Luchando la Buena Batalla en Woodstock

Looking at pictures of Jenny Brown today, I see a beaming woman who positively radiates her joie de vivre. It’s surprising then to learn that she hasn’t always had an easy go at it. As a child, Jenny underwent a leg amputation. At the time, this left her feeling out of control. But it also fostered the growth of what would become an incredible amount of compassion and forward thinking about animals, and all living beings. A strong advocate for veganism and animal welfare, Jenny is the co-founder (along with her husband, Doug), of the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary as well as the author of “The Lucky Ones: My Passionate Fight For Farm Animals.”

Después de presenciar de primera mano la crueldad hacia los animales cuando era adulta, Jenny decidió dejar la industria cinematográfica para trabajar en un santuario en Watkins Glen, Nueva York. Fundar su propio santuario fue el siguiente paso lógico. Hoy en día, WFAS es el hogar de muchas vacas, conejos, pavos, pollos, cerdos, patos, cabras y ovejas rescatados, todos los cuales, de otro modo, habrían sido destinados al matadero o abandonados a morir. WFAS sirve como lugar de refugio para animales y como lugar para enseñar sobre bienestar animal. Aquí hay un video rápido y conmovedor sobre los adorables animales que WFAS ha salvado:

Here, Jenny gives Urbanette the scoop on the truth behind your “happy meat,” and the many benefits of living a vegan lifestyle:

Urbanette Magazine: Un punto crucial para usted fue filmar encubierto en subastas de ganado y corrales. ¿Cómo fue esa experiencia? ¿Tenías una idea bastante clara de lo que verías o te sorprendió?

Jenny Brown: Tenía una idea bastante clara de lo que podría ver, pero verlo fue traumático. No poder hacer nada para ayudarlos era aún peor. Están abiertos al público para comprar y vender animales, incluida la puja por los que se ven obligados a entrar en la subasta, pero filmar o fotografiar hará que te echen y te confisquen tu equipo.

Urbanette: En su sitio web menciona algunos ejemplos retorcidos de crueldad animal, incluida la práctica de castrar cabras sin anestesia. ¿Por qué se llevan a cabo tales prácticas? ¿Es una cuestión de costos?

Jenny: Mutilations occur on every level — on factory farms and small farms alike. It’s too expensive and time-consuming to anesthetize them or provide pain relief. All goats, sheep, cattle, and other animals are castrated, dehorned, and/or tail-docked without pain killers as “standard farming practices.” And again, this is not only on animals languishing in factory farms. This occurs on organic, free-range, grass-fed or whatever “humane” farm they are raised on. [Learn more here.]

Si se hiciera lo mismo con perros y gatos, habría cargos de crueldad animal, pero lamentablemente no se aplican los mismos estándares a los animales considerados “ganado”, que es un término deplorable. El ganado también es marcado en la cara o en otras partes del cuerpo, provocando graves quemaduras de tercer grado. Todo esto es poco ético. Y a los pavos y las gallinas les cortan el pico, y a los pavos también les cortan los dedos de las patas.

Urbanette: Eso es bastante horrible. Creo que tienes razón en que, como sociedad, hemos hecho una distinción entre animales que son mascotas y animales que son ganado, y con eso ha surgido un conjunto desequilibrado de reglas sobre cómo se debe tratar a cada uno. Iba a preguntarle sobre su perspectiva sobre los productos animales orgánicos y certificados, pero parece que también suceden muchas cosas dañinas en esas granjas. ¿Podrías ampliar eso un poco?

Jenny: Somos una sociedad que agita el puño contra los países asiáticos que comen perros y gatos, pero nosotros comemos otros animales que son igualmente capaces de pensar, sentir y sufrir. Es sólo que estamos adoctrinados para poner a los animales de granja en una categoría diferente y argumentar que "para eso están aquí". No deberíamos basar nuestra compasión en la inteligencia, pero si lo hiciéramos, entonces deberíamos comer perros en lugar de cerdos porque los cerdos son más inteligentes.

En cuanto a la “carne feliz”, existe una tendencia creciente entre consumidores conscientes a comprar productos animales que se anuncian como criados humanamente. Primero citaré lo que he escrito en nuestro sitio web: la existencia misma de etiquetas como “criado en libertad”, “sin jaulas” y “certificado humanamente” da fe de la creciente preocupación de la sociedad por el bienestar de los animales criados para consumo humano. . Pero cada vez que los consumidores de carne, huevos o lácteos abogan por un trato “humanitario” a los animales de granja, se enfrentan a una paradoja inevitable: el movimiento para tratar mejor a los animales de granja se basa en la idea de que está mal someterlos a daños innecesarios. Sin embargo, matar animales que no necesitamos comer constituye el acto supremo de daño innecesario.

Tuvimos esclavos durante la mayor parte de la civilización humana, pero ¿eso lo hacía correcto?

