Sir Paul McCartney, If Slