Survey...Please help :(

[DaGyrlRemarqabL]

Food for thought...

I'm writing a story for my journalism course about animal cruelty and vegetarianism. I needed to survey a big group of people but I got laryngitus so my interviewing escapades got cut short...I still need a good 50 responses to the questions I had prepared..If any of you just skim through these questions and answer at least any of them if not all of them, it would really help me out a lot...Thanks RB, I knew I could count on you...


Are you a vegetarian?

IF YES: When and why did you become one?


Have you ever eaten meat?


Were health reasons your main motive for becoming a vegetarian or was it because of moral issues, religious customs, economic reasons ,etc.?


Where do you get your food? Do you find it to be more expensive than non-vegetarian groceries?


IF NO:
Are you aware of the way the animals used for the meat you eat are raised and slaughtered?


If you had to kill the animals yourself, would you still be a meat eater?


Would you say you eat meat on a daily basis? What kinds and how many servings a day?

Please read the following excerpts from Vegan Outreach pamphlet entitled "Even If You Like Meat...You Can Help End This Cruelty" before responding to the next questions.

“In the past half-century, most U.S. livestock production has moved from small family farms to factory farms- huge warehouses where animals are confined in crowded cages or pens or in restrictive stalls. The competition to lower costs has led agricultural businesses to treat animals as mere objects, rather than individuals who can suffer.

Hidden from public view, the cruelty that occurs on factory farms is easy to ignore. But more and more people are taking a look at how farmed animals are treated and deciding that its too cruel to support.”

PIGS
“Forget the pig is an animal. Treat him just like a machine in a factory.”-John Byrnes, Farm Manager

“The movie ‘Babe’ is the way Americans want to think of pigs. Real life ‘Babes’ see no sun in their limited lives, with no hay to lie on, no mud to roll in. The sows live in tiny cages, they can’t even turn around. They live over metal grates, and their waste is pushed through slats beneath them and flushed into huge pits.

Piglets in confinement operations are weaned from their mothers [2-3 weeks] after birth (compared to 13 weeks in nature) because they gain weight faster on their hormone and anti-biotic fortified feed. This premature weaning leaves the pigs with a lifelong craving to suck and chew, a desire they gratify in confinement by biting the tail of the animal in front of them. The USDA’s recommended solution to the problem is called ‘tail docking’: Using a pair of pliers (AND NO ANASTHETIC), most but not all of the tail is snipped off. Why the little stump? Because the whole point of the exercise is not to remove the object of tail-biting, so much as to render it more sensitive. Now, a bite on the tail is so painful that even the most demoralized pig will mount a struggle to avoid it.

Hogs, unlike cattle, are dunked in tanks of hot water after they are stunned to soften their hides for skinning. As a result, a botched slaughter condemns some hogs to being scolded and drowned. Secret video tape from Iowa pork plant shows hogs squealing and kicking as they are being lowered into the water.

In gestation sheds, sows continuously hit their heads against their cage doors as if trying to escape. The pens where pigs are fattened up for slaughter are essentially concrete cells, each holding about a dozen pigs. In one pen, there was a pig missing an ear. Another had a rupture the size of a grapefruit protruding from his stomach. A dead pig was constantly nudged and licked by others. At larger farms in North Carolina, there are thousands of pigs housed in sheds. Dead pigs had been left in the pens with the living, some are belted down to the wires of the floor, other pigs had been tossed in the aisles- barely alive, unable to reach food or water."

BIRDS
“Virtually all birds raised for food in the US are factory farmed. Inside the densely packed buildings- which the birds never leave to go outdoors, except during their trip to slaughter-manure fumes cause eye and respiratory infections.

EGG LAYING HENS
"When a flock’s production declines, the hens are either slaughtered or “force molted”-deprived of food for 5 to 14 days to shock their bodies into another laying cycle.

The American laying hen passes her brief span piled together with a half-dozen other hens in a wire cage whose floor a single page of a magazine could carpet. Overcrowding can cause hens to become stuck in the bars or wire floors of their cages and die of asphyxiation or dehydration. Every natural instinct of this animal is thwarted, leading to a range of behavioral vices that can include cannibalizing her cage-mates and rubbing her body against the wire mesh until its featherless and bleeding.

Male chicks, of no economic value to the egg industry, are found dead and dying in a dumpster behind a hatchery. Typically they are gassed or ground up alive."

METHODS OF SLAUGHTER
Using a captive bolt gun, a metal rod is thrust into the animal’s brain. Shooting a struggling animal is difficult, and the rod often misses its mark.

Electrical current produces a seizure; then the throat is cut. Insufficient amperage can cause an animal to be paralyzed without losing sensibility.”

