Not all plants feel pain. Many commonly eaten foods, including melons, fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, and mushrooms, do not feel pain. For people wanting to not eat plant foods that feel pain, there is now a comprehensive list that can help you to choose no pain plant foods right HERE. There is an abundance of plants that do not feel pain and nourish us with generous protein and nutrients, supporting vibrant good health! Choosing plant foods is always the kinder option over eating meat. Meat comes from our animal friends who suffer physical, mental, emotional and spiritual pain when reared and killed for food. Mother Earth is also attuned to the suffering of us and the animal friends. When we suffer, so does she. Meat and animal derived foods are the leading decimator of the environment, leading to species extinction including animals, plants, trees and insects, waterway pollution and depletion. The livestock industry emits about 87% of the greenhouse gas emissions per year. Far more than all the world's transportation combined. This leads to the suffering of ecosystems and the health of humans and animals alike.Eighty percent (yes - 80%) of agricultural land is used to feed livestock animals. Around 41% of the world’s cereals are fed to livestock animals. Livestock animals (including herbivores) are fed other animals too. This can include fish, meat and bone meal, chicken by-products, blood meal, milk and dairy products. People who are avoiding foods that feel pain will see that the suffering is compounded as we go up the non-veg "food chain." An animal eats plants that feel pain, then that animal is killed and fed to other animals who are later eaten by humans. Eating plants is far kinder.Eating plants also avoids the suffering that comes when disease spreads between animal species and between animals and humans. This is called zoonotic disease. "Zoonotic diseases have been important throughout history and remain one of the world's most important public health challenges. During the 400-year span of the Black Death, the plague (Yersinia pestis) killed an estimated 50% of the human population in China, 33% in Europe, and 17% in Africa. Approximately 60% of all globally emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic diseases that infect both humans and animals, and 72% originate in wildlife." Source. "Common zoonoses of interest include bacterial diseases such as plague, brucellosis, tularemia, anthrax, salmonellosis, and Escherichia coli; viral diseases such as rabies, West Nile virus, encephalitis, influenza, and hantavirus; and transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (prion diseases) such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, chronic wasting disease, mad cow, and scrapie." Source.When we gather plant foods we often don't destroy the entire plant or tree which keeps on living. A beautiful story illustrates this: “A king took his court out to the forest to hunt. He shot an arrow which hit a mother deer. She ran away bleeding and in pain. Pursuing her, the king found her hiding in a bush, crying, wounded, yet still feeding her baby. Later she died. The king, realizing the harm he had done, picked up the baby deer and raised it in that forest, which he transformed into a park under his reign, calling it “Mother Deer Park.” From then on, the king abandoned hunting and did not kill animals anymore.     Do not kill sentient beings, human nor animal. Animals themselves manifest love for their offspring. Not eating meat (being vegetarian) is a way to manifest the love for life. An argument to this is that we also harm plants in consuming them. However, harvesting of fruits does not kill the mother tree; harvesting of grains and beans comes at the end of the cycle of life of the mother plants; still other vegetables would regenerate even stronger after being cut." Source.Eating plants always the kinder choice over killing an animal to eat, and raising animals in horrid conditions for their milk, eggs and skin.

This is an incomplete and misleading view that seems to have been used largely in metaphysical communities to justify eating animals and keep them in terrible conditions. We can say that the animals suffering in feedlots, factory farms, slaughterhouses etc. are suffering from the collective Earth karma with humans deciding to eat meat. Their destiny is in our hands. Humans make choices that affect the fate of animals every day, including what we eat and don't eat. In this way, the "karma" or destiny and treatment of livestock animals is in the power of humans. Their fate is in our control. By making compassionate choices, we have the power to eradicate animal suffering. In an interview with In Defense of Animals, a vegan animal communicator addressed this subject with much wisdom. She shared: “What I want to say, and what I say to people who say the animals, they don’t mind and they’ve incarnated purposefully, let’s just take like a kind of an offshoot of that. People sometimes would say well those animals are choosing to suffer and to teach us compassion and of course my answer is well, if that were true, I think it’s time for us to become compassionate and relieve the animals of that mission - if that were true.But what I would say too, as far as animals choosing to incarnate to be food, is you know, that’s part of that speciesism and segregation of that an animal would be willing to do something that we, you know, would not be willing to do.So, you kind of think of ourselves - are we willing to incarnate and be food? …… Even if that were all the case you know with the animals, we’re speaking of billions and billions of animals, and just the reality, and the kind of rational, you know the common-sense aspect - would really billions and billions of animals choose that for themselves? Would they really choose to put themselves through that?...… I can follow the thinking here it comes from the metaphysical community at large, but I really see those as reasons, you know, reasons that people convince themselves of why it’s ok to eat animals. Why it’s ok to exploit them.Again, those are just things to help humans continue on doing what they’re doing and feel that that’s ok. So that’s my take on that and from the animals themselves, from communicating with pigs and cows and turkeys and chickens…And in the same way, what we could say is let’s say that if I incarnated and there were something really difficult that was going to transpire in my life, but that doesn’t mean that for example, that I wouldn’t want to be rescued from that, or I wouldn’t want it to be different, or that I wouldn’t want things to shift so that could be different.So, all the way around, it really comes back to the bottom line that compassion is our default karma, and you know, not allowing or requiring that animals be eaten or exploited.”We love this concept of making compassion being our default karma!It's worthwhile to note that many animal communicators are shown past lives in which animals have been humans. People who do past life regressions have also seen themselves as animals.This mirrors various religious teachings that animals have been human in past lives, and that humans can become animals in future lives. Buddhist scriptures explain that eating meat is the main reason that people can’t escape the cycle of reincarnation:“Bhagavan (World Honored One), I see that in all worlds, the wandering in births and deaths, the enlaced animosities, and the falling into evil paths, are all caused by meat eating and cyclical killing. Those behaviors increase greed and anger, and make living beings unable to escape from suffering. That is truly very painful.”It is also described that animals can be reincarnations of our family members from previous lives:“Mahamati, I see that living beings are in the transmigration of the six paths, being together in births and deaths, they give birth to and foster each other, and cyclically become fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters of each other; They may be men or women, may be the direct line of descent, may be cousins, affinities, uncles, aunts, sons, daughters, grandsons, and other various relatives of each other; They may also be born in other paths (of animal, ghost, god, and so on), whether virtuous or evil, they frequently become the relatives of each other. Because of these relationships, I see that all meats eaten by living beings are of their own relatives. Due to the greed for flavors of meats, the living beings circularly eat each other, then they always have the thoughts of hurting each other. Their painful karmas are always increasing, so they are wandering in cycles of births and deaths and unable to escape.” Source.Livestock Animals Suffer Because We Choose to Let Them SufferKilling and eating animals for meat and other products creates a heavy karma that causes a lot of problems for humans and for our world.Instead of supporting the livestock industry, we can make compassion our default by being vegan so that we stop inflicting pain and suffering on the animals.Imagine if you were an animal being raised and slaughtered for food, wouldn’t you feel scared and sad? Wouldn’t you wish for a life of freedom and safety for yourself and your babies?By being vegan, we choose kindness and we empower others to also become vegan. This creates positive karma for humans and for the world, and lifts animals out of suffering.If more and more people choose this option, we will transform our world in many ways. This is what the animals want. Kindness. Safety. Good health. Love and respect.

