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Cruelty-Free Living

The following information has been gratefully provided by ACRES, a Singapore-based animal welfare education organisation. This page will help you begin to think about the issues that affect animals world-wide, as well as those closer to home. For more information on each topic presented here, please visit the ACRES website. Enjoy, and happy learning!

 

Background

From young, we are taught how we are different from animals, rather than what we have in common with them. So most of us grow up accepting the idea that animals are to be exploited and used for our own ends. We deny that animals have their own feelings, emotions, individual personalities and family relationships, despite it being very evident that they do. We have set up a society in which animal exploitation has become a norm. So a lot of what we do in our individual lives causes enormous suffering for the creatures that share our planet. For the sake of a dish, a detergent, a handbag or a laugh, many animals are denied even their basic needs - to move, scratch, eat, drink, play, run, feel the sun or nurture their young. For human convenience, profit and pleasure, they are imprisoned, chained, beaten, branded, scarred, electrocuted, starved, tortured, mutilated, castrated, knifed and shot.

How to live cruelty-free

Because most of this cruelty happens behind the closed doors of slaughterhouses, factories, research institutions and organizations, we tend to think we are not directly responsible. But we are. As the final consumers, the people who create the demand and pay for the fruits of animal exploitation, we are very much responsible. But we can choose not to be. All of us have within ourselves the ability to relate to other living things with compassion. We can choose to be kind instead of cruel. We can choose to be non-violent. And we can make cruelty-free choices about what we eat, wear, do and buy that will make a positive impact not only on animals but on people, the environment and our own health too.

ANIMAL TESTING AND EXPERIMENTATION

Should helpless animals be tortured and killed for the sake of every new brand of shampoo and floor cleaner? Can technology only advance at the expense of innocent animals? Read about the crimes that are committed in the name of science and law. Make informed, animal-friendly choices when it comes to your household and personal products.

ANIMALS IN SPORTS

Should animal pain be a human pastime? Find out why fishing, hunting, horse racing, greyhound racing, bullfighting and cockfighting are no fun at all for the animals.

ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY AND ENTERTAINMENT

How does it feel to be an animal prisoner in a human society? Is there a connection between human slavery and animal slavery? Do zoos really help in conservation? Do circus animals lead a happy life? Get the real picture about these animal institutions that we take for granted in our lives.

How to eat creulty-free

MEAT, POULTRY AND SEAFOOD

Learn the hidden truth about the transformation of animals into food in modern factory farms. Find out about the institutionalised cruelty, greed and lack of compassion in the meat industry. You will also discover why more and more caring consumers are adopting a vegan diet.

MILK - Is milk really as healthy as the dairy industry would like you to believe? Is the dairy industry full of happy contented cows as their ads portray? Find out the real truth about this cruel and exploitative industry on the ACRES website.

EGGS - Should you have blood and misery for breakfast? Discover the truth about egg production - the overcrowding, the forced moulting, the growth hormones, the de-beaking and the horrible deaths of newborn male chicks.

What to wear and buy that is cruelty-free

ANIMALS USED IN CLOTHING - Why should animals be the victims of human fashion? Inspect your wardrobe, are you wearing a dead animal?

COMPANION ANIMALS - Why are animal shelters forced to put down thousands of dogs and cats every year? What is the consequence of buying an exotic wild bird? Why is it good to neuter your pet? These are all questions to ask when living a cruelty-free lifestyle.

ANIMALS AFFECTED BY HUMAN CONSUMPTION - The more you consume, the less you live. And the less the animals live. Help protect wildlife and bio-diversity by reducing, re-using and recycling.

INVESTMENTS - Did you know that your investments could be supporting animal-testing, animal experimentation and unnecessary cruelty? Find out where your money is going and see if animals are paying the price.