Opinions of Heifer International?!
Here's the link:
http://www.heifer.org/
Please do a little research if you've never heard of the program. INFORMED OPINIONS ONLY! None of this "If I look at an animal cross-eyed and hurt its feelings I'm going to hell" crap. The most informed, well thought out opinon will get the points.
Answers: I'm a pollotarian so maybe I have a different view of Heifer International, but I think it's a great program that helps chronically impovrished families in developing countries by giving them the means to support and feed themselves. The gift then spreads through the community and can help prevent malnutrition-related diseases like marasmus and kwashiorkor (if you've never heard of kwashior, look it up on wikipedia, it will break your heart).
Here's the link:
http://www.heifer.org/
Please do a little research if you've never heard of the program. INFORMED OPINIONS ONLY! None of this "If I look at an animal cross-eyed and hurt its feelings I'm going to hell" crap. The most informed, well thought out opinon will get the points.
I have the exact same oppinion! My school did this project and we raised so much money and bought soooooooooo many animals i alone raised over $100 and it feels really good when you help. What we did is went to people and said will you pledge me __ amount of money if i work for hunger relief per hour and the largest i got was 6 an hour for 5 hours so i went to multiple soup kitchens finding jobs and worked alot of hours and then i went back to those people's houses and collected the money with proof that i worked and brought it to school. If you want proof that i did this you can look at my asked question and there is one from months ago where i ask about hunger relief organizations. I hope tons of people read this and try to help too!!!!!!!!!
I've always thought it sounded like a great program. I've heard about them through churches and stuff. But, I have to be completely honest, besides the cursory glance at their website, I haven't done a ton of research on them. So, I don't know how ethical/environmentally friendly it is. But, in my opinion, anytime you can improve the lives of impoverished people, it's a good thing.
Our family has contributed to Heifer International for years. Great program. Helps lots of people. What is pollotarian?
PhD Food Chemistry and Nutrition
I've heard it described as animal slave trade. I haven't decided how I feel about this yet.
i'm just curious.
if these people are starving, where are they going to find the money or resources to procure feed for these donated animals?
Farming animals is an inefficient, expensive, and environmentally destructive way of producing food. Non-native livestock are being introduced to fragile habitats, where grazing destroys the fertility of the land, and reduces the amount of farmland available to local people. Maneka Gandhi, former Indian minister for social welfare and animal protection, comments, ‘It is madness to send goats, cows, and chickens to areas where they will add to the problems of drought and desertification . . . Within two years the people who get goats have an even poorer lifestyle.’ In addition, many recipients of gift animals are unable to feed them to maturity, much less feed and raise offspring
Heifer International is a joke. It supports giving a man a fish vs. teaching him how to fish.
Hell, even if I didn't want to "teach them to fish" and only wanted to throw them a temporary bone I could send them 500 pounds of rice and 500 pounds of beans vs. one 1,000 pound cow, I'd be feeding them a lot longer.
Not to mention, if they can't feed themselves, how are they going to find the multiple times as many plants as they'd eat themselves to feed to the cow?
I think it's a wonderful charity that espouses supporting people at a most basic level...feeding them
KUDOS to you!!
since the nature of the question, as well as the addendum, has led me to believe that you are only going to accept answers that agree with you (you think it's okay to eat animals, you have some bias against people that are compassionate to animals, and that somehow you have come to believe that a sticker that says humanely raised justifies your practice of eating an animal and furthermore, that you additionally take stock in a sticker that says that) tells me that if I tell you how I really feel you won't be persuaded.
So here is a different informed and thought out opinion:
a) you need to do research on what it actually means to be recognized by the better business bureau. it is a private organization and it is funded by accredited businesses. You can do your own research to figure out the implications of what it means to be funded by the very organizations you are supposed to be keeping in check.
b) ask this question again in some sort of non-biased forum. we are vegetarians and vegans...duh we think it is lame to encourage the paradigm of eating and exploiting animals.
c) I know you said that your "pollotarianism" works for you and you don't expect it to work for other people- but I am still going to call you into question for it because I think much of your justification for it is unsatisfactory. as I mentioned above, you are kidding yourself if you think the chicken you eat comes from humanely raised farms because a sticker says so. with the exception of the goat where you are familiar with the husbandry practices- and unless you have witnessed for yourself how the chicken you eat are raised- the chicken you are eating is most likely not humanely raised. You can do your own research to figure out what the farmers are able to get away with to get that humane seal. free range just means chickens are locked up and confined to a shed instead of a cage; still never getting to see the light of day. Humanely raised might mean that the chickens are at least anesthezied before they get their beaks seared off. did you ever wonder what happens to the roosters? did it ever occur to you that roosters are not good for eggs or eating? what do you think happens to the millions of roosters on these "humanely raised" chicken farms?
d) why the fudge would you stick "tarian" to the end of your dietary practices definition? you eat meat, you are fooling yourself to think that you owe yourself the status of "tarian." you are an omnivore. you know what that sounds like to me? that you like the idea of identifying with the vegetarian/vegan crowd but yet you can't give up the chicken. i would just stick to omnivore for the sake of keeping your personal dignity intact.
Here is some information that explains why I don't support Heifer International:
http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/he...
The Heifer International farms are no different than any other animal farm. They raise lambs and other animals for slaughter, just not in this country. The "donation" of animals to other countries is an obvious attempt to spread dairy and meat consumption to new parts of the world in which the land cannot sustain it. Also, one of the cruelest aspects of animal agriculture is the transport of animals by boat, which is a mainstay of this organization. I also wonder how many of these animals just get eaten on the spot upon arrival.
Animal agriculture is antithetical to sustainability, ending hunger, promoting health, and bringing peace to the world. Heifer International apparently doesn't understand that exploiting animals makes the world a more violent, not a more peaceful, place.
The organization is basically bringing a cruel, unhealthy, environmentally destructive diet to cultures that are primarily vegetarian. Also, members of many cultural groups are actually often allergic to dairy.
There are others ways of feeding the hungry without exploiting animals or devastating the environment.
Here are some:
Food for Life Global,
http://www.ffl.org/
VEGFAM,
http://www.vegfamcharity.org.uk/
Sustainable Harvest,
http://www.sustainableharvest.org/index....
Fruit Tree Planting Foundation,
http://www.ftpf.org