Below are some quotes from animal communicators around the globe explaining some of the reasons that they don't eat animal products ...“It’s very clear to me that all animals, whether dog, pig, cow whatever, all have sentience. We all know that every single animal has the capacity to have a maternal instinct, a paternal instinct, to experience fear, to experience love, to experience joy. So, knowing that we now acknowledge that they are sentient beings. We can prove that across the board, whatever animal it is. So, knowing that a cow can experience the same fear that a dog can experience, that is for me, all I need to know.” [i]“Everybody knew me as this girl that loved animals… But no one realized how hypocritical it was to say I loved animals but then I also eat them. Like, that to me is very strange… But at the time I mean I was only like 10 or 12 years old. I didn’t know what veganism was. You never heard that word in South Africa.Like, I lived on a farm in South Africa for a while. Like nobody would have ever said that word. But when I heard the word vegan, I was like, Oh. Oh, I didn’t even know that that existed. And also you’re never educated on what happens in the dairy industry by the way, or the egg industry.But having access to that information I was like, oh my God, I cannot consume this stuff. And then especially with what I do professionally, how am I supposed to access and work with the feelings and the sentience of animals on an energetic level if I’m consuming them? It makes no sense.So yeah, it was a no-brainer for me to go vegan and I haven’t eaten meat in like 11 years, but I went vegan probably like 6 years ago. It was honestly the best decision I ever made. It raises, honestly it sounds hippie, but you know, eating low vibrational food like dairy and meat it literally is dead matter. That is dead matter. It is a low vibrational food.”[ii]“Why would you want to consume something that’s dead? If you put a seed into the ground, all of a sudden that one seed has so much information to produce a whole tree with flowers with a female and a male and to continue to create. But if you plant a piece of lamb or a piece of beef into the ground, nothing happens. And so why would you want to put that into your body? You’re not putting any relative information to your body… And so that’s what we try to go for, to consume as much life as possible to give you more life.”[iii]-          Sarah Lee, Vegan Animal Communicator “So what we have to do is we have to see things from the animal’s perspective. And once we do, we will find out how wonderful animals are, how amazing they are, the depth of their knowledge, the depth of their feelings, the depth of their abilities, the depth of their wishes. Animals are so absolutely amazing. So what we have to do is we have to start seeing things from the animals’ perspective. Once we do that, we change the way we see animals and everything will change.”[iv]-          Claudia Hehr, Vegan Animal Communicator “They teach us all the time, but we are the ones who have to learn. We have a responsibility to know them, to know their minds and to know how they work. They exist, they are there, and it is we who destroy their environment, we are the ones who make all the mistakes. So, our responsibility is to know and understand them. And by understanding their consciousness, that’s how we can transform a little bit the things that are happening to our planet.”[v]-          Laila Del Monte, Vegetarian Animal Communicator “We’re in this state of consciousness where we’re kind of sleepwalking to the edge of the cliff and very soon we’re gonna just walk over it unless we open our eyes and act on our feelings and I think it’s really interesting at this moment and in years prior there’s such a calling from the animal kingdom to connect with humans to help humans learn who they are and that they are part of nature and that they are essentially kind, compassionate, loving beings.”[vi]-          Pea Horsley, “Plant-Based Animal Communicator” “I really see no difference between the dogs and cats that I’ve had close encounters with and the pigs and the chickens and the cows that I’ve met inside factory farms. When I go into these places, I actually go in with the awareness of wanting to connect with them. And I want to find out who they really are and what they’re about. And it’s been really beautiful to share with them. It’s also very sad of course because the conditions they live in are absolutely appalling. And you know what I’ve found for example with broiler conditions, the general sense is that a lot of them really don’t feel anything at all. They’re actually quite dead.I mean they only live there for a period of 6 weeks they’re only babies when they’re at the point when they’re actually sent to an abattoir and they’re living in a large shed in very crowded conditions. They’re given a lot of unnatural things like antibiotics which is really contributing to them not being able to really feel who they are.But what I’ve also noticed is really incredible, when I’ve taken a chicken from a broiler farm at 6 weeks, a day before going to an abattoir, and then he goes to a sanctuary and a refuge on the first day he is already starting to peck at the ground and do all of these natural things. And you know it’s only going to take a short period of time before he can get in touch with who he really is again.And that’s the sense that I get they just want to be, they just want to be free. It’s just a basic life they’re craving, just like all of us really. And just to be able to express their natural behaviours and have close relationships with those that they want to and be in a social kind of hierarchy, be able to search for their own food and water. Those are the things that are really, really important.” [vii]-          Dr. Jodi Ruckley Vegan Animal Communicator, Holistic Veterinarian “The animals tell me they’re finished suffering. This is a human construct they say. They can’t wait for us to grow up as a species and truly understand that they are not here for our benefit, to exploit, to eat, or even for our entertainment. They are just here with us experiencing life in a body, as we are, for reasons of their own. And some are here to be our healers, our teachers and our guides. So, we have to understand that animals have souls. They have feelings and emotions and when we take them away from their mothers, when we butcher and farmlot and cull them, it’s exactly the same for them as it is for a human being. It hurts. It causes grief.”[viii]“I’ve become really good friends with cows who have been there for a long time. They’re good-natured. They’re good-humoured. And they’re full of wisdom. And they tell me in the future humans won’t kill them because other humans will form a revolution of kindness. And they’re very excited about that.”-          Billie Dean - Vegan Interspecies Communicator, Co-Founder of A Place of Peace Sanctuary  “I haven’t eaten meat in 32 years. Animals know this. Animals can smell, in the same way, if an animal, if a carnivore comes towards an animal that is normally a prey animal. They can smell on a human if they’re a meat eater. And the level of trust between almost any animal and me is very high. I can deal with just about any animal because they know that I’m not a threat. I’m safe. But animals to develop a relationship, and I’m talking about real communication between yourself and an animal, not that dominating, I know people who are like, ‘Animals do whatever I want them to do and that’s it.’ But its a matter of an equal partnership, so for me, it’s very simple because they know how safe I am. They smell me. Everybody knows how sensitive their noses are. But they absolutely know. So being vegan on top of vegetarian, I’m no threat at all and I’m able to almost instantly communicate with any animal.”