Cruelty-Free Lifestyle

CRUELTY-FREE LIVING (A Guide To Cruelty-Free Living) Starting in 2002, Acres embarked on a public awareness campaign asking the question “are you leading a cruelty-free life?” to educate Singaporeans on a lifestyle that does not involve the exploitation of animals. The roadshow and exhibits, designed by Saatchi & Saatchi, traveled to several venues in Singapore and revealed the cruel truth behind the many forms of industrialized animal cruelty. Campaign background All of us have within ourselves the ability to relate to other living things with compassion. We can choose to be kind instead of cruel. We can choose to be non-violent. And we can make cruelty-free choices about what we eat, wear, do and buy that will make a positive impact not only on animals but on people, the environment and our own health too. From young, we are taught how we are different from animals, rather than what we have in common with them. So most of us grow up accepting the idea that animals are to be exploited and used for our own ends. We deny that animals have their own feelings, emotions, individual personalities and family relationships, despite it being very evident that they do. We have set up a society in which animal exploitation has become the norm. So a lot of what we do in our individual lives causes enormous suffering for the creatures that share our planet. For the sake of a dish, a detergent, a handbag or a laugh, many animals are denied even their basic needs - to move, scratch, eat, drink, play, run, feel the sun or nurture their young. For human convenience, profit and pleasure, they are imprisoned, chained, beaten, branded, scarred, electrocuted, starved, tortured, mutilated, castrated, knifed and shot. Because most of this cruelty happens behind the closed doors of slaughterhouses, factory farms, research institutions and organizations, we tend to think we are not directly responsible. But we are. As the final consumers, the people who create the demand and pay for the fruits of animal exploitation, we are very much responsible. But we can choose not to be. All of us have within ourselves the ability to relate to other living things with compassion. We can choose to be kind instead of cruel. We can choose to be non-violent. And we can make cruelty-free choices about what we eat, wear, do and buy that will make a positive impact not only on animals but on people, the environment and our own health too. Some of the ways we can lead cruelty-free lifestyles are as follows: - Going vegetarian or vegan is perhaps the single most effective way you, as an individual, can prevent animal suffering. - Do not buy products that are tested on animals. Support companies with a ‘no animal testing’ policy. - Do not buy clothes and other items made of animal fur, skins or leather. - Do not support companies that exploit animals for entertainment, for example marine parks, circuses and any places with performing animals/animal shows. - Do not keep wild animals as pets. - If you want to keep a domestic animal as a pet, adopt a stray from a pet shelter and make sure you can commit to looking after him or her properly for life. - Do not support any “sports” which cause animal suffering such as fishing, hunting, horse racing, greyhound racing, bullfighting and cockfighting.