Mind you that pigs and chickens have the same intellectual ability and learning capacity as cats or dogs. So why is it that dogs and cats deserve legal protection from animal cruelty laws, while the other group gets virtually no protection at all?"

Photos:

http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocac.../ffpigslrg.jpg

http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocac...ffbirdslrg.jpg

[For further reading, visit www.opposecruelty.org]


After reading about the cruelty, have your opinions about the meat you eat been influenced at all?


Why or why not?





Anyone who takes the time to read or answer any of these gets major cool points...

And in case you didn't know, cool points can be traded in for sex..

Lol...Just kidding. But seriously, please help me out and voice your opinion or any additional comments on the subject if you have a minute...

[Chris Black]

I'm not a vegitarian.

1. Yes. I'm aware.
2. Yes. It would be heathier than the shit at stores.
3. Yes. I eat meat everyday. Twice a day. I wish three times.


Next line of questioning..

1. No.
2. Because I knew most of this already.

We can all agree that these animals aren't treated fairly, and if I got rich, I'd build a farm and raise and kill my own animals. Humans were built to eat meat though. Laws should be in place to stop a lot of these methods, but it's hard for me to care for a pig in the Great Plains, when humans suffer and starve. I can't defend an animal when humans hurt. If I did, I'd feel like I was taking time away from people who suffer in the world. It's fucked up, but there is worse shit that happens in the world. I couldn't give a shit about a starved chicken, when humans starve. Get me?

People > Everything else.

[DaGyrlRemarqabL]

I'm not a vegitarian.

1. Yes. I'm aware.
2. Yes. It would be heathier than the shit at stores.
3. Yes. I eat meat everyday. Twice a day. I wish three times.


Next line of questioning..

1. No.
2. Because I knew most of this already.

We can all agree that these animals aren't treated fairly, and if I got rich, I'd build a farm and raise and kill my own animals. Humans were built to eat meat though. Laws should be in place to stop a lot of these methods, but it's hard for me to care for a pig in the Great Plains, when humans suffer and starve. I can't defend an animal when humans hurt. If I did, I'd feel like I was taking time away from people who suffer in the world. It's fucked up, but there is worse shit that happens in the world. I couldn't give a shit about a starved chicken, when humans starve. Get me?

People > Everything else.

YESSS.. Thank you Chris, for the response. I need as many different viewpoints as I can get..And that is a very interesting one, indeed. People do suffer from starvation in the world, but refer, for a minute, only to the US...we have enough resources where we do not have to eat meat to survive.

Here is a quote from PhD, Peter Cheeke:

"Do we, as humans, having an ability to reason and to communicate abstract ideas verbally and in writing, and to form ethical and moral judgements using the accumulated knowledge of the ages, have the right to take the lives of other sentient organisms, particularly when we are not forced to do so by hunger or dietary need, but rather do so for the somewhat frivolous reason that we like the taste of meat?"

How would you respond to that quote?
And how old are you?

[Mic D]

Are you a vegetarian?
No I am not

IF NO:
Are you aware of the way the animals used for the meat you eat are raised and slaughtered?
Partially informed


If you had to kill the animals yourself, would you still be a meat eater?
YES

Would you say you eat meat on a daily basis? What kinds and how many servings a day?
YES
beef/chicken/pork.....1-2 servings a day



After reading about the cruelty, have your opinions about the meat you eat been influenced at all?


Why or why not?
No..... I may be more aware of how they are treated but Im a carnivore and thats it.....We may live in a civilized world but we are still animals ourselves. Do lions pay attention as their prey whines and crys as it naws through its neck? No.... These stories may make my stomach quench a little as I read it but it will not effect my choice to eat meat. I really could care less how they are killed as long as they are dead before they go in my belly

[Dan Dare]

1. I'm not a vegetarian.
2. Yes, I am.
3. I would never be in that industry in the first place, but yes, definitely I would.
4. I'd say about .. two, occasionally three times a day. I eat all kinds of meat; poultry, seafood, beef, pork, etc. Honestly, I believe that having a wide-ranging palette is part of eating a balanced diet.
5. No, not really.
6. Humans are omnivores - we have always been so, and we always will be. The way the animals are treated is part of that industry, and like Wicked said; humans have to come first. As a family, we tend to get free range food whenever possible, but when it comes down to it, animal cruelty is just not something that's gonna drive me to adorn a picket sign and march through the streets. I have better things to do with my time.

Here is a quote from PhD, Peter Cheeke:

"Do we, as humans, having an ability to reason and to communicate abstract ideas verbally and in writing, and to form ethical and moral judgements using the accumulated knowledge of the ages, have the right to take the lives of other sentient organisms, particularly when we are not forced to do so by hunger or dietary need, but rather do so for the somewhat frivolous reason that we like the taste of meat?"

