This ‘ethical’ killer has done a blog post about me. This is my response…. Please share.
So it appears my presence outside the recent screening of ‘The Fair Food Documentary’ which interestingly failed to present a fair position on the forced impregnating, castration and ultimately horrifying murder of sentient beings who do not want to die, has ruffled a few feathers.
When I heard there was to be a screening in the hills hosted by The Hills Food Frontier about ethically sourced food, I was a little excited. Four things I am very passionate about – film, ethics, small business and food, all rolled into one. The film appeared to be highlighting the importance of organic food production, locally grown products, fair prices and wages, the shocking impacts of genetic modifications and the dominance of our supermarket giants who control the majority of our food supply. I was literally as excited as a pig in mud, until upon further inspection, I learnt the film was also very strongly advocating for the unnecessary, environmentally destructive, cruel and wasteful rearing and killing of non-human animals. To make matters worse, not only was pig farmer Tammi Jonas featured prominently in this film, she was appearing at the event as a guest speaker. As a vegan and animal rights advocate, I was disappointed (to say the least) that an event supposedly pushing fairness, could be so misguided by not only featuring but endorsing and advocating for something completely UNfair and morally bankrupt.
This is not the first time Tammi Jonas and Jonai Farm has come to my attention and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Tammi is very outspoken about how wonderful her farming systems are, how kind she is towards ‘her’ pigs before she sends them off to the gas chamber and how she is apparently saving the world.
So with little time to prepare, I put my thoughts to paper and offered them to those in attendance. Most arriving were more than happy to take the information, some stopping to engage in thoughtful conversation. However, the defensive response from both The Hills Food Frontier and Tammi Jonas herself is not surprising and something I may have found myself doing not so long ago when I too used to convince myself that I had the right to control and murder those most vulnerable.
Here you can see what I had to say http://veganbeasts.com/FAIR-FOOD.pdf followed by the days later online response from Tammi http://www.tammijonas.com/ Interestingly, neither THFF or Jonai Farms uploaded the words from my leaflet and referred to me as the “woman handing out slanderous vegan abolitionist flyers” that “included a number of inaccurate descriptions of the stunning process and the usual highly emotive language”….
So, on that note…
My knowledge of the stunning and slaughter process chosen as the preferred method by Jonai Farms comes from the following resources…
Aussie Farms http://www.aussiefarms.org.au/
Personal accounts from witnesses’ of CO2 pig stunning http://www.examiner.com/…/anita-krajnc-answers-questions-on…
And independent studies and veterinarian comments found through http://terrastendo.net/…/more-on-our-open-letter-to-tammi-…/
Undercover footage from Rivalea Piggery and Abbottoir – Cowora NSW was provided anonymously to Aussie Farms. The footage demonstrates the claims I have made about the stunning process and further egregious cruelty inflicted on pigs by staff. Rivalea hold a majority share in Diamond Valley Pork, using the exact same electrical prodding and stunning process as that featured in this footage. http://www.aussieabattoirs.com/slaughterhouses/corowa/videos
However, I believe the race at Diamond Valley Pork, which the pigs from Tammi’s farm are forced through, is enclosed so more closely resembles that of Big River Pork in SA which can be viewed here… http://www.aussieabattoirs.com/slaugh…/big-river-pork/videos
Tammi would like us to think the slaughterhouse workers lay out the red carpet when the Jonai transport arrives and somehow treat ‘her’ pigs differently to the thousands of other individuals who sadly pass through here, but the reality is, they are all treated the same.
Animal Liberation Victoria conducted an interview with an ex DVP employee. Here is an extract from that interview
“Q: “You definitely think this is cruel?”
A: “OH! It is a horrible way to go. This is not an instantaneous death!
They are traumatised by the truck trip
They are traumatised when they get taken off the truck
They are traumatised by listening to what is going to happen to them
They are traumatised as they go into the gondola
They are traumatised being put into the gondola and,
then they actually suffocate to death by going down into the gas pit.
It’s a long, slow, death. This is not an instantaneous death.
And it’s very routine”
There is a reason why slaughterhouses have tall walls and high security and why Tammi herself leaves images of this process from her website. The pigs are apparently happy in the mud……then…. they are suddenly hanging in her meat fridge. An entire process is missing because witnessing the killing of those who do not want to die is hard to stomach. It is also interesting to note that whilst Tammi advocates against the horrors of the factory farming process, referring to it as ‘cruel’ and outside of her ‘moral code’, she is quite willing to pay money to DVP slaughterhouse, whose 80% share is held by the largest producers of factory farmed pigs in Australia.
Further claims from Tammi Jonas about the event at which I was leafleting…
“Nobody stepped forward and some audience members said they believed that they (I) had handed out flyers and left.”
This is true. It is also true, as reported to me from friends who were present at the screening that it was implied by Tammi that I was a coward for leaving early. Although I had every intention and desire to be present at the screening and Q&A this was unfortunately not possible due to having hours of work to complete towards the following mornings 6am set off to a weekend of duck rescue. A horrendous experience where shooters use the same excuses for killing innocent beings that Jonai Farms do – “they’ve had a good life first”, “they are an ethical food source”, “they don’t feel any pain”, all lies created to make the unfair appear fair. And all done for no necessary reason, just personal pleasure. I certainly don’t view putting myself on the wetlands amongst people with guns as a cowardly characteristic and would much prefer a debate in the safe confines of a theatre if thousands of suffering ducks weren’t dying slow, agonising deaths on the wetlands.
“A few vegetarians commented on how pleased they were that farmers like us are working to get animals back on the paddocks where they belong.”
