Transcriber: Palma Mozes Reviewer: Peter van de Ven
About a year ago, I went into a dog-meat farm
in a region of Southeast Asia.
My intention for going into the farm
was to document what was happening to the animals
and to raise awareness about the suffering that was being committed towards them.
And so as I wandered around the farm, I came across these buildings.
And inside of each of the buildings were rows and rows of pens, concrete pens,
where the walls were made of concrete
and the floors were entirely made of concrete.
And in each of the pens were dogs
with their tails cut off, their teeth cut out,
and their ears mutilated.
As I continued to wander through the farm, I saw a recurring pattern.
A theme of dogs with deep lacerations, open wounds and bloody sores
that had been caused by the other dogs,
who had from their extreme boredom, frustration and even insanity
chosen to attack and cannibalise the other dogs.
And so I took a moment to myself on the farm,
and I stood there and I said,
How can we do this?
How can humans justify doing so many horrible things to other living beings
who feel and who are conscious and who are sentient?
The problem with our story is that it's not, actually, entirely true.
There's two differences between the story I just told
and the story that's true.
The two differences are
it wasn't a dog meat farm in Southeast Asia;
it was a pig farm ...
in England.
But everything else about that story is the same.
Rows and rows and rows of concrete pens.
Pigs with their tails chopped off, their teeth cut out, mutilated ears.
Pigs with deep open wounds, bloody sores and lacerations caused by the other pigs,
who were suffering from insanity and intense boredom
because they were destined to spend the rest of their life
in these prison cells
without ever being able to go outside
and breath fresh air or experience sunlight.
And so I stood there, and I asked myself those same questions.
But I said to myself,
How can good, kind and compassionate people
be involved in a system that perpetuates so much violence
and needless suffering onto others?
Now, we've all seen
or at least heard about footage taken from farms and slaughterhouses
that reveals the hidden horrors that happen within these facilities.
Most of us become shocked, appalled, maybe upset, maybe even angry.
But then we normally say something like, "Well, that's in a different country,
that's in America perhaps.
Or that's one bad farmer or one bad practice,
but it doesn't represent the industry as a whole."
Or we say, "Yes, but I know that the animal products I buy
come from farmers who love their animals like their children,
and they're killed in slaughterhouses where it's performed so called humanely."
The ostrich effect is a cognitive bias
where when confronted with information that is upsetting, potentially offensive,
or makes us challenge ourselves in a way
that we perhaps don't want to be challenged, we turn away.
We hide for it.
We pretend that it doesn't exist.
We bury our heads in the sand, hence the name "the ostrich effect."
Now, time after time after time, farms and slaughterhouses are exposed
for the horrible things that happen to animals within them.
And I'm not just talking about factory farms.
Local, organic, high welfare, humane, it makes no difference;
they have all been exposed.
In 2017, I co-created a documentary called "Land of Hope and Glory,"
which was an exposé of UK land-animal farming.
And so we used a footage
taken from over a 100 different UK farm and slaughterhouse facilities,
from Scotland down to Cornwall, from Wales across to Norfolk.
And we documented what happens to animals from birth to death.
One of the most common criticisms that people give us for the documentary
is they say, "That footage isn't from the UK.
That doesn't happen here. That's not fair. That's not truly representative."
We knew we would get these comments and criticisms from people,
which is why when we made the documentary,
it was so important to us
that we didn't just single out and isolate little pockets of illegal animal cruelty
but instead just really show
standard-industry, legally condoned, welfare-condoned practices.
For example, we show the gassing of pigs in CO2 gas chambers,
where in the UK every single year, a third of all the pigs that we slaughter
are killed by being herded into a cage
that's dropped into a chamber that's filled with CO2
that is so aversive, it causes the pigs to hyperventilate,
become breathless, start panicking,
start screaming and squealing and thrashing around
and banging their heads around until they die.
This is considered the most humane method of pig slaughter,
by our government and by welfare organizations;
indeed, by governments and welfare organizations
across most Western countries.
We also show the gassing and maceration of day-old male chicks,
where in the UK every single year
up to 40 million day-old male chicks are killed,
either again with the use of CO2, or by being thrown into a giant macerator
while they are conscious, and they are ground up alive.
This happens because they don't produce eggs.
It happens in all systems of egg farming, including caged, free-range, organic;
it doesn't make a difference.
We also show what happens in the dairy industry.
Cows are mammals like us,
which means they only produce milk to feed their children.
And so for a farmer to have a cow who'll produce milk for him to sell,
the cow needs to have had a child,
which means that the farmer will forcibly impregnate the cows
by restraining them and using a process called artificial insemination.
Now, I think to describe the next process of dairy farming,
I want to talk about a personal experience I had back in 2017.
It was during my first visit to a dairy farm.
