Animal welfare isn’t a light, happy, optimistic or fun topic… which is usually where I try to focus my blogging. I know that what we eat is personal, and I’d rather share my success stories as a recent vegan than criticize what anyone else is eating. After all, I used to eat and enjoy it, too.
That being said, Easter is on Sunday, and for many people, it’s a celebration of life. That’s why it makes me feel sad to see so many people dyeing hard-boiled Easter eggs – they’re doing something that should be creative, fun, and a celebration of life… but behind the scenes it’s anything but.
Male chickens don’t lay eggs, nor do they grow into good chickens for eating.
That means that millions of male chickens every year are killed a few days after birth by the egg and chicken industries. I’ve seen video footage of them being thrown away alive in trash bags and dumped alive into meat grinders. It was a sight I wish I had never seen. When interviewed for an article by the Huffington Post, The United Egg Producers said this:
“There is, unfortunately, no way to breed eggs that only produce female hens,” said the group’s spokesman, Mitch Head. “If someone has a need for 200 million male chicks, we’re happy to provide them to anyone who wants them. But we can find no market, no need.”
Using a grinder, Head said, “is the most instantaneous way to euthanize chicks.”‘
Unless your eggs are coming from a small farm that keeps and feeds a rooster for every chicken, those eggs cost some day old male chicks their lives. Makes them seem a little less vegetarian, doesn’t it.
I know that not everyone is going to eliminate animal products from their diet, and I know that I’m lucky to have the time and energy to learning to cook in a different way, and the money to afford the wonderful plant products like chia seeds and acai that keep me confident that my family is getting the nutrients it needs.
But knowing what I know about the egg industry, I would urge you not to use them for something optional like a craft.
Let’s make construction paper eggs, instead. Or maybe paper mache’ eggs using little balloons, that you can keep and pull out again next year.
I’m not a Christian myself, but I think avoiding unnecessary death and suffering would be in the Christian spirit.
I’ll post more uplifting messages in the future… I promise!
And Happy Easter, to anyone who celebrates!
