If you were the kind of person who was brought up to eat meat and dairy but had an innate love and sympathy for animals, you might start to worry that raising them and killing them for food might hurt them. You might seek advice, asking – “is it done humanely?” or “do they suffer?”
If you asked a butcher or a farmer those questions and he told you – “oh no, don’t worry, they don’t suffer,” or “no, no, no, it’s all done very humanely” or “there are very strict rules in this country to ensure that there’s nothing cruel about it”, then you might hesitate to believe him, knowing that he has a vested interest in keeping you eating meat and therefore a motivation to deceive you on this point.
However, if you got the same response from people whose job it is to care for animals, to rescue them from abuse and neglect and to give them sanctuary, you’re more likely to believe them.
For this reason, organisations like the RSPCA and Compassion in World Farming may well do more to keep people from veganism than the butchers and the farmers. Many many people love animals and only a small fraction of them become vegan. I believe this is because respected animal welfare organisations don’t tell them that there is no such thing as humane animal agriculture or humane slaughter. They assure people that as long as they buy ‘free range’, organic, “freedom food”, and naturally reared animal products their consciences are clear.
Organisations like these have great power and influence. If they told the truth about the horror which is inseparable from animal farming, in every instance without exception, we would see a huge increase in new vegans and enlightenment. So why don’t they use their influence for good? Why do they forsake the very individuals they’ve sworn to protect, as well as the humans who genuinely do want to do the right thing?
Raystede is another such organisation. It is an animal sanctuary in Ringmer, East Sussex which rescues and rehomes dogs, cats and small animals as well as providing a permanent home for horses, donkeys, goats, exotic birds, chickens, turkeys and tortoises. They also provide educational materials for school parties and families in an effort to educate people in how to take better care of their animals. They have done a lot of very good work for many decades. On their front page they write:
“We believe that every animal has the right to health, happiness and freedom from suffering.”
And yet they serve meat, fish, eggs and dairy in their on-site cafe.
So, visitors who come to Raystede are getting a very confusing message:
On the one hand – “every animal has the right to health, happiness and freedom from suffering.”
And on the other hand – it’s ok pay for animals to be enslaved and killed at a young age to satisfy our appetites.
Children get the message: nice people who know about animals and love animals eat meat and fish and eggs and cheese, so it must be ok to do it.
Raystede do the animals, and the people who want to do their best for the animals, a great disservice by setting this very bad example. They sustain the status quo. They keep animals in the horrific cycle of abuse, exploitation and execution. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE sign this petition and share it far and wide so that others will keep asking them to remove animal products from their menu.
Thank you.
January 24, 2017 at 11:55 am
Reblogged this on ruthieeblog and commented:
New petition to sign!:
Raystede do the animals, and the people who want to do their best for the animals, a great disservice by setting this very bad example. They sustain the status quo. They keep animals in the horrific cycle of abuse, exploitation and execution. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE sign this petition and share it far and wide so that others will keep asking them to remove animal products from their menu.
https://www.change.org/p/nigel-mason-stop-selling-animal-products-at-your-animal-sanctuary-cafe
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January 25, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Thanks so much for the reblog Ruthie 😀
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January 24, 2017 at 7:47 pm
Reblogged this on Violet's Veg*n e-Comics and commented:
Come on, let’s get this job done! Every time someone signs the petition, Raystede gets an email. They’re determined to ignore this request so let’s not let them!!!! 😀 AND THEN SHARE SHARE SHARE!
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January 25, 2017 at 12:01 pm
Thanks for this 😀
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January 24, 2017 at 10:26 pm
Signed. So much disconnect.
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January 25, 2017 at 12:01 pm
Thanks so much Karen 🙂
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January 25, 2017 at 11:32 am
I’ve been banned from my local animal sanctuary where I used to volunteer over the very same issue. The sanctuary mostly houses and rehomes cats but they also have resident pigs, hens and ducks. They don’t have a cafe but they have Family Fun Days at which they put on barbecues (of meat). Last year one local vegan offered to pay for all the food served at the Fun Day so it could all be vegan. They turned him down. Yes indeed. They are SO giving the wrong message to kids. The irony is this sanctuary is called “The Humane Education Society” 😦
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January 25, 2017 at 12:07 pm
My goodness the insanity of it all! A campaign like this is in a way even more sad than campaigns against the factory farmers, because we are so disappointed in people who should know better, people who have the power to do so much for farmed animals just by doing something as simple as changing their menu. It doesn’t make any sense to me but we just have to keep plugging away as usual and try to avoid tearing our hair out. Thanks very much for your invaluable support and please keep sharing this – maybe we can shame them with publicity 🙂
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January 25, 2017 at 7:19 pm
I have visited raystede many times and took my kid to weekly home ed educational workshops for weeks there 🙂 And I had exactly the same question in mind when I went in their cafe : Why on earth do they sell meat and cheese in there? It wasn’t even advertised as free range either… Very odd!
I have seen them turning dogs down too. Not because of lack of space but because they couldn’t have a dog who – although he was very good with kids, wasn’t good with other dogs – Which is a real problem in the south east. If animals are turned down by shelters, they will end up being put down 😦
I have also heard that the rspca staff moaned in a hotel in Brighton because they were serving them a veggie catering for one of their yearly meeting -assuming it was what they wanted. Staff complained saying that they were not a veggie organisation and therefore wanted meat on the table. That is very sad indeed 😦
I have heard from people who used to work there that CIWF were good with their staff. In Raystede people working there seemed happy enough….
I used to work for a vegan organisation and although they were very strict on veganism, they were very, very unkind to their staff… So it seems that sadly these places think they have to choose between animals and humans and can’t extend their kindness to all sentient beings 😦 what a shame!
Sorry if I’m rambling a bit.. I’ll happily sign your petition 🙂 as this is something they need to get. Big time!
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January 26, 2017 at 11:22 pm
Thanks so much for joining in on this with your in-depth insight and for sharing your experience of Raystede and others. Of course I agree with you on every single point. I just wish I could understand why such organisations draw a line to limit their compassion; why wouldn’t they eagerly co-operate with this totally reasonable request? I feel that if I could understand where their heads were at I might be in a better position to know how to go forward. I know someone who volunteers at Raystede and, interestingly, she said she overheard a conversation between volunteers, one of whom had a leather handbag, in which the other said “Ooh, you would have been frowned at for that a few years ago. A few years ago you couldn’t eat a ham sandwich here without someone scowling at you.” So obviously they didn’t used to serve meat and presumably the woman who started Raystede was fully enlightened and compassionate. I wish I had some evidence to confirm that because I think it could be really useful to this campaign. Thanks again for your input. Please do KEEP SHARING 😀 😀
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January 25, 2017 at 12:02 pm
Thank you so much for the pingback, they want to reach as many people as possible so every share is greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
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