Orgánico es la única etiqueta gobernada además de "certificado humanamente". Las etiquetas de animales alimentados con pasto, criados al aire libre y sin jaulas son autónomas y no están certificadas por un organismo supervisor, por lo que pueden hacer estas afirmaciones libremente, independientemente de las condiciones reales en las que se mantienen los animales.

In the case of dairy, there is nothing humane about forcibly impregnating cows, stealing their babies at birth (or within 48 hours tops), hooking her breasts up to cold metal machines several times a day for months and months while you re-impregnate her and start the cycle all over again until she reaches the age of 4-5 when she is considered “spent” and slaughtered for ground beef, AKA hamburgers. Cows cry the most heartbreaking bellows when their calves are taken away. It is incredibly stressful to them, as it is to the calves. The male calves are killed at birth or raised in crates for veal, as they are not the same breeds that are used for beef. I could give you many more examples of why these labels are bogus and used as propaganda to make consumers feel less guilty about their food choices.

More climate change is caused by the meat industry than by all the cars, planes, trains, and other forms of transport combined.

The moral argument against consuming animal products is that their embryos, breast milk, and lives, are not ours to take. Our self-appointed dominion over all the other beings who share the earth with us is an archaic and immoral way of thinking. To use the excuse that we’ve always eaten animals is not a good reason to keep doing so. We owned slaves for most of human civilization, but did that make it right?

Urbanette: Wow. That is shocking. And frightening. So clearly consuming animals does harm to the animals themselves, but what about the impact on the environment?

Jenny: Farming animals is incredibly inefficient and wasteful. It takes 2,500 gallons of water, 16 pounds of grain or soy, 35 pounds of topsoil and the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline to produce one pound of feedlot beef. Half the world’s grain crop is fed to animals raised for food, while an estimated 1 billion people are malnourished, and 6 million children starve to death every year. The latest report from the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), “Tackling Climate Change Through Livestock,” confirmed that more global climate change is caused by the meat industry than by all the cars, planes, trains, and other forms of transport combined.

Urbanette: You make a compelling argument. Something that really stuck out to me on your website is that there’s a misconception that we need to eat animals to get certain nutrients, yet these animals get said nutrients from (drum roll please), plants! Could you give us some examples of this?

Jenny: Take fish—they get their omega-3’s by eating seaweed. We could get our omega-3’s directly from seaweed, which I do every day! That’s just one example.

Urbanette: Wow, I had no idea. I suppose you can also get omega-3’s from things like flax seeds.

Jenny: Absolutely! There’s more about this on our website.

“If the same were done to dogs and cats there would be animal cruelty charges…”

Urbanette: How does eating only plants affect human health?

Jenny: There is a huge body of scientific evidence that irrefutably demonstrates the power of plant-based/vegan diets for preventing, managing and even reversing some of the most serious diseases, including heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. The ADA has been clear in stating that vegetarians have consistently lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and obesity than meat-eaters. Bam! Even the UN has called for a global shift to a vegan diet as the most effective way to combat climate change, world hunger, and environmental devastation.

We’re a society that shakes our fists at the Asian countries who eat cats and dogs, yet we eat other animals who are just as capable of thinking, feeling and suffering.

Urbanette: Got it. Okay, this one is just for fun. Your cat, Pogo, has quite a picture on your website. Actually, there’s a whole string of pictures of him in dramatic poses. He looks like quite the character! Is he as fierce as he looks?

Jenny: He is the sweetest kitty who has lived here for many years. He roams the sanctuary meowing and purring, seeking attention from anyone with two hands (or one would work too!). He climbs on laps, follows tours, invites himself on top of picnic tables while people are eating lunch (vegan-only here!), and can be found sleeping with goats or sheep. Everyone loves him and we have no idea why he is missing his tail.

Urbanette: I love it. Finally, how can our readers get involved?

Jenny: Great question! They can visit us online, donate online, by mail or by phone (we’re a charitable organization), volunteer any day of the year, sponsor an animal as a gift for themselves, or visit us during our open season (April-October). But most importantly, moving away from animal products is the most compassionate, healthy, environmentally conscious, responsible and sustainable thing they can do.

Read more: 5 Reasons I Love Being a Vegan and Michelle Pfeiffer Tells Us About the Benefits of Being Vegan and WFAS’ How To Go Vegan and this The NY Times article, which states:

“…the animals sent through those factories often endure an unimaginable amount of mistreatment and abuse. Cows too sick to walk are dragged by the neck across cement floors. Pigs are stabbed and beaten with sledgehammers. Chickens are thrown against walls and stomped to death. And accepted industry practices, like confining animals in impossibly small cages, are just as brutal…”

99% of meat sold in America come from factory farms. Yet every day, more and more Americans start to question the suffering of factory farmed animals. And the great news is, it’s never too late to make a difference. Discover how to take back your power, and make truly informed choices that are in line with your own values. Find it here, in a free and easy download.