I and a few others went into the farm,
with the intention to show what was happening to the animals,
filming their stories, uploading it to raise awareness.
The farmer knew we were there;
he saw us walking,
and he didn't really seem too bothered by our presence.
So we wandered around the farm for a while, and we came across a pen.
And in this pen was a cow with her baby.
And her baby was still so newborn
that the mother cow was still in the process of cleaning her baby.
The farmer came over to us.
And he said, "I'm going to take the baby away from the mother now."
Every single calf in the dairy industry is separated from their mother
normally within 48 hours of being born
because the more milk the calf drinks,
the less milk the farmer can sell and us humans can drink.
And so I filmed and watched
as the farmer proceeded to enter the pen with a trolley, a wheelbarrow,
and he picked up the calf, and he threw the calf into the wheelbarrow
and began to walk away with the calf.
I ended up and stood next to the mom.
The two of us walked as far as we could,
following after her child.
And the farmer closed a gate on both of us.
And I looked at that mother as she watched her baby
being taken further and further and further away from her.
Now was the last time she'd ever see her child.
In that moment she looked up to me, and our eyes made contact.
I saw fear, I saw anguish, I saw sadness,
and I also saw confusion.
And I realised in that moment that the animals who we exploit
have no comprehension of why we do the things we do to them.
I mean, of course, we can't explain it to them -
they don't speak our language and nor do we speak theirs -
so they live in a state of confusion.
And I thought about all the times in my life that I'd been most scared,
and how often that fear had been coupled with confusion,
an ambiguity, a misunderstanding or lack of comprehension
about why these things were happening to me,
and how much worse combining those two feelings
exacerbated the problem of fear, loneliness and isolation.
So let's say that we could talk to the animals.
Let's say that we could explain to them why we're doing these things to them.
What would we say? What would you say?
What would you say to that cow - that mother in that moment -
who is watching her baby being taken away from her?
Would you say, "I know you are a maternal and matriarchal being
and that you'll greatly mourn and grieve the loss of your child,
but the thing is
I really like the taste of your lactations in my cup of tea, my cup of coffee
or congealed into a block of cold cheese."
What would we say to the dairy cow who is being forcibly impregnated?
Would you say, "I know you don't want to go through this invasive procedure
that's completely needless,
that's done just so I can consume something that you produce for your child,
but it's a bit inconvenient for me
to buy oat milk in the supermarket instead."
What would we say to the pigs
being lowered into the gas chamber?
Would we say, "I can see you thrashing,
I can hear you screaming,
and I can tell that you are obviously suffering and in pain,
but what you've got to understand
is that I really like the taste of your flesh
in between two pieces of bread that I call a sandwich."
Or would we say,
"I know you want to live without fear, without needless exploitation,
just as I do,
but the thing is,
going vegan is a bit extreme, don't you think?"
Because really what else could we say to them?
We couldn't say, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
I really wish these things didn't have to happen to you,
but what you have to understand is it's a necessity for my survival,"
because that would be a lie, and it's simply isn't true.
We don't do these things because we have to,
we do them because we want to.
Or more importantly, we do them because we enjoy the product
that comes as a consequence of the things that we do to these animals.
But the reality is, our body needs cow flesh or chicken flesh or lamb flesh
as much as it needs labrador flesh or cat flesh.
Our body needs cow's milk, sheep's milk and goat's milk
as much as it needs dolphin milk or rhino milk or giraffe milk.
It just simply doesn't.
And so the question becomes,
What has higher value?
Taste or life?
Which do we place higher on the chain of value?
Our taste preferences or the life of an animal?
The one life they have granted to them.
Do we really value the 15 minutes of sensory pleasure
that we get from consuming their body parts and secretions
as more than the life that they are given?
Can we use personal choice as a justifier for our exploitation of animals,
and should someone's actions simply be respected
because they've personally chosen to make that action?
I mean, every action that we make and every choice that we make
is a personal choice,
regardless of whether that action is good or bad, moral or immoral.
And when we cite personal choice as a justifier for exploiting others,
whose personal choice are we considering
other than our own?
Do we consider the personal choice of the trillions of animals
that are killed every single year, who if granted their own personal choice
would rather just live their life?
Or do we simply continue buying a product because we've always done it?
It's what our peers do, it's what society tells us is okay to do,
and it becomes an unconscious decision for us to make.
And so how do we morally justify this?
What moral justification do we have
and can we use to excuse exploiting animals
when quite simply we don't have to?
I want to go back to the dairy industry for a moment now.
There was a survey conducted by The British Cattle Veterinary Association
and it revealed that every single year,
150,000 cows are sent to the slaughterhouse while pregnant.
And it went on to show
that 40,000 of these pregnant dairy cows are in the late stages of pregnancy,
meaning that the baby inside of them could well be capable of independent life.
