When we sit down to eat our steak dinner, it can be hard to connect the dots between the food that we are eating and the animal from which it came.

It’s not until we see the process first-hand that we start to understand the loss of life that our meal required.

For some, being exposed to the realities of slaughterhouses and meat factories can be enough for them to swear off animal products for good.

For others, it causes them to search out humanly raised meat instead.

Whether you choose to eat meat or not, seeing an animal being led to slaughter is no easy thing.

And when that animal seems to be aware of its own fate, it gets even harder to watch.

That was the unfortunate case for a certain pregnant cow in China.

According to The Paper, a Chinese news outlet, when workers tried to coax the young mother towards the slaughterhouse, she knelt down in defiance and began to weep.

This moment was caught on video and went viral online throughout the country.

As a meat-eater myself, it’s moments like these that make me reconsider what I’m buying from the grocery store.

On one hand, I think that it’s important to have the awareness that something had to die in order for me to eat. That way I’m not just blindly consuming meat products, completely ignorant of the fact that the turkey sandwich I’m enjoying was at one point a happily living bird.

It’s this same ignorance that fuels the inhumane slaughter practices of large-scale meat companies.

But on the other hand, it can be hard to find satisfaction in my steak dinner knowing that the cow from which it came didn’t exactly lay down its life for me voluntarily.

As the kneeling-cow video made its rounds online, the public decided to step in a do something.

“Kind-hearted netizens donated over US$2,900 to buy the cow and sent her to a temple where she was set free.” This according to the South Morning China Post.

Although this act of kindness brings joy and relief to those of us who watch the video, this same situation probably happens every day in slaughterhouses all over the world–but without the happy ending.

The fact of the matter is, we can’t save every cow from slaughter.

But we can make decisions about where we get our meat and how often we consume it.

As Americans, we love our meat. But it may not be beneficial for us or our planet to be eating it at every single meal.

According to The Seattle Times, our meat consumption as Americans hit a record high in 2018.

And the reality is, we don’t need to eat meat every day in order to stay healthy. The World Cancer Research Fund claims that:

“If you eat red meat, limit consumption to no more than about three portions per week. Three portions is equivalent to about 350–500g (about 12–18oz) cooked weight.”

So next time you go grocery shopping and reach for that pack of ground beef, take a minute to consider where that product came from.

Because that simple act of consideration is the beginning of a positive shift towards a much healthier and more humane system of animal production.

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Article Sources:

Source: South China Morning Post

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By B.T. Swezey

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B.T. Swezey is a contributor at SBLY Media.