Written by Vegetarian Star on Thursday, November 18th, 2010 in Animal Issues, Business, Food & Drink, Interviews.
Ady Gil
Ady Gil is a successful entrepreneur who, as a founding partner of American Hi Definition (AHD) and Sweetwater Digital, has made contributions to digital services for film and television. This year, Ady is matching Farm Sanctuary’s Adopt-A-Turkey adoptions up to $50,000. Vegetarian Star had the opportunity to conduct an exclusive interview with Ady about animal welfare, the Thanksgiving holiday and his vision for former president of the United States Bill Clinton.
How did you get involved with Farm Sanctuary and the Adopt-A-Turkey campaign?
It was my ex-girlfriend who in 1999 told me that she was adopting a turkey. She was a vegetarian, and she told me for Thanksgiving she was adopting a turkey. I didn’t know exactly what it meant then, but she told me you had to send the fee. It was $20 at the time. It was sort of symbolic, but you get a card with the picture of the turkey. The year before I ate turkey for Thanksgiving, and that year I did not. It did not make my Thanksgiving any worse. Not at all did it affect my life to not eat turkey. I adopted the turkey, and I felt proud like I saved a life, without touching it. Not always can you save a life by touching it – sometimes you can, like with an injured dog or a bird you find you might bring it to the vet, but most of the time you can’t touch the lives you save and you need an organization that can touch the lives. I see Farm Sanctuary as an avenue to save farm animals.
Recently, two large chicken producers in the U.S, Bell & Evans and Mary’s, announced they’re changing the way they slaughter chickens. Instead of electrical stunning, they’ll be using methods similar to what many in Europe and the UK do by knocking the birds out with gas first. What are your thoughts on this more “humane” way of killing and do you view changes like this as real progress for animal welfare?
I cannot put the two words together – killing and humane. I do not believe they can really coexist in one sentence. Is it less cruel? I think it is. But is it still cruel? Sure it is. Is it more humane? Sure it is. But is it humane? No. Is it better? Sure it is. But is it still evil? Yes. But it’s less evil, and so less evil is better than more evil, right? If in the last ten seconds they don’t suffer, that’s better. If they suffer their whole lives and we can give them their last ten seconds without suffering, then that’s better. Any second counts. But I do not think that killing can be humane.
Learn Ady’s wish for Bill Clinton after the jump.
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