Hello. My name is Charlotte and I am 14 years old. I stopped eating meat when I was 6 and quite often, I get asked “Why are you vegan?” and I answer with “It’s because I do not agree with the unethical way that many animals are farmed.” However, people still do not understand, which is why I have started this petition to persuade the UK government that the realities of animal agriculture should be taught to young people in school. Only through education can the public make an informed choice between cruelly produced products and those where animal welfare is respected and when more and more people choose the compassionate option, farming practices will change. 

Some people think that farming is a few cows and sheep scattered on an open field. I really wish I could say that this is what all farming is like but it isn’t at all. The Sentience Institute estimates that 74% of land livestock are factory farmed. Compassion in World Farming estimates it is likely to be closer to 85%. These are animals that they are crammed into cages or packed into sheds, never to see the light of day. This equates to over 23 billion animals at any one time, where production is put above all else, including animal welfare. Animals are bred  to produce huge quantities of milk, meat and eggs.  This comes at a great cost to them and to our health and our planet. 

Here are a few examples of life on a factory farm -

Mother pigs give birth and feed their babies in crates that are so small, they cannot turn around or nurture their young. Their babies are then removed and raised indoors, within cramped pens. 

On dairy farms, cows are forced to constantly give birth and when they do, heartbreakingly, they can only be with their young for 24 hours before they are taken away from them so we can drink their milk. They are bred to produce huge amounts of milk until they are worn out and sent to slaughter. Also, more and more dairy farms are now intensive with cows living their whole lives inside, never getting to graze outside. 

On intensive egg farms, laying hens are kept in cages, unable to properly clean themselves, flap their wings or carry out any of their natural behaviors. This miserable life, looking straight ahead to nothing, comes to an end when they are shipped to the slaughterhouse at 14 months. In many countries, barren ‘battery’ cages are still legal. These are even worse, with less than an A4 area of wire floor space per hen. Male chicks are useless to the egg industry so as soon as they are born, they are thrown into a grinder. 

On chicken meat farms, chickens are crammed into barren sheds where their body grows too fast so their legs often get crushed beneath their weight or their heart gives out. They, too, spend their whole life indoors. 

There are so many other industries like this- beef feedlots where cows are kept penned and not able to graze, intensive salmon farms, rabbit and turkey farms and there are even plans for an octopus factory farm which would cause immense suffering to these incredibly intelligent and solitary creatures. 

Not only is factory farming extremely cruel, it is also very unhygienic and is one of the reasons  there is now a crisis in antibiotic resistance in people (superbugs) as antibiotic residues from those given routinely to factory farmed animals enter the food chain. 

Intensive farming is also terrible for the environment. Waste from farms ends up polluting land and rivers. 

So what needs to be done? I believe it is vital we bring in age-appropriate lessons into schools to inform young people about the reality of animal agriculture.  This should be a part of the National Curriculum.  Only through this can people make an informed choice about the food they eat- a choice between cruelly produced and environmentally destructive products and traditional, environmentally friendly farmed products where animal welfare is prioritized. 

So please sign my petition and share this message with others, so together we can help phase out these unnatural, unethical systems. It will really make a difference. 

Thank you so much. This is something I really care passionately about and I hope that you do too.