Expert: Tina Volpe - 9/16/2008

Question
Hi. My question is do you think it is hypocritical of someone to critisize Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin for being a hunter if you eat meat? I eat meat and I also LOVE animals. I think there is a big difference between killing animals for food and killing animals for "sport" or fashion. What kind of a person poses beside a bloody and dead animal with a big smile on her face? I could never harm an animal like that. Thanks.

Karrie

Answer
Yes - it is hypocritical.  

Hunting or killing anything is wrong, but the animal hunted suffers 90 percent less than the meat most people eat that comes from factory farms and slaughterhouses. (In nicely wrapped packages in the grocery stores)... The milk, cheese, and dairy products most Americans consume demands that the artificially impregnate the cow (and this is painful) in order that she may lactate. The pregnant, lactating cow is then hooked up to a milking machine and milked until she bleeds, and gets mastitis, a very painful infection. For this reason, the Department of Agriculture in North America allows for a 10 percent pus/blood content in cow's milk.  And worse, the byproduct of the cow's artificial impregnation is the veal calf, who is ripped from it's mother immediately (if you ever heard this event, it would haunt you for the rest of your life - they scream in agony at being separated)- then the baby is confined in a crate so small as to render the calf immobile. Imagine laying down on cement for your entire life, with a chain around your neck, never able to feel dirt, smell fresh air or sunshine, or move at all, ever.  That baby is then fed milk exclusively for a few months to give its flesh a white patina. Finally, while it is still a baby, it is wantonly killed to furnish milk-fed veal--a truly depraved food. There is a sliver of veal in every glass of milk or dairy product.  

So, in answer to your question - do you know where your meat comes from?  View this video for a glimpse of what kind of torture these animals go through, over 10 billion per year in the US alone -

I am vegan because of this.  Careful, it will make you cry if you truly love animals.  And I love ALL animals.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqVC4

Perhaps you might be enlightened :)