VEGGIE CHICK! | A veggie on a mission...

What are the Issues?

Welcome! This page contains an overview of several animal rights issues. If an issue catches your eye, follow the link at the end of the paragraph to find out more. I have devoted one page to each issue, where I go into more detail and you will find more specific information including a guide to the things you can do to help. I hope to add more issues to this page at some point. Please remember that, though I have researched them thoroughly, these pages are intended as a guide only and should not be taken for fact.

Factory Farming

Factory farming is the cheapest method of farming but also the cruelest to the animals. Whether the animal in question is a chicken, a hen, a cow or a pig the philosophy is basically the same- cram as many animals as you can into the smallest possible space, give them as little food and water as you can and make them produce as much as possible. For more detailed information, click here.

Vivisection

Vivisection is a complicated word for animal testing. This means that billions of animals are locked up in laboratories worldwide enduring every kind of test imaginable- for drugs, cosmetics, chemicals, new medical and surgical procedures and even weapons. These animals are seldom properly cared for or anaethetised during experiments and there's growing concern amongst scientists and animal rights campaigners alike that many of the experiments performed are unnessessary and cruel. There's also a growing feeling that, with animals and humans being biologically so different to each other, the results of any experiment performed are misleading, endangering human health and hindering rather than promoting progress. To find out more, click here.

Sport and Entertainment

Many animals are kept in captivity in circuses and forced to perform stupid tricks purely for our entertainment. Circuses don't stay in one place for more than a few weeks so these animals have to travel a lot, often in wooden crates on the back of big lorries. They may be sedated if they are travelling a long way and this is not a nice experience. Though animals confined in zoos don't suffer this torture, the enclosures they're kept in are often unlike their natural habitats and they are stared at day after day. The frustration and boredom they feel can lead to them developing worrying habits such as pacing the floor and chewing on the bars of their enclosure. Other animals suffer even more, being chased into the ground and killed simply for fun. Foxes, hares, deer and mink have all suffered this torture. It finally became illegal here in 2005 but hunt supporters are finding more and more ways to take advantage of the gaps in the law. To find out more, click here.

Endangered Species

'Endangered species' is a general term used to refer to species which are in danger of becoming extict. In other words, species which will die out completely if we don't do something to help them recover. This is ironic considering that we are largely responsible for driving them towards extinction by hunting them, eating them or destroying their habitats. Conservation experts and environmentalists monitor the populations of endangered species regularly, dividing them into four categories- threatened, endangered, critically endangered and extinct. To find out more, click here.

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