How would you respond to that quote?
And how old are you?

I'm 18 (.. it says so underneath my avatar).

Meat products are an excellent source of protein, and they contains vitamins that can't be found naturally anywhere else. I wouldn't call that a "frivolous reason". If everyone in this world was to start eating synthetic meat substitutes, it would be a very sad day. Cheeke is right, Human beings can form moral judgements. But in my opinion, eating meat is not immoral. It's natural, and it always will be.

[RXL]

Are you a vegetarian?
YES

IF YES: When and why did you become one?
personal reasons and almost a year ago

Have you ever eaten meat?
yup

Were health reasons your main motive for becoming a vegetarian or was it because of moral issues, religious customs, economic reasons ,etc.?
i wanted to slim down for a better weight class in boxing

Where do you get your food? Do you find it to be more expensive than non-vegetarian groceries?
it shortens my menu, but its usually easy to get veggie food anywhere i go and no its cheaper sometimes

[Dan Dare]

Food for thought...

I'm writing a story for my journalism course about animal cruelty and vegetarianism. I needed to survey a big group of people but I got laryngitus so my interviewing escapades got cut short...I still need a good 50 responses to the questions I had prepared..If any of you just skim through these questions and answer at least any of them if not all of them, it would really help me out a lot...Thanks RB, I knew I could count on you...

Would you like me to post this on a couple of other boards I visit? I could definitely get you a few more responses. The more responses you get, the better, right?

[X Ecution]

Are you aware of the way the animals used for the meat you eat are raised and slaughtered?
-yes

If you had to kill the animals yourself, would you still be a meat eater?
-yes

Would you say you eat meat on a daily basis? What kinds and how many servings a day?
-no

After reading about the cruelty, have your opinions about the meat you eat been influenced at all?
-not really

Why or why not?
i like meat and the way it tastes...some excerpt isnt gonna change my view on food that tastes great.

[Richard Parker]

Food for thought...

I'm writing a story for my journalism course about animal cruelty and vegetarianism. I needed to survey a big group of people but I got laryngitus so my interviewing escapades got cut short...I still need a good 50 responses to the questions I had prepared..If any of you just skim through these questions and answer at least any of them if not all of them, it would really help me out a lot...Thanks RB, I knew I could count on you...


Are you a vegetarian? no

IF YES: When and why did you become one?


Have you ever eaten meat?


Were health reasons your main motive for becoming a vegetarian or was it because of moral issues, religious customs, economic reasons ,etc.?


Where do you get your food? Do you find it to be more expensive than non-vegetarian groceries?


IF NO:
Are you aware of the way the animals used for the meat you eat are raised and slaughtered? Yes


If you had to kill the animals yourself, would you still be a meat eater? Yes


Would you say you eat meat on a daily basis? What kinds and how many servings a day? Yes, - two servings? And definitely any kind of meat

Please read the following excerpts from Vegan Outreach pamphlet entitled "Even If You Like Meat...You Can Help End This Cruelty" before responding to the next questions.

“In the past half-century, most U.S. livestock production has moved from small family farms to factory farms- huge warehouses where animals are confined in crowded cages or pens or in restrictive stalls. The competition to lower costs has led agricultural businesses to treat animals as mere objects, rather than individuals who can suffer.

Hidden from public view, the cruelty that occurs on factory farms is easy to ignore. But more and more people are taking a look at how farmed animals are treated and deciding that its too cruel to support.”

PIGS
“Forget the pig is an animal. Treat him just like a machine in a factory.”-John Byrnes, Farm Manager

“The movie ‘Babe’ is the way Americans want to think of pigs. Real life ‘Babes’ see no sun in their limited lives, with no hay to lie on, no mud to roll in. The sows live in tiny cages, they can’t even turn around. They live over metal grates, and their waste is pushed through slats beneath them and flushed into huge pits.

Piglets in confinement operations are weaned from their mothers [2-3 weeks] after birth (compared to 13 weeks in nature) because they gain weight faster on their hormone and anti-biotic fortified feed. This premature weaning leaves the pigs with a lifelong craving to suck and chew, a desire they gratify in confinement by biting the tail of the animal in front of them. The USDA’s recommended solution to the problem is called ‘tail docking’: Using a pair of pliers (AND NO ANASTHETIC), most but not all of the tail is snipped off. Why the little stump? Because the whole point of the exercise is not to remove the object of tail-biting, so much as to render it more sensitive. Now, a bite on the tail is so painful that even the most demoralized pig will mount a struggle to avoid it.

