Farm Animal Awareness Week on September, 2024: How can I make a difference?(animals)?

Farm Animal Awareness Week 2024. Philip N. Cohen: For Families, And... Farm Animals Awareness

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I'm happy to see that others care as much for animals as I do!!! When I learned what meat was at three years old, I became a vegetarian and I'm starting to go vegan at fifteen years.

Well, if you've already tried to become a vegetarian, you could cut back on the meat, fish/seafood, dairy, eggs and honey you eat. Dairy and eggs help support factory farms and many bees are killed in the process of extracting honey from their hives. Some are even cleaned out entirely and left to freeze during winter! Also, cutting back on animal products is "green" because they are shipped farther than fruits and veggies. They say that going a day without animal products shrinks your carbon footprint as much as a locavore (a person who only eats locally-produced food) does eating an entire week! Going green helps the environment, which helps animals too. Try biking to the store instead of driving. Use energy-saving light bulbs and appliances. Don't litter and pick up after yourself and others when there trash around outdoors. RECYCLE.

You could also educate yourself about animals. I recommend a book; "The Animal Manifesto" by Marc Bekoff. He really knows what he's talking about and he lists a bunch of ways to help animals and reasons why we should just in case you ever get one of those smug idiots asking "Why???" Don't preach to others. If they're ignorant enough to not care for animals or understand you, just avoid the topic whenever possible. Nothing is worse for animals than making people think that only angry/preachy/misanthropic people care about non-humans. Just learn about animals in general. Pet care, wildlife, ecology, animal rights and the "animal afterlife" are topics I find very interesting to study. Knowing more will help you decide for yourself what is right and wrong to do for animals.

Adopt a shelter animal or volunteer at an animal shelter. Donate money and supplies to them. You may not be able to help all the animals in the world, but you'll make all the difference in that one animals's life. Report animal abuse and neglect to the proper authorities when you see it. Don't do it unless you're absolutely sure the animal is going to die or suffer in their conditions. I've had neighbors call the SPCA when I was walking my grandmother's deathly old (21 years) dog. He was so old he couldn't gain weight, so everybody was convinced he was starving. He wasn't and we knew he didn't want to be put down, so we didn't "put him to sleep." Thankfully, I had connections in the SPCA who could prove that we weren't doing anythin wrong. He got to die in his bed surrounded by my family. One wrong assumption could take away another animal's chance for that. If one of your pets is suffering, don't hesitate to consider euthanasia an option. It's not cruel and it's not playing God, it's just relieving the of their pain. Our pets know we love them, even if they don't show it. They trust us to make the right choices for them, and you'll know whe the time has come.

Join a(n) (inter)national organization or a student group. With a little research, you may be able to find groups of like-minded people who can help you out. Make sure you ALWAYS look into what you're getting into, because many people hate certain groups and some groups attack other groups. I'm not part of any, but I support many by raising awareness and donating a bit of money when I have it. Some active ones are PETA, HSUS, ASPCA, NWF, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Animal Liberation Front, Farm Sanctuary and plenty of "Save the [insert species]s" groups. I don't necessarily support all of them; I'm just giving examples. Do your research before you say you support/don't support a group.

Also, be nice to animals in general. Pet a friend's dog. Step around an anthill. Save a worm stranded on the sidewalk. Let the spider out of the house instead of killing it. You'll be setting an example for others. I've actually made people more compassionate towards animals without even meaning to simply by moving a wounded butterfly off of the road or making a group of kids stop harassing a baby bird who fell out of the nest. If asked why, just say that animals want the same respect we do. Many people will give odd looks, but the TRULY human people will understand. You'll open a few eyes. Above all, be nice to humans and animals and that will make a difference.

Although I'm not a big fan of PETA, they have a large list of food that is vegan. I'm only vegetarian myself, but a lot of the stuff on the list is food I already adore. Maybe you will too:

(same list, but for kids)

In lieu of recent headlines, should there be an animal "Bill of Rights"?

No. Rights necessarily come with responsibility. Responsibility would require self awareness, self determination.

Edit: And no it would not be better to have an animal bill of rights instead of headlines.

Look up the word " lieu"

Would a vegetarian who protested the treatment of animals eat meat/dairy if it came from a "humane" source?

I just became Vegan a week ago, and I can tell my body isn't coping to well. I wasn't vegetarian at all before either, I just jumped right into Vegan-ism. I became Vegan for the ethical reasons you mentioned, so I think this question applies.

As great as that sounds, that's only half the battle. A large part of the Vegan community are, in my mind, activists for animal rights. A lot of Vegan people are trying to raise awareness to the problem of factory farmed animals, and when people realize you don't eat meat for that reason, it raises awareness. I've heard the term "conciensious omnivore" (not sure I'm spelling that right) but somehow it doesn't have as big an impact as the term Vegan. Now I hate to admit it, but a part of raising awareness in my eyes at least is being able to adhere to the label because it is more recognizable and it makes a stronger impact.

I hope that all makes sense. I would be more willing to eat that meat if the majority of farms were free-range. I still really appreciate those farms, because if you can't convince someone to go Vegan you can at least convince them to choose where their meat comes from. And in the future if my kids or wife (I have neither, just a hypothetical) don't want to be Vegan than those farms will hopefully be there for me.

I don't think I'll ever drink milk from a cow again though. It's kinda disgusting to me.

Hope this helps!