Help end animal abuse: Say no to the Govt. Animal Husbandry scheme

Ramu worked in a slaughterhouse near Mumbai and is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He lacks sleep and is constantly cold with his spine-chilling experiences from working in a slaughterhouse. He says, “his appetite is lost and he suffered from anemia and depression. His fellow workers suffer from infections and other mental issues.”

He said, “think about this, as you’re tucking into a mutton roast, you didn’t hear the tortured screams of those animals. You didn’t see them fight with every ounce of their strength to stay alive. You didn’t clean their blood from the factory floor. I did and the guilt will haunt me forever.”  He also confessed that many of his fellow workers contracted COVID-19 and succumbed to the disease.

It has been a hectic time for a lot of countries’ prosecutors in the world who have been negotiating with their country’s meat suppliers to implement measures to protect slaughterhouse workers from COVID-19.

“Slaughterhouses are hotspots of COVID-19,” said Priscila Dibi Schvarcz in Brazil, a labour prosecutor who highlighted the unsafe conditions faced by employees. She included, “many people work shoulder-to-shoulder without [social] distancing that can slow the spread of the virus.”

For years, critics have accused the meat industries, supplying a global meat market estimated to be worth about $1.4 trillion, according to Barclays, of practices that cause a range of health, animal welfare and environmental issues. Now, the outsized infection rate among slaughterhouse workers during the coronavirus crisis has again shone a light on the working practices in these facilities. 

On 24th June 2020, the Union Cabinet of India approved the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) to invest a whopping Rs. 15,000 crores into the development of the meat, dairy and animal feed processing industries. The Animal Husbandry Minister, Giriraj Singh said it was part of a scheme to help people affected by the COVID-19 lockdown. Despite it appearing to be a respite from the lockdown, the reality of it is hidden from us.

In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, we should remember that the virus originated in a live seafood and wildlife market in Wuhan, China. This is not the first time a virus like this has emerged from a place of animal agriculture. SARS, MERS, Ebola, Swine Flu and even the common seasonal flu came from animal exploitation for our consumption of meat and dairy products. As long as animals are being forced into existence in high numbers and kept in unhygienic conditions that are breeding grounds for such viruses, the COVID-19 pandemic won’t be the last.

Not only does it affect the people who consume these products, but we also should not forget about those that work in slaughterhouses and factory farms. With unfathomable job titles like an animal masturbator, duck stuffer, pig stabber or animal shearer, millions of workers have to kill, bleed out, break bones and skin these animals. The constant exposure to this kind of violence causes psychological problems and drug and alcohol abuse. Anxiety, depression and a high crime rate are seen amongst slaughterhouse workers and butchers and the unsanitary conditions they work in also cause them to suffer from diseases like tuberculosis, asthma, bronchitis and traumatic injuries and chronic pain in their bodies. These problems are only exacerbated by the fact that they are paid less than minimum wage for very long hours of work.

Animal agriculture is also responsible for high greenhouse gas emissions, global acidification, eutrophication and high amounts of land use and water use. Not only does the process of converting grass into the meat (feeding animals plant food and then killing them for meat) like the process of converting coal into energy, it also causes deforestation and pollution to an extent that inhibits the amount of food that can be produced on the planet. It’s estimated that 700 million tonnes of food that could be consumed by humans goes to livestock each year. If more farmland was used to grow crops for humans, then more people could be fed at less of an expense to the planet.

The truth behind these industries is that billions of cows and buffalos are tortured and killed for our consumption of dairy products like milk, cheese, butter or ghee. From the time a cow is old enough to reproduce, she is impregnated yearly so she will produce milk. As soon as she gives birth to her calf, she/he is taken away immediately so that she can be milked daily. If the calf is male, he is sold to slaughter for meat and leather or abandoned on the streets to survive or die. If the calf happens to be female, she will go through the same cycle of abuse as her mother. Once cows cannot produce milk anymore, they are also sold to slaughter or left on the streets. It’s the reason why so many cows and bulls are seen on our streets.

This scheme will not only affect the lives of cows and buffalos, but also all the animals that are used for human consumption including chickens, goats and fish, and this in turn will affect the health of the people but also the only environment we have to depend on.

We call on every Indian to read and sign this petition and help us protect our future and the lives of innocent animals.

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