A recent investigation by 10 major animal charities revealed that “millions of animals are suffering unnecessarily at the hands of meat traders by enduring cruel, drawn-out journeys across the world to be slaughtered on arrival.”

The gruesome accounts were captured on video. Here’s a description of what they observed:

Pigs
Crammed together in the dark, the animals are condemned to a 4,500-mile journey to Hawaii. They suffer from exhaustion, hunger and vomiting caused by motion sickness.

Cattle
Zebu cattle are forced to live in their own excrement during this appalling journey; some of the 2,500 animals on board die on the way from heat stroke or respiratory disease. The rest are killed on arrival.

Horses
The animals are squeezed into lorries for this sweltering journey. They are denied adequate rest, food and water. And all so the meat can be marketed as being of “traditional Italian” origin.

Goats
15,000 animals a week are packed into trucks for the 2,500-mile journey with nothing to eat or drink. Temperatures exceed 40C, and many of the animals die from dehydration.

Sheep
Australia sends four million live sheep every year on the barbaric journey to the Middle East. They are transported in such cramped conditions that many die of suffocation on the way. On arrival, they are killed according to Halal butchery laws.

These animals are not at all unlike those we shower with love and call pets. Furthermore, they are not unlike us humans. Genetically speaking, mammals share most of the same genes. So, why do we ignore their pain and torture? Is it just easier to look the other way as a meat-eater, while paying others to do the dirty work?

This very same practice occurs when our government fights wars. We look the other way as thousands of innocent men, women, and children are killed by our wreckless military campaigns. How can we ever expect to work toward a less violent and more peaceful world if our diets require violence to other worldly inhabitants?