Hogs, unlike cattle, are dunked in tanks of hot water after they are stunned to soften their hides for skinning. As a result, a botched slaughter condemns some hogs to being scolded and drowned. Secret video tape from Iowa pork plant shows hogs squealing and kicking as they are being lowered into the water.

In gestation sheds, sows continuously hit their heads against their cage doors as if trying to escape. The pens where pigs are fattened up for slaughter are essentially concrete cells, each holding about a dozen pigs. In one pen, there was a pig missing an ear. Another had a rupture the size of a grapefruit protruding from his stomach. A dead pig was constantly nudged and licked by others. At larger farms in North Carolina, there are thousands of pigs housed in sheds. Dead pigs had been left in the pens with the living, some are belted down to the wires of the floor, other pigs had been tossed in the aisles- barely alive, unable to reach food or water."

BIRDS
“Virtually all birds raised for food in the US are factory farmed. Inside the densely packed buildings- which the birds never leave to go outdoors, except during their trip to slaughter-manure fumes cause eye and respiratory infections.

EGG LAYING HENS
"When a flock’s production declines, the hens are either slaughtered or “force molted”-deprived of food for 5 to 14 days to shock their bodies into another laying cycle.

The American laying hen passes her brief span piled together with a half-dozen other hens in a wire cage whose floor a single page of a magazine could carpet. Overcrowding can cause hens to become stuck in the bars or wire floors of their cages and die of asphyxiation or dehydration. Every natural instinct of this animal is thwarted, leading to a range of behavioral vices that can include cannibalizing her cage-mates and rubbing her body against the wire mesh until its featherless and bleeding.

Male chicks, of no economic value to the egg industry, are found dead and dying in a dumpster behind a hatchery. Typically they are gassed or ground up alive."

METHODS OF SLAUGHTER
Using a captive bolt gun, a metal rod is thrust into the animal’s brain. Shooting a struggling animal is difficult, and the rod often misses its mark.

Electrical current produces a seizure; then the throat is cut. Insufficient amperage can cause an animal to be paralyzed without losing sensibility.”

Mind you that pigs and chickens have the same intellectual ability and learning capacity as cats or dogs. So why is it that dogs and cats deserve legal protection from animal cruelty laws, while the other group gets virtually no protection at all?"

Photos:

http://www.veganoutreach.org/advoca...s/ffpigslrg.jpg

http://www.veganoutreach.org/advoca.../ffbirdslrg.jpg

[For further reading, visit www.opposecruelty.org]


After reading about the cruelty, have your opinions about the meat you eat been influenced at all?
Yes

Why or why not?

Up until reading this I thought I knew the way our livestock production industries worked, but there was a lot of information here that I was not aware of. I think the real question is not "Have you been influenced about the meat you eat," (which I have, but I refuse to stop eating meat ), the real question is "WHY is something not done about this." And I can answer that question in one word: Money


Anyone who takes the time to read or answer any of these gets major cool points...

And in case you didn't know, cool points can be traded in for sex..

Lol...Just kidding. But seriously, please help me out and voice your opinion or any additional comments on the subject if you have a minute...

ok, didn't have a hell of a lot of time for this but i gave you mostly yes and no's. hopefully that helps, if so we can fuck. otherwise we can fuck anyway, cuz im admin so I must get extra cool points for caring enough to respond. normally i would read the thread title and go "eh." and about the sex, hey... you offered *shrugs*

[DaGyrlRemarqabL]

Would you like me to post this on a couple of other boards I visit? I could definitely get you a few more responses. The more responses you get, the better, right?

Y'know...I really appreciate that offer, but the story is due tomorrow so I really don't have time to wait for people on other message boards to respond..Besides, you all are giving me very intelligent answers which I can definitely work with...

Thanks so much everyone who answered...
Anyone else..still answer if you want to..I'll keep checking back as I'm writing..I'll probably procrastinate for a good few hours anyway..

[DaGyrlRemarqabL]

ok, didn't have a hell of a lot of time for this but i gave you mostly yes and no's. hopefully that helps, if so we can fuck. otherwise we can fuck anyway, cuz im admin so I must get extra cool points for caring enough to respond. normally i would read the thread title and go "eh." and about the sex, hey... you offered *shrugs*

lmao.

[DaGyrlRemarqabL]

I'm 18 (.. it says so underneath my avatar).

Sorry, I was too intent on that guys tongue waving around in your avatar to notice the age underneath it.

[Richard Parker]

tongue? i see no tongue in his avatar. but, you do open the way for a lot of pathetic sexual jokes.. it almost seems like you're doing that on purpose..

[Dan Dare]

Lmao, I changed my avatar a few minutes ago.

It was this.

[DaGyrlRemarqabL]

^what he said.