[ix]-          Kathleen Schurman - Vegan Animal Communicator, Co-Founder of Locket’s Meadow Farm Sanctuary “Actually, when I was in India I saw a mother cow with her little calf. The calf, they were putting a bottle of water cut in two, that they were putting on her muzzle so she would not suckle. Right there, I had a flash and told myself that obviously, if we drink milk, the calf won’t have milk…”“What they ask of us is that we stop saving them one by one, setting up small shelters, bandaging a dog’s paw, while in reality, what is needed is that people be informed to stop consuming milk due to everything affecting cows, calves; to stop locking up hens in cages, so it’s truly a holistic message. Also, with all that’s going on regarding CO2 with us producing such enormous amounts of meat. And what they really want to transmit to us is that on an international level, on a planetary level, to awaken and open our eyes to what’s happening and to broadcast such messages through videos, through the internet. In today’s world, these are relevant; it’s the way to reach more people, using videos, writing books, spreading messages at an international level to the maximum.”[x]-          Joy Fromental, Vegan Animal Communicator “I have a twenty-minute section in my workshops where I make sure that every person that comes to me that trains as an animal communicator can not be ignorant on the cruelty to animals. I promote being vegetarian; I have links on my website to vegetarian cooking. I encourage my students to change. My charity section of animal communication, which is animal communicators that care about animals, when we do any events, we ourselves will always be vegetarian. And we try to promote vegetarianism in the classroom, so people can understand that there is a big cruelty in factory farming.”[xi]-          Rosina Maria Arquati, Vegan Animal Communicator On students after attending her classes: “Many have turned vegan and vegetarian. I do know of this because they write to me. And the reason is because they’ve seen things from a different perception. When you get intimate with an animal or a person, things change. It’s a bit like when you love someone your husband, your partner, your wife, your child, doesn’t your relationship change? Don’t you want to save them, protect them? Well, that’s what happens.”[xii]-          Trisha McCagh, Vegetarian Animal Communicator “And the more people who become vegan, it makes a statement to other people who are eating meat, and it allows people to start to consider what their position is. And the less people who eat meat, the more animals there are who can actually do what they’re meant to do here, and it’s not to provide themselves as food for humans.”[xiii]-          Lynne Overhill, Vegetarian Animal Communicator “And when we start to recognise those souls individually, the world will start to look at things like being kinder and being more vegan and I feel like as we start to see them as that, we’ll have more kindness for each other. So, I feel like they’re really leading the charge here for us to be better humans.”[xiv]-          Joan Ranquet, Vegan Animal Communicator & Teacher “It must be 5 years now that I’ve been vegan when I realized that I actually had no more excuses. I didn’t need cheese. And of course, my vegetarianism wasn’t just because of my mum, it was because of my love for animals… It wasn’t a health reason, it was because I did not like eating my friends and I knew that that piece of meat was a cow or a sheep and there was no way I could eat it.”[xv]“My vision for the world is a place where we can live in harmony and peace with Mother Nature in all her beautiful forms, whether it’s our animal friends, our tree friends, plants, insects – everything that is part of us, and we are part of them. We need to live in harmony, and I can see it; it is possible. And that is my vision, that everyone wakes up and listens and that we start working towards that.”[xvi]-          Wynter Worsthorne, Vegan Animal Communicator & Teacher"You know, thinking about being vegan and the cheese and the eggs ... that’s very normal for people. And then I did a diet where we cut little things out each week and one of the weeks we cut out egg and cheese, so then I was actually vegan for the week. And about 5 days in I was like, 'Oh, I can do this. I actually don’t need the cheese and eggs,' and I haven’t looked back from that."- Janine Opheim - Vegan Animal Communicator and Astrologer “I had this really clear sense within that I did not want to invest my energy in helping raise livestock because I did not agree with this. I thought it was absurd. And I told myself, ‘People, this is not right, not right. I cannot do anything that I do not agree with.’”[xvii]-          Sheila Waligora, Vegan Animal Communicator & Veterinarian“I wasn’t raised as a vegan or vegetarian and I’m not sure if I even knew the terms when this happened. I saw something on the news that I misunderstood due to my age and level of understanding at the time. The news reported that dolphins were getting caught in tuna/fishing nets. My young mind thought that tuna was a dolphin. So, I became alarmed and I told my mum I wouldn’t eat tuna anymore. From memory, my mum clarified that tuna wasn’t a dolphin. And so, I kept eating her tuna casseroles happily (though I can’t stomach the thought of that now!).I was exhibiting speciesism because I wouldn’t eat tuna when I thought tuna was a dolphin. But I would willingly eat tuna back then, knowing that tuna was fish. I was placing a higher regard on dolphins than I was on tuna fish, and valuing the life of dolphins more. Thankfully I am vegan now, and it’s one of the most precious things in my life.” Source.- Star, Vegan Animal Communicator “You have no idea how even more specific your work would be if you were vegan. Cause again when you align yourself with your true essence, that’s where your deepest ability and talents come forward. So, what we can do is try to educate as many animal communicators as you know we can.”[xviii]-          Kathy LandryVegan Animal Communicator[i] Sarah Lee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zij7JzWAuQ [ii] Lee, S. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zij7JzWAuQ[iii] Lee, S. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVqBmWhw6V4 [iv] Hehr, C. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWTALCxvpfM [v] Laila Del Monte. https://suprememastertv.com/en1/v/104053009519.html [vi] Pea Horsley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f96JMHJy-V8 [vii] Dr. Jodi Ruckley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBv1NOOHcT4 [viii] Billie Dean, founder of The Deep Peace Trust Sanctuary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaanBP14cWU   [ix] Kathleem Schurman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEZn8AQyuj4&list=PLpRI0D4G30dXCezVu9gHMZT9v7-x-ivHB&index=13 [x] Joy Fromental. https://suprememastertv.com/en1/v/70466801635.html [xi] Rosina Maria Arquati. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RffW79awREQ&t=322s [xii] Trisha McCagh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8d3fYic2Gc [xiii] Lynn Overhill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Biooxu9riM&list=PL3BEBFFAB18C6BEB2&index=9 [xiv] Joan Ranquet. https://suprememastertv.com/en1/v/160057907710.html [xv] Wynter Worsthorne. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBlMEBU0H4E&t=1s [xvi] Wynter Worsthorne. https://suprememastertv.com/en1/v/195166394333.html[xvii] Sheila Waligora. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXyYbYxEKTE [xviii] Kathy Landry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp8b1k2iUcs

