$JES 921 Book of Compassion Reverence For All Life Reference Book

Author(s): Pramoda Chitrabhanu, Pravin K Shah
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

Page 49

8- FACTS ABOUT EGGS
Chickens are housed in small-congested cages known as chickenhavens. Due to shortage of space, they naturally become violent, offensive, obsessed and quarrelsome. They attack one another in a barbarous manner. So they are de-beaked. Due to uneven debeaking, they are unable to drink water. Do we not realize the cause of our present widespread complexes, aggressiveness and suffering in the chicken-havens?
As mentioned earlier, hens are de-beaked to prevent them from fighting and wounding one another. The de-beaking is done in brown light, especially during the night when hens become almost blind. The lower beak is cut. If any mistake is made, the hen is deprived of food for the rest of her life. The hen must starve for at least three days due to the wounded beak. Wouldn't this act of cruelty affect the egg-eater?
Hens are given five kinds of violent-generating foods: bone meal, blood-meal, excreta-food, meat-meal and fish-meal. Can we dare to call eggs vegetarian food even after learning this?
The term vegetarian egg is a first-rate misnomer. The purpose of a fertile egg is to animate life, but an infertile egg has no such purpose and as such should be considered totally inedible. Battery and factory eggs are harmful to health. It is better that we abstain ourselves from eating them.
The egg produced without any contact with the male bird (and thus producing an infertile egg) is also animate because it is born out of
THE BOOK OF COMPASSION
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