I leaf through the pictures of the last revelation with concentration. With everyone before, I’d thought it couldn’t get any worse – and it could get worse. The ones I now had in front of me were the very worst. I thought about which ones to put on and present to the public. What can you expect of people? I decide rigorously. When it comes to reality, everything, because it’s their work. And if they don’t do it themselves, then it is at least tacitly tolerated. One is worse than the other. Between badly injured pigs lie dead ones in various stages of decomposition. How long had the farmer not entered this barn? Of course, it is theoretically possible not to look after the animals once during the few months that the rearing lasts. Possible because feed and water distribution are automated. You just have to make sure that the ventilation works, because if it fails, everyone will die miserably. That’s not good, because then the invested capital is gone. You don’t have to muck out either, because the faeces are pushed through the gaps. Only at the end, when the transporter comes to take them to the slaughterhouse, is there a thorough cleaning.

Nevertheless, most farmers stop by from time to time. After all, it is known that 25% of the animals die during this fattening process. You should at least throw the dead in the waste container. Otherwise, it doesn’t make a good picture and it also smells really horrible, but that doesn’t matter in this faecalis hole. Now the farmer didn’t do that. And it is precisely in this company that people come who photograph the conditions, even film them. It’s the photos I put on. Abused, downtrodden creatures, to which the ÖVP has only one answer: it must be punished more severely.

No, not the mistreatment of the animals, but that someone breaks into the barn and drags out to the public what was never supposed to be there. That must not be. People shouldn’t know. I’ll post the pictures anyway. You need to know, because it’s important that people no longer let themselves be enticed by the soft wash idyll. What they do with this knowledge, what consequences they draw for themselves, that is their business. The ÖVP wants to protect the farmers from exactly this, is angry that it can be this exposure. And what about the animals, the vegetating beings, no, they don’t matter.

This company is AMA certified. A seal of quality that has won the trust of consumers with a lot of money. If you look at her page, you see a pretty picture of a pig, on a fully slatted floor, but with a bit of straw strewn under it while the farmer’s wife hands it to him. It seems to be the only pig in the whole farm, at least you only see this one and the farmer’s wife. It’s kind of a lie, but some just want to see that. That’s why the other one is hidden. I don’t want to make it easy for them to fade out. That’s why I put the pictures up. Everyone should have the opportunity to experience how much we are screwed by the industry.

I slowly get up and look again at the photos on display. They are clearly visible. A man stops next to me.
„I respect that people are vegan,“ he explains, without any further preamble.
„I’m glad,“ I reply cynically, „I’m so glad that I have her consent.“
„But I expect that you will also respect when someone eats meat,“ he says immediately.
„How can I respect a lifestyle that demands such sacrifices?“ I ask.
„That’s the greatest cheek ever,“ he says while pointing to the pictures. „It’s bad enough that you vegans try to convert us with words, but these pictures don’t work at all. You only abuse them to make us feel guilty, to put us under pressure, yes, even more, to be able to call us animal abusers. Without these pictures it would be much more believable, and you could actually decide with an open mind. But under these circumstances, it’s just manipulation. This is an almost inhumane way of proceeding.”
„Does that mean we should leave it at that if the happy idyll on the pasture is lied to the consumers while the reality is kept under wraps?“ I ask further.
“First of all, it’s not a lie, because there are animals out there and second, yes, that’s exactly what you should do. You can’t expect good, honest, hard-working people to do that,“ said it and left. And left me a little more disillusioned than I already was.