Now there are no real legal guidelines to protect unborn calves,
but the RSPCA, which is Britain's leading welfare organization,
has a set of guidelines that advises slaughterhouses should follow
in the event of a pregnant cow being sent to their slaughterhouse.
And the guidelines are as follows.
It says that the cow should be killed in the same way as she would normally,
which is bolt in the head to stun her
before she is hung up on the line and has a knife pulled across her throat
so that she bleeds to death.
However, they then state that the cow should be left on the bleeding line
for at least five minutes
to ensure that the baby inside of her has time to die as well.
A vet who used to work in UK abattoirs
had this to say about her experiences of watching this happen:
"Sometimes when the cow is hanging on the line,
bleeding to death,
you can see her unborn calf kicking inside their mother's womb.
I, as a vet, am expected to do nothing about this.
Unborn calves don't exist according to the regulations.
So I'm expected to stand there, watch, do nothing and keep quiet.
It broke my heart, I felt like a criminal."
However, the same survey from the British Cattle Veterinary Association
also went on to reveal that over 3/4 of the pregnant cows sent to slaughter
were sent by farmers who said they didn't think the cows were pregnant,
or they very simply just didn't know or weren't sure.
Which means that over 3/4 of the pregnant cows sent to slaughter
are sent to the slaughterhouse
without the slaughterhouse being made prior aware that they're pregnant.
So the cows are killed in the same way.
Bolt in the head, knife across the throat,
but they are not left to bleed on the hanging line.
And so often, what can happen, is that the mother cow will be cut open,
and the baby inside of her is still alive, breathing, conscious.
And so the RSPCA, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
states that the humane way to kill a baby
who has just been cut out of their dead mother
is to shoot them with a bolt
or hit them over the head with a blunt instrument.
Their first and last experiences of life are on the floor of a slaughterhouse.
Now, we've all been raised with a set of values
dictated to us by the cultures and societies that we are raised in,
values passed down to us by our families and values that we assign to ourselves,
even among those,
confusing cognitive biases that exist within us all.
But society has always changed and progressed,
precisely because we dared to challenge the dominant paradigms.
The stagnation of progress
comes from the refusal to challenge what we have always done.
As Aristotle once said,
"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet."
We can no longer bury our heads in the sand
and shy away from something
simply because it offends us, upsets us
or makes us think or question and challenge
the lifestyles that we live
and the routines that we've adopted in our day to day life.
Can we honestly still claim
that what happens to animals is isolated and a rarity,
or is it time for us to acknowledge
the violence that we commit towards animals is systematic and ubiquitous
and the blood is on our hands because of the actions and choices
that we make collectively as a species, but also as individuals as well.
I left that dairy farm that day, and I left that mother cow in the pen,
and I left her baby in the solitary confinement pen
that the farmer had thrown them into.
I left but they did not.
Their fate had been sealed for them before they were even conceived.
So I could go back to my life, have fun, spend time with my friends and family,
do things I wanted to do,
fundamentally live a life that wasn't dictated for me by someone else.
But they couldn't.
So when I left, I made a vow to myself.
And I vowed that I would never let their suffering fall far from my mind
and I would definitely never ever claim that suffering does not exist.
Because even if we refuse it with our eyes,
with our ears and with our thoughts,
what animals are forced to endure is an objective reality that exists
even if we claim that it does not.
In our authoritarian ways,
we've arbitrarily chosen to point the finger
and give certain species of animals different fates.
For the cows in that farm, and indeed for cows in any farm across the world,
it's exploitation and death in a slaughterhouse.
But for other animals, who are identical in every single way that matters,
it's a life of love and companionship in our homes and in our families.
One of the defining characteristics of our species
is our ability to evolve, adapt, to self-reflect and criticise our actions
and then change accordingly.
Morality has always changed.
And as our knowledge and understanding about the complexity and wonder of life
continues to evolve and change,
so too should our attitudes and tolerance to those other beings,
who coexist on this planet with us,
and not for us.
As humans, we are very different
from the non-human animals that exist on this planet.
But what we share in common is what is paramount.
We are all alive. We are conscious.
We have friends, we have families.
We have the capacity to feel.
We have the capacity to suffer.
And we wish to avoid that feeling of suffering.
Our life is shown to us through the subjective experiences
that we all have as individuals.
Fundamentally,
we just want to live a life of peace, of happiness, of tranquility,
without the fear of being needlessly exploited by someone else.
So is it time for us to consider all animals
within our circle of moral consideration,
to understand that it's not the way that we exploit them that matters,
but the fact that we exploit and use them in the first place?
Is it time for us to make a change?
Is it time for us to go vegan?
For ourselves, for our planet and the environment, but also for them.
The other beings who may not walk like us, talk like us or look like us,
but who definitely deserve a life of freedom, just like us.
Thank you so much for listening.
(Applause)