Many religious and spiritual texts promote the veg diet! We often need to go back to the religious/spiritual text and teaching to find the veg messages! --- Scroll down to your religion/faith below to discover what the writings say --Lisa Levinson, co-founder of the Interfaith Vegan Coalition has stated,“Animal agriculture is polluting our planet and is a major threat to the safety of humanity. The Interfaith Vegan Coalition represents 36 member organizations and our partner the Animal Interfaith Alliance with 17 member organizations. Together, we urge Secretary-General Guterres to honor our cherished spiritual values by removing dirty animal agriculture from our food systems and practicing reverence for all sentient beings.”Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has said, “Be Vegan, Keep Peace, Do Good Deeds. Find a Master if you want to go Home.” Agape International Spiritual CentreReverend Michael Beckwith, founder of the Agape International Spiritual Centre in California, and a dedicated vegan, has shared his awakening to the plant-based diet. He has shared,“Once I had the spiritual awakening, … my body was sensitive … And so I remember eating some chicken, and as I took a bite from the chicken, I could feel the pain that the chicken had in dying and the life [that] the chicken had. It was all in my body. I could feel it. I put it out. I said, ‘Wow, what is this?’ And I realized I was picking up on the grief and the anxiety and the fear [of] the chicken. So I remember calling my mother. I said, ‘I’m going to be a vegetarian.”  Baha'i“Briefly, it is not only their fellow human beings that the beloved of God must treat with mercy and compassion; rather must they show forth the utmost loving-kindness to every living creature.” - Abdu'l-Baha, Writings of Abdu'l-Baha  Buddhism“Kasyapa asked the Buddha: "Why did the Lord previously allow Bhiksus to eat the 'three pure meats' or even 'nine pure meats'?" The Buddha said, "It was so instituted following the need of the occasion, and as gradual steps in the actual segregation from eating meat." - Shakyamuni Buddha, Nirvana Sutra “All the saints abhorred eating blood or flesh…. Celestial beings never go near people who eat meat as their mouth always has a foul smell…. Meat is not good, meat is unclean; meat eating generates evils and destroys merits and blessings. All the saints denounce eating meat!” - Shakyamuni Buddha, Lankavatara Sutra “All sentient beings came from the same origin. Through myriad reincarnations, all sentient beings have been relatives of each other. How can we eat the meat of our relatives?” - Shakyamuni Buddha, Lankavatara Sutra “How then can those who practise great compassion feed on the flesh and blood of living beings? If bhikus do not wear garments made of (Chinese) silk, boots of local leather and furs, and refrain from consuming milk, cream and butter, they will really be liberated from the worldly; after paying their former debts, they will not transmigrate in the three realms of existence. Why? Because by using animal products, one creates causes (which are always followed by effects), just like a man who eats cereals grown in the soil and whose feet cannot leave the ground. If a man can (control) his body and mind and thereby refrains from eating animal flesh and wearing animal products, I say he will really be liberated. This teaching of mine is that of the Buddha whereas any other is that of evil demons.” - Prohibition Against Killing, Surangama Sutra **Note - this Buddhist passage encourages veganism explicitly.We see with clarity that the Buddhas have advised people to shun animal-derived “foods.” Still, some people have incorrectly stated that the Buddha ate pig’s feet. This is an unfortunate misconception. Pig’s feet is a type of truffle that is so-named due to the assistance of pigs who sniff the truffles out and help to dig them up from the ground with their feet.I have met Buddhists who believe that eating meat is acceptable because they are not killing the animals themselves. However, the Buddhas taught that this wasn’t acceptable to eat meat even if other people killed it. If we eat meat, someone has to kill an animal. Consumers pay money to buy the flesh of the animal that was killed. In so doing, an exchange takes place. In paying for meat products, one is directly supporting killing.  Buddhism - Thich Nhat Hanh (1926 – 2022)Thich Nhat Hanh (1926 – 2022) gave similar, important discussions on the topic. He was a committed vegan and stated:“We don’t want to eat eggs, and drink cow’s milk, and eat cheese anymore because raising cows and raising chickens creates a lot of suffering. If you have seen the suffering of the chicken, the suffering of the cows, you would not like to eat chicken, eat eggs, drink milk, or eat cheese anymore. It seems the system has been contaminated.So, to be vegan is not perfect but it helps to reduce the suffering of animals.There are films made about the suffering of animals. If you have watched these films you will see. We should eat and drink in such a way that preserves compassion in our heart. We should consume in a way that helps to reduce the suffering of living beings and that way we can preserve compassion in our heart.A person who does not have much compassion in his heart cannot be a happy person anymore. And that is why I think everyone has to learn how to reduce the eating of meat and the drinking of alcohol.”                                                 Christianity “Thou shalt not kill.” -Exodus 20:13 “And God said, 'Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is breath of life, I have given every green herb for meal and it was so.” - Genesis 1:29-30 “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.”-        Genesis 9:4 “Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat.”-        Proverbs 23:20 “Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.”-        1st Corinthians 6:13 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats… And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of innocent blood. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil.”-        Isaiah 1:11 “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.”-        Proverbs: 15:17, Holy BibleThis example clearly highlights that animals are unhappy when kept in cruel and unnatural conditions. A note on the translation of Christian TextsIt appears that in many areas of the bible, the word meat has mistakenly been interposed by biblical interpreters when translating the scriptures into another language. This has resulted in inconsistencies with the messaging around eating meat. Words such as “eat” and “nourishment” have simply been translated to the word “meat.”Different biblical translators confirm these translational errors from their own direct experience of translating the bible. Passages of the original Bible were written in Aramaic which is not known to many people today, sections of the Old Testament were written in Hebrew and from there were extensively translated into Greek. Translating from one language to another can result in incorrect translations.In the online article, “Vegetarianism: Supported in the Bible,” Stephen Knapp gives some examples of translational inconsistencies in The Holy Bible. He writes:“For example, in John (4.8) it states: ‘For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.’ The word meat was taken from the Greek word trophe, which actually means nourishment. This is exactly the same case in Acts (9.19): "And when he had received meat, he was strengthened." When translated accurately it means that by receiving nourishment, he felt stronger.”  Confucianism“All men have a mind which cannot bear to see the sufferings of others. The superior man, having seen the animals alive, cannot bear to see them die; having heard their dying cries, he cannot bear to eat their flesh”.-        Mencius, King Hui of Liang, Chapter 4  Cao Đài“... The most important thing is to stop killing... because animals also have souls and understand like humans.... if we kill and eat them, then we owe them a blood debt.”-        Teachings of the Saints, About Keeping the Ten Precepts – Abstaining from Killing, Section 2  Essenes“For I tell you truly, he who kills, kills himself, and who eats the flesh of slain beasts, eats of the body of death. For in his blood every drop of their blood turns to poison; in his breath their breath to stink; in his flesh their flesh to boils; in his bones their bones to chalk; in his bowels their bowels to decay; in his eyes their eyes to scales; in his ears their ears to waxy issue. And their death will become his death.”-        The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book 1 “Kill not, neither eat the flesh of your innocent prey, lest you become the slaves of Satan. For that is the path of sufferings, and it leads unto death. But do the will of God, that His angels may serve you on the way of life.”