The Power of Slaughterhouse Vigils
Seeing animals bound for slaughter is painful, but the experience always strengthens my resolve as an activist and vegan
I attended a vigil with Newark Animal Save outside a halal slaughterhouse. I woke up at an ungodly hour and a group of us drove for two hours to get there before sunrise, just in time for the transport trucks to arrive. I watched with twenty other activists as goats and sheep who had been crammed in a truck and traveled over 24 hours without food or water were led to their deaths one by one. They poked their faces through the holes of the truck, but we were not allowed to give them water. They were not moving much or making any sounds but huddled together as they stood in their own droppings. One of the workers flung feces at us and some of the other activists were sprayed with water as they tried to take photographs.
A few minutes later, I watched in horror as the carcasses of once living, breathing beings were hung upside down from hooks, their skins tossed in a large dumpster. People gathered outside the point of sale market to buy goat meat.
They drank as much as they could, but there were too many mouths.
