Why Are These People Crying?

When everyday shoppers are confronted with real footage from factory farms and slaughterhouses, they gasp, wince, and sometimes even break down in tears.

Why?

Because, perhaps for the first time in their lives, they are facing what happens to the sensitive animals whose flesh, eggs, and milk they’ve been buying. The violence and cruelty happen everywhere—yes, even at facilities that supply animal-derived “products” sold under misleading labels like “humane,” “free-range,” and “animal welfare certified.”

So, what, exactly, is making these viewers so emotional? 

“I don’t want to see any more.”

For this Whole Foods customer, it was footage of pigs crammed into filthy sheds, injured and dying chickens, and workers forcibly impregnating cows. She was stunned to learn that some of the footage came from PETA investigations of facilities that had been formerly rubber-stamped with “animal welfare” certifications.

“I’m feeling really hurt inside.”

For this grocery shopper, it was PETA’s exposé of the dairy industry’s humane-washing ploy, which reveals workers routinely tearing calves from their distressed mothers moments after birth. “I’m feeling really hurt inside … This is terrible,” he said.  

“It’s awful.”

For this man, it was the image of tens of thousands of hens crammed into a crowded shed—a stark contrast to the “free range” myth that consumers are often led to believe. PETA’s eyewitness footage of a supplier of Nellie’s Free Range Eggs—which deceitfully depicts hens enjoying lush, grassy fields on its cartons—exposed severe crowding, filth, and distress. “It’s awful,” he said.

A piglet smashed to the floor.

For this woman, it was a video of a worker slamming a baby piglet to the floor. 

A cow who never made it to slaughter.

For these people, it was the gut-wrenching sight of a cow who had died during transport after being crammed into a truck without food or water for days.

For this child, it was footage of dozens of male chicks, soft tiny babies, being thrown into a grinder. They’re learning at a young age that every egg you buy at the grocery store traces back to hatcheries that grind up male chicks alive.

• Cage-free eggs come from hens born at hatcheries that grind up male chicks alive.
• Free-range eggs come from hens born at hatcheries that grind up male chicks alive.
• Pasture-raised eggs come from hens born at hatcheries that grind up male chicks alive.
• Organic eggs come from hens born at hatcheries that grind up male chicks alive.
• Certified “humane” eggs come from hens born at hatcheries that grind up male chicks alive.
• Natural eggs come from hens born at hatcheries that grind up male chicks alive.
• Farm Fresh eggs come from hens born at hatcheries that grind up male chicks alive.

Don’t Look Away—Change What Happens Next

These people reacted the way anyone would when confronted with cruelty they were never meant to see. Because there is no “humane” way to exploit or kill animals. Cows are gentle, social individuals who form lifelong friendships. Mother hens teach their chicks calls before they even hatch. Every animal is someone.

See the cruelty and suffering behind bogus “humane” labels for yourself: 

If this footage shakes you, use it. Help someone go vegan. Speak out against humane washing. And choose the only option that doesn’t hurt anyone.

The only humane choice is to go vegan.