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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an organization that works to protect animals. It has made tremendous steps to improve the livelihood for all animals by educating people and standing up for creatures without a voice. But PETA could help more suffering animals if it didn’t worry about uncruel things such as the use of training (pinch, choke and shock) collars.

Of course, the use of training collars can be abused, and they shouldn’t be used incorrectly. But when used properly, training collars benefit a dog’s life. My mutt gets to travel to more places because he is under control and heels because he learned to act this way by wearing a pinch collar. He also gets to run in a large tree-filled yard because he was trained to stay in the yard by wearing a shock collar. It took one shock to learn, kinda like falling off your bike once or twice and then you remember how to ride it forever.

PETA should be more focused on animals that are actually suffering, such as monkeys experimented on in labs without anesthetics, elephants treated inhumanly in circuses or pit bulls used in dog fighting. Instead, PETA wastes valuable resources explaining how dogs like my mutt are suffering through the use of a training collar. It’s unfortunate that such an influential and respected organization isn’t setting the best example.

During slaughter, some cows remain fully conscious throughout the whole killing process, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. First they are shot in the head with a bolt gun, next they are hung by their legs, their throats are cut, and finally they are skinned. According to the Washington Post, one slaughterhouse worker said the cows “die piece by piece.”

Reading about how cows, chickens, pigs and other animals are treated prior to their deaths and ending up on my dinner plate was enough to make me try a vegetarian diet for the month of August. I really thought it would only last 30 days, because I like a good hamburger or steak. But I realized in about three weeks that it was very easy for me not to eat meat. I noticed no differences, other than I had to find something else to grill at a barbecue (I recommend grilled asparagus). Now I’ve been a vegetarian for 8 months.

People have their own beliefs on vegetarianism. I am not going to tell anyone to stop eating meat, because it is a personal choice. Plus, I ate meat for 24 years. As for those who are vegetarian, the reasons vary. I do not eat meat because of how the animals are treated. There are online videos showing animals being slaughtered while still screaming. These sounds and images truly bother me, so I do not even want to include them on my blog. You can see them for yourself with a simple search on Youtube.

Others don’t eat meat because of the health benefits. My diet consists of so many other processed foods that I haven’t really noticed a difference healthwise. Eliminating meat from my diet cut out unneeded fat, not to mention the hormones injected into the animals while they were still living. But I feel the best when I eat mostly rice, fresh fruits and vegetables, and that goes beyond eliminating meat.

Have you considered going vegetarian? If so, what are your reasons?