-        The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book 1  Hinduism“Those who have forsaken the killing of all; those who are helpmates to all; those who are a sanctuary to all; those men are in the way of Heaven.”-        Hitopadesa (Hindu Text) “Ahimsa (non-violence) is the highest Dharma. Ahimsa is the best Tapas. Ahimsa is the greatest gift. Ahimsa is the highest self-control. Ahimsa is the highest sacrifice. Ahimsa is the highest power. Ahimsa is the highest friend. Ahimsa is the highest truth. Ahimsa is the highest teaching.”-        Mahabharat Shantiparva, 262.47 (Note – Ahimsa means non-harm to living things). “The mode of living which is founded upon a total harmlessness towards all creatures is the highest morality.”-       Mahabharata, Shantiparva 262.5-6 “What is the good way? It is the path that reflects on how it may avoid killing any creature.”-       Tirukural, Verse 324 “May all beings look at me with a friendly eye. May I do likewise, and may we all look on each other with the eyes of a friend.”-       Yajur Veda 36.18 Islam“Allah will not give mercy to anyone, except those who give mercy to other creatures.”-        Prophet Muhammad (May Peace Be Upon Him), Hadith “Do not allow your stomachs to become graveyards of animals!”-        Prophet Muhammad (May Peace Be Upon Him), Hadith “There is not an animal on the earth, nor a flying creature on two wings, but they are people like unto you.”-        Qur'an, Al-An`am 6:38 “Whoever is kind to all creatures of God is kind to himself.”-        Prophet Mohammed (May Peace Be Upon Him), Hadith “Treat others as you would be treated. What you like not for yourself, dispense not to others.”-        Abdullah Ansari, Islamic Sufi text “Seest thou not that it is Allah Whose praise all beings in the heavens and on earth do celebrate, and the birds of the air with wings outspread? Each one knows its own mode of prayer and praise, and Allah knows well all that they do.”-        Qur'an Sura Al-Nour, 41 “A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is as bad as an act of cruelty to a human being.”-        Prophet Mohammed (May Peace Be Upon Him), Hadith “All creatures are like a family of God: and He loves the most those who are the most beneficent to His family.”-        Prophet Mohammed (May Peace Be Upon Him), Hadith “Allah will not give mercy to anyone, except those who give mercy to other creatures. Where there is an abundance of vegetables, a host of angels will descend on that place.”-        Prophet Mohammed (May Peace Be Upon Him), Hadith “At one time The Rasul of Allah said to his cousin 'Ali, "O 'Ali, you should not eat meat. If you eat meat for forty days, those qualities will come within you. Those actions will come within you. Their blood will come within you. Their qualities and their actions will come within you. Because of that, your human qualities will change, your compassionate qualities will change, the essence of your body will change. O 'Ali, you should not eat meat or flesh. You have to diminish that. Do not eat that."-        Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Islamic Sufi saint  Islam - Quranic MedicineThe Quran is the holy book of Islam. It is interesting to note that the esteemed Professor Jamshid Khodadi, after extensive study of the Quran, founded “Quranic Medicine.” He teaches that health can be achieved through following a plant-based diet and that this is the preferred diet.  Professor Jamshid Khodadi has said:“If we examine the Sura Al Rum (30), verse 30 in the Qur’an, we find an interesting point where God says that human nature is vegetarian. At the end of the verse, it says: “… though most men do not realize it.” Sadly, the majority of people do not understand this nature. Last year in the earthquake in China, many people died. And those surviving noted that in the earthquake area, there were many frogs. And 24 hours before the earthquake, the frogs migrated and left that area; 24 hours after the quake the frogs returned.The question is: how come animals but not humans, know the coming of such disasters? One of the reasons is stated in Sura Al Rum (30), verse 30, that the majority of people do not know their nature and they do not choose a diet based on their nature. And sadly, their only hope is to wait to see what the public media are saying. So, when we return to our true nature and our true self, our Godly nature, accept God’s path, we will indeed become one with the entire Creation and we will know all the possible disasters which might put our lives in danger, before they occur.” Jainism“Therefore, neither does he [a sage] cause violence to others nor does he make others do so.”-        Acharanga Sutra 5.101-2. “A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated.”-        Sutrakritanga 1.11.33 “One should not injure, subjugate, enslave, torture, or kill any animal, living being, organism, or sentient being. This doctrine of nonviolence is immaculate, immutable, and eternal. Just as suffering is painful to you, in the same way it is painful, disquieting, and terrifying to all animals, living beings, organisms, and sentient beings.”-        Acharanga Sutra 4.25-26 “Have benevolence towards all living beings.”-        Tattvartha Sutra 7.11 “This is the quintessence of wisdom; not to kill anything. All breathing, existing, living sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away. This is the pure unchangeable Law. Therefore, cease to injure living things.”-        Sutrakritanga 1.11.10-16  Judaism“Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is like him." So the Lord God formed out of the ground each wild animal and each bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it.”-        Genesis 2:18-19, Talmud and Christian Old Testament, Holy Bible “What is hateful to you, do not do to others.”-        Talmud, Shabbat 3id “I will make a covenant on behalf of Israel with the wild beasts, the birds of the air, and the things that creep on the hearths, that all living creatures may lie down without living in fear.”-       Hosea, 2:18, Talmud and Old Testament (Holy Bible)This last excerpt really touches my heart. I’m sure that many readers will connect with it, as it speaks to the heartfelt desire within our hearts and souls – that all animals will be able to live a life with no fear. Especially from humankind. Many people long for such a harmonious world.   Sikhism“You say that the one lord is in all, so why do you kill chickens?”-        Guru Granth Sahib, 1350 “Those mortals who consume marijuana, flesh and wine - no matter what pilgrimages, fasts and rituals they follow, they will all go to hell.”-        Guru Granth Sahib, 1377 “You eat hunted meat, but which animal is willing to have their head cut?”-        Guru Granth Sahib, 1374 “You kill living beings, and call it a righteous action. Tell me, brother, what would you call an unrighteous action? You call yourself the most excellent sage; then who would you call a butcher?”-        Guru Granth Sahib, 1103 “Just as clothes stained with blood become impure, one cannot have pure consciousness when one consumes blood and flesh of other beings.”-        Guru Nanak Dev, Guru Granth Sahib, 140Rabbi David Rosen shares similar views. In an interview with Jewish Eco Seminars, he stated,“Then I became much more aware also of the cruelty involved in the transportation of animals. And other questions confronted it, if you slaughtered the animal the right way and process its food but you completely mistreated it from point A to Y, does that make it really kosher? So, there was another problem there. I also became aware of not only the treatment of animals but also the way that they are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones and that this is retained in the food chain with added toxicity. There was also cancer in the family at the time, so I became more conscious also of the health dimensions of this. All these led me to realise that I had to make a change in my lifestyle and my diet.” Rabbi Rosen is the International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee, Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and Honorary President of the International Council of Christians and Jews. He has embraced a vegan diet and lifestyle and encourages others to do so. In an article entitled, “Vegan is the new kosher, rabbis worldwide declare”, he is quoted as saying,“Today, there are important ethical reasons why the whole world should be living according to a plant-based diet. But from a Jewish perspective, there are specific particular concerns that relate to specific Jewish injunctions which are born out of the religious tradition of Jewish practice law ... that should demand that people should no longer if you like, collaborate or party to an industry which is problematic ethically, environmentally, even in terms of economic justice.”  Tibetan Buddhism“The offerings to the deities of meat obtained by killing animate beings is like offering a mother the flesh of her own child, and this is a grievous failure.”-       The Supreme Path Of Discipleship: The Precepts Of The Gurus, The Thirteen Grievous Failures, Great Guru Gampopa