I’m not sure vegetarians are a good back up to quote, considering they too take part in the unnecessary harm and killing of animals on a daily basis and really do not grasp the concept of animal rights, social justice and all it’s related implications. I know, as I have been one. Vegetarians on their way to veganism would understand this, but vegetarians happy to stop there still have pretty much the same mindset as a carnist.
“It was clear that the vegan abolitionist made no friends that night”
I’m not sure how Tammi can come to this conclusion unless she petitioned 100 people on their way out, however I will say that making friends is certainly not my objective… but neither is making enemies. I only seek to peacefully provide a voice for those who are suffering immeasurably. As long as people including The Hills Food Frontier and Jonai Farms endorse the taking of lives and refuse to acknowledge that animals do not exist for us, the suffering will continue. All sentient beings deserve to live free from harm and predetermined death – the pigs raised at Jonai Farms are murdered at 1/13th of their life expectancy, this is equivalent to taking the life of a six year old human. I personally fear confrontation but like so many animal rights advocates, have had to face that fear head on, as people simply do not like to be encouraged to question what they consider to be ‘their’ choices. No one wants to be made to feel bad, and no matter how the advocate goes about advocating (even something as passive as leafleting in this case), they will always be putting themselves into potential positions of conflict. If not making friends that night is the worst that could happen to me, yet 100 people were given an alternative viewpoint to killing and violence, then so be it.
“Our society over-consumes meat to the detriment of the planet and animals grown in massive intensive systems. But that doesn’t mean the same as ‘all meat eating is bad’, hence disagreements with vegans…”
– errrrhhhhh yes it does. Unless the animal asked you to kill him or her then yes, eating one animal a month or 50 makes no difference to that one animal. And you are continuing to perpetuate the myth that animals exist for us, which is what has gotten us into this horrible mess in the first place. With human population expected to reach 9 billion in the very near future, and thousands of people starving to death every single day, how can so called ‘fair food movements’ endorse feeding crops to billions of non-human animals resulting in 83% waste of human calorie intake? “All meat eating IS bad” because it is all cruel, inefficient and unnecessary.
Below are what Tammi professes to be good responses to points made by vegan abolisionists in general (not specifically me).
“There is no reason to eat meat – you can live without it – The quick answer is: I agree. And you can also live without bananas, apples, and potatoes, but most people don’t.”
It’s nice to see Tammi compares the life of an animal to the life of a banana. Please note: bananas are not sentient. Perhaps Tammi is unaware of this.
“But at a systems level, the planet can’t live without animals and plants don’t grow without phosphorous and nitrogen – both abundant in livestock manure. A healthy agroecological system incorporates animals and some of them are then available as food for humans.”
“Available”? What suddenly makes them ‘available’? Non-human animals will hopefully always be part of our lives. This has nothing to do with killing and eating them. Their positive contribution to the planet will no doubt survive once we eradicate their negative contribution that we as humans have created through forced breeding. There is an abundance of manure – so much so that our oceans are dying. This argument in relation to continued breeding and premeditated killing is ludicrous.
“And so incorporating meat into a balanced diet makes good ecological sense”
Ummm… no it doesn’t, for the reasons outlined previously in regards to loss of calorie intake via processing food through another living being, that we could otherwise eat directly. Along with the required clearing of land and water wasted to do so.
“Yes, I am (a speciesist). I believe there is a hierarchy of species and I’m really happy to be at the top of that ladder.”
Well, thanks for the honesty, however a little scary. A racist, sexist or homophobe may not be willing to be so upfront about such oppressive and immoral behaviours but here you are loud and proud. They do say that admission is the first sign of healing so perhaps there is a glimmer of hope here. Sarcasm aside, there is hope for everyone to stop partaking in animal exploitation. The most unlikely of people are turning to veganism every single day. Additionally, I don’t consider taking advantage of those most vulnerable for no reason other than pleasure as being part of some ladder. It is a reflection of the flaws of our species that we will cause unnecessary harm and filtrates through all areas of our lives. Violence against women, human minority groups and those less able will always occur so long as we are taught from birth that it is acceptable to dictate and take the lives of those most vulnerable, simply because we can.
“You wouldn’t kill your dog for a stir fry, there’s no reason you should kill a pig either. It’s true, I wouldn’t kill our dogs for a stir fry, because I was culturally conditioned not to eat dogs so I have a kind of irrational ‘ick’ response. But I have no issues with other cultures who eat dogs, so long as the dogs are raised respectfully in a manner that allows them to express their natural behaviours.”
Nothing could make it more apparent that we only partake in the eating of animals and their by-products because it is what has been forced upon us from birth as ‘normal’ then reinforced daily by friends, family, and most powerfully the animal agriculture and advertising sector, than this statement. Thank you Tammi. But it is the small voices of people like me that are getting through to present a truly ethical, humane, sustainable and FAIR way of living. It is inconvenient for some, confronting and a challenging step to take, but I have yet to meet a vegan (and I’ve met many) who regret taking it. The only regret you ever hear is that they wish they’d opened their eyes sooner – one I will always carry myself. So called ‘humane’ farmers are only railroading those who are opening their eyes to what is truly just.
There are a couple of similarities between myself and Tammi Jonas. We are both outspoken and passionate in our advocacy. The stand out difference is that I didn’t stop opening my heart when the answers started becoming too inconvenient.
Thank you to The Hills Food Frontier for screening this film and for your otherwise positive fair food advocacy. Vegan friends in the audience, although disappointed and annoyed by the messaging that killing can be fair, told me of the wonderful opportunities this event presented in sourcing fair plant-based food from local producers. I hope your future advocacy can start to move towards being morally consistent for ourselves and the trillions of other beings which we share this planet.
Those interested in reading the entire interview by the ex DVP employee can contact ALV at enquiries@alv.org.au
Sleep 8 Hours 