blogspot.com/2012/01/dogs-of-great-plains-nations.html
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Aug 22, 2012 - 09:03pm PT
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Thanks Corniss. That's one of the most interesting pieces of anthropology I've read in a while.
And personally, I didn't think it was anything like Karl's account.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Aug 23, 2012 - 03:29am PT
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Cnn reports that an animal rights dude got a job in a slaughterhouse and shot secret video and showed it to the FDA. They shut down the place.
Not that the system worked. The FDA inspects less and less since the Bush admin says you can trust business to policie itself but somebody else did the investigating for them
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/us/california-slaughterhouse-video/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1
Peace
Karl
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Aug 23, 2012 - 03:40am PT
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Here's a site that specializes in punishing dogs with Shame...
http://dog-shaming.com/
Just sayin'
Don't know what I'm saying
But sayin it anyway
Peace
Karl
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