Ahimsa is more widely known as "non-violence" or "non-harm." It is a sanskrit term. Ahimsa and veganism recognize that our animal friends are sentient beings who think and feel.A Note from the Cows on Ahimsa - via an animal communicator These cows live at the Deep Peace Trust Sanctuary which was founded by Billie Dean. Billie Dean is an interspecies telepath, and the sanctuary is the largest farm animal and wild horse sanctuary in Australia. Billie kindly passed on the following message from some of the wise cows. They said: “At the Deep Peace Trust sanctuary, our cows have shared that there would be a "Kindness Revolution”.  The cows have talked extensively about how their true purpose has been hidden from humans. They are, among other things, Keepers of the Earth Wisdoms. They are not food.  They get very upset when they think they are considered food. The Kindness Revolution is the spiritual vegan movement. When humans start seeing them and other animals for their sacred selves, and respect them and their precious lives, the world will change dramatically.They also wanted me to express just how terrible it was when their children are taken away.  It causes them so much pain, anguish and grief.  And they were incredibly grateful to be able to keep their last children here in the sanctuary, that made them so happy.They also wanted me to share about the Hindu concept of Ahimsa. This is a practice of “non-injury” in thought, word or deed to all beings. The cows remind us that what we do to others, we do to ourselves because we are all connected. Thoughts, words and deeds ripple not just on our 3D earth but into other dimensions and realities. Likewise, when we live sacredly, honouring all beings with reverence, that also ripples. And it is healing to ourselves.”Cows have been considered sacred beings in India for so many generations. Lord Krishna was a cow herder as a child. Lord Krishna has been called by other names including Govinda and Gopala which means “friend and protector of cows.” Cows have always been of such service to humankind including ploughing our fields in times past, thus helping us to grow vegetable crops for our survival. It is widely accepted that cows are spiritually high-level beings with much love.

People avoid eating eggs for a variety of reasons including food allergies, ethical and moral reasons, environment reasons and to avoid cruelty to animals. One reason is to avoid causing animal suffering. You Read more about this here: https://animalsaustralia.org/our-work/factory-farming/egg-industry-secrets/Antoher reason is due to the environmental devastation which affects air and water quality and the health of us and our planet.You can read more about this here: https://veganoutreach.org/environment/To gain more of an insight about why animal communicators and compassionate people avoid eating eggs, consider some information by Dr Jodi Ruckley (IIC & Veterinarian):“I really see no difference between the dogs and cats that I’ve had close encounters with and the pigs and the chickens and the cows that I’ve met inside factory farms. When I go into these places, I actually go in with the awareness of wanting to connect with them. And I want to find out who they really are and what they’re about. And it’s been really beautiful to share with them. It’s also very sad of course because the conditions they live in are absolutely appalling. And you know what I’ve found for example with broiler conditions, the general sense is that a lot of them really don’t feel anything at all. They’re actually quite dead.I mean they only live there for a period of 6 weeks they’re only babies when they’re at the point when they’re actually sent to an abattoir and they’re living in a large shed in very crowded conditions. They’re given a lot of unnatural things like antibiotics which is really contributing to them not being able to really feel who they are.But what I’ve also noticed is really incredible, when I’ve taken a chicken from a broiler farm at 6 weeks, a day before going to an abattoir, and then he goes to a sanctuary and a refuge on the first day he is already starting to peck at the ground and do all of these natural things. And you know it’s only going to take a short period of time before he can get in touch with who he really is again.And that’s the sense that I get they just want to be, they just want to be free. It’s just a basic life they’re craving, just like all of us really. And just to be able to express their natural behaviours and have close relationships with those that they want to and be in a social kind of hierarchy, be able to search for their own food and water. Those are the things that are really, really important.” In the book, "The Kindness Era" Kara Seth shares:"An interesting consideration when we think about food this way is the topic of eggs. Vegans avoid eggs for many reasons that directly relate to the poor treatment of the hens and chicks. These birds are often considered to be the most mistreated of any animal on our planet due the extensive suffering that they endure, and due to the number of chickens who endure this cruelty.For hundreds of years, vegetarians around the world have also avoided eggs due to the teachings of the Ascended Masters. Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has given an insight into why past and present Spiritual Masters have advised people to avoid eggs. She has stated,'Eggs contain half of the life, and then they unite together and become a chicken. This is the first reason why we should not eat eggs. Now some eggs are unfertilized, but still they contain half of the life in them.The second reason is that chickens they eat all kinds of worms with bacteria and disease. So when we eat them, the eggs are not that pure — not good for our delicate system. The more we practice, the more we become very sensitive. It’s dirty.' She has also shared that if we eat them, '... we add more negative nature to our own beings. It’s not very helpful for spiritual progress, so we don’t eat eggs.'I was curious about this, so I did some deeper research. Part of this involved me reaching out to a hen for her perspective. This particular hen lived on a sanctuary. On the topic of humans eating eggs, she said,'It’s unnatural. It’s out of the natural order. It isn’t following the evolvement plan that is laid out for humans. There are other ways to nourish the body. The way we nourish the body needs to be in sync with nature and the world. We have to nourish our mind. We need to learn, we need to have wisdom, we need to nourish the heart. If these aren’t nourished … we won’t be able to get the nourishment from the food.'The book is available for free here: https://www.veganacnetwork.com/thekindnesserae Once we study the pitiful lives of factory farmed animals and intensively farmed land and ocean animals, we realize that the energy that we take in if we eat their flesh and by-products is the opposite of nourishing.

There are a range of reasons including animal cruelty concerns. Many people dont' realise that dairy cows only produce milk once they are pregnant. If they have a baby boy, usually the baby is taken away not long after birth because he will never produce milk. The baby boy is killed to produce veal. Many people who have raised cows describe the heart-wrenching calls by cow moms when their babies are taken away from them. From an animal communicator perspective, Billie Dean, co-founder of The Deep Peace sanctuary has shared,"The animals tell me they’re finished suffering. This is a human construct they say. They can’t wait for us to grow up as a species and truly understand that they are not here for our benefit, to exploit, to eat, or even for our entertainment. They are just here with us experiencing life in a body, as we are, for reasons of their own. And some are here to be our healers, our teachers and our guides. So, we have to understand that animals have souls. They have feelings and emotions and when we take them away from their mothers, when we butcher and farmlot and cull them, it’s exactly the same for them as it is for a human being. It hurts. It causes grief.” Source.She has also shared: “I’ve become really good friends with cows who have been there for a long time. They’re good-natured. They’re good-humoured. And they’re full of wisdom. And they tell me in the future humans won’t kill them because other humans will form a revolution of kindness. And they’re very excited about that.”Billie Dean has also shared,"The cows remind us that what we do to others, we do to ourselves because we are all connected. Thoughts, words and deeds ripple not just on our 3D earth but into other dimensions and realities.  Likewise, when we live sacredly, honouring all beings with reverence, that also ripples. And it is healing to ourselves.”Joy Fromental, another animal communicator has shared:“Actually, when I was in India I saw a mother cow with her little calf. The calf, they were putting a bottle of water cut in two, that they were putting on her muzzle so she would not suckle. Right there, I had a flash and told myself that obviously, if we drink milk, the calf won’t have milk…”“What they ask of us is that we stop saving them one by one, setting up small shelters, bandaging a dog’s paw, while in reality, what is needed is that people be informed to stop consuming milk due to everything affecting cows, calves; to stop locking up hens in cages, so it’s truly a holistic message. Also, with all that’s going on regarding CO2 with us producing such enormous amounts of meat. And what they really want to transmit to us is that on an international level, on a planetary level, to awaken and open our eyes to what’s happening and to broadcast such messages through videos, through the internet. In today’s world, these are relevant; it’s the way to reach more people, using videos, writing books, spreading messages at an international level to the maximum."

Yes. There is considerable research showing this.The information below is taken from the book "The Kindness Era: Human and Animal Perspectives" by Kara Seth. "... over 55 billion animals from the land and ocean are killed each year to feed American consumers alone. According to the Animal Kill Clock, this is 271 land animals killed each second, and 16,234 animals killed each minute.If we include ocean animals, then the Animal Kill Clock estimates that 1,758 animals are killed each second and 105,480 animals are killed each minute.And this is only in the United States. Imagine how high these numbers are on a global scale.So how many slaughterhouse workers are there? And who are these workers? In the USA:“Today, more than 500,000 people work in meat slaughtering and processing. In 2018 their average annual salary was $28,450, just above the federal poverty line for a family of four. Slaughterhouse employees are predominantly people of color and immigrants. Nearly 30% of slaughterhouse workers were born outside the United States and many are undocumented.” Source.Migrants and refugees also make up a portion of slaughterhouse workers in Australia. Imagine escaping from war, political oppression or religious persecution to have to face these deplorable working conditions in your new country. Animal slaughtering is clearly not a highly sought-after career. People don’t actively pursue a career as a slaughterer or meatpacker. People don’t go to college with these career aspirations in mind. And for good reasons. So how are these workers and the people around them affected? Physical Health Meatpacking is a very dangerous job. According to the Food Chain Workers Alliance, 65% of meat processing and meatpacking workers have been injured at work. Injuries can include slips and falls, cuts on sharp knives and saws, pulled muscles and more.Celeste Monforton, a Professorial Lecturer at the Milken Institute of Public Health wanted to understand the nature of the injuries in these workers. She requested information so that she could learn about the injuries that were experienced. When she was finally granted access to the information, she wrote an article describing the Tyson Food employees and the injuries that they sustained. The following is some of the information that she reported.Although the information didn’t include all the Tyson foods facilities, Celeste found that from January 1, 2015, to September 30, 2015, the employer had reported:-       34 injuries that required hospitalization:-       17 of these injuries were amputations (Celeste points out that this averages out at over 1 amputation per month)-       During this time a worker lost both handsAnd there are other dangers and health hazards. A Health Hazard Evaluation Report (2015) found that 76% of workers in a chicken processing plant had an abnormal nerve conduction test result in at least one hand.The slaughter process can be quite dangerous too. The methods used to render animals unconscious before their demise very often don’t work. Professor Timothy Pachirat went undercover at an abattoir in the USA. He stated,“Sometimes the power, angle or location of the steel bolt is insufficient to render the cow unconscious, and it will bleed profusely and thrash about wildly while the knocker tries to shoot it again…”Professor Pachirat went on to write a book about his experience and observations, called Every Twelve Seconds. His book tells the story of working in a slaughterhouse where one cow was killed every 12 seconds. We must also remember that death is a reality for these workers. For example, an abattoir worker in Queensland, Australia died due to broken machinery in the slaughterhouse.Animal farmers or “livestock producers” can also face death as a consequence of their work. An example is three brothers who became trapped in manure pits on their farm. Manure pits are massive pits that hold animal feces. They produce dangerous gas such as methane, ammonia and carbon monoxide.It was reported that the brothers were trapped in the manure pit, were later found unconscious (presumably they had been overcome by the toxic fumes), and were later pronounced dead. Deaths due to fume intoxication from manure pits happen every year in the United States. One news article states how a young man, only 16 years of age, encountered the fate of dying due to a manure pit. Psychological sufferingSlaughterhouse workers have also stated that their employers often do not treat them with respect, and have reported verbal abuse from employers. On top of all of this, they are even more degraded. An Oxfam report shows that chicken processing workers were denied bathroom breaks so they had to resort to wearing diapers (nappies).Slaughterhouses breed a culture and cycle of violence, degradation and suffering for workers and animals that continues over and over again. There is quite a bit of research that outlines the psychological suffering of slaughterhouse workers and the impact of this on the community at large. Researchers have identified the following as areas of concern: Deliberate cruel Treatment of Animals Slaughterhouse workers have often reported deliberate cruelty that they have inflicted on animals both at work and outside of work. Their ability to empathise with animals decreases. Intentional acts of cruelty at work occur very often.The explicit descriptions that workers have shared are too harsh for kind-hearted readers, so to sum up I will say that workers torture animals in various ways and that sexual violence toward the animals also occurs. This violence even extends to former racehorses. Undercover investigations in Australia show that these discarded horses experience intentional cruelty at the hands of abattoir workers before their death.Workers aren’t paid to inflict additional cruelty onto the defenceless animals, but the job affects them to such an extent that there are psychological imbalances that occur. Specific aggressive outlooksResearchers have found a concerning combination of behaviors and outlooks in slaughterhouse workers. These are aggression plus negative attitudes toward animals plus less empathy toward humans. High Levels of Aggression and ViolenceI think the following quote from a slaughterhouse worker gives more than enough insight into this:“Down in the blood pit they say that the smell of blood makes you aggressive. And it does. You get an attitude that if that hog kicks at me, I’m going to get even. You’re already going to kill the hog, but that’s not enough. It has to suffer.” NightmaresMany slaughterhouse workers report having nightmares. As a former slaughterhouse worker has written,“As I spent day after day in that large, windowless box, my chest felt increasingly heavy and a grey fog descended over me. At night, my mind would taunt me with nightmares, replaying some of the horrors I'd witnessed throughout the day.”Another online article states,"A worker at a chicken plant said one of his colleagues was “hauled off to the mental hospital” after he “kept having nightmares that chickens were after him.”  Drug and Alcohol AbuseThe following quote captures the essence of this problem:“[a] lot of [the slaughterhouse hog killers] have problems with alcohol. They have to drink, they have no other way of dealing with killing live, kicking animals all day long.” Drugs including methamphetamines are also used as a coping mechanism.Sadly, I have read an interview with a halal slaughterhouse worker who says that it’s the same in halal slaughterhouses. In this case, it is particularly sad because the Islam religion does not condone drinking alcohol. The person interviewed stated clearly that drug and alcohol use was common in the halal slaughterhouse with workers showing up drunk or high to cope with the merciless work.A slaughterhouse worker featured in the “Slaughterhouse Workers Reveal All” video by Million Dollar Vegan says,“Some of the workers and the coordinators sell drugs to other workers. As far as I know, the management has no idea that this is happening.Researchers have found that severe anxiety is experienced by slaughterhouse workers. It is understandable why they experience this, and how one may turn to drugs and alcohol to attempt to suppress this.Animal activist Susana Chavez worked as a chicken slaughterer in Mexico at the tender age of 15 years old. She recalls that:“My boss and co-workers resorted to drugs and alcohol consumption after their shifts. My boss’s wife hid her black eyes behind dark sunglasses. We all directed our attention away from her plight: The abuse she was facing at the hands of someone who was supposed to care for her - the same way we had to ignore the animals we were charged with killing. If compassion were a muscle, this work we did left it weak and atrophied.”Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)Dr Chi-Chi Obuaya (a psychiatrist) has compared the situation of slaughterhouse workers to child soldiers who are forced to do the unthinkable under war conditions. However, I think the term PITS (below) seems to capture the overall psychological suffering even more accurately. Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress (PITS)This is like PTSD but it occurs because the person was the one who inflicted the trauma or created the suffering. People with PITS can have psychological disturbances including depression, paranoia, anxiety, dissociation (detaching from reality) and amnesia (loss of memory). People suffering from PITS may also use drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism.SuicidalityA person can only withstand so much suffering. There are reports of suicidal thoughts from slaughterhouse workers who are surrounded by death each working day. One worker recalls how a man he worked with did kill himself. Psychological tolls of life-long physical injuriesAs you are aware, slaughterhouse workers and meatpackers experience a high level of injuries. They often work in cold, dangerous environments, work breaks can be denied, and meatpackers experience a lot of repetitive strain injuries. It has been said that turnover in chicken plants can be as high as 100% in just one year. This speaks volumes. A quote from the Oxfam America website states: "The meat and poultry industry still has one of the highest rates of injury and illness of any industry.- The US Government Accountability Office" Slaughter-house workers & Crime ratesIt has been found by various researchers that slaughterhouse workers have an increase in overall crime, especially in violent crimes and sexual crimes. Amy Fitzgerald, a criminology professor at the University of Windsor in Canada has said that slaughterhouse workers become “desensitized.”One slaughterhouse worker has openly stated to a researcher,“My attitude was, it's only an animal. Kill it. Sometimes I looked at people that way, too. I've had ideas of hanging my foreman upside down on the line and sticking him. I remember going into the office and telling the personnel man that I have no problem pulling the trigger on a person - if you get in my face I'll blow you away. Every sticker I know carries a gun, and every one of them would shoot you. Most stickers I know have been arrested for assault.”Researchers have found that slaughterhouse workers have higher arrest rates with arrests occurring for crimes that include violence, rape and sex offences. Other researchers have documented increases in domestic violence and child abuse among slaughterhouse workers.Professor Andrew Knight has written a paper on Jack the Ripper. Jack the Ripper was a serial killer in London in 1888. Upon investigation of the evidence, it is believed that he was a slaughterhouse worker. The incisions in the people that were his victims were very specific. They were analyzed and found to be consistent with incisions made by slaughterhouse workers.Jack the Ripper went so far as to send a note saying that he fried one of his victim’s kidneys and ate it. You read that correctly – he ate it!This link is recognized by psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals today. And when someone is violent it affects countless other people who are also made to suffer. This includes the victims of violence such as family members and family pets.  The very nature of this work has profound psychological and spiritual repercussions. Slaughterhouse workers are hidden for a reason. They are not pleasant places. As the late Russian Theosophists Nicholas and Helena Roerich have written:“Try to carry out a psychic energy experiment near a slaughterhouse and you will receive signs of acute madness, not to mention the entities which attach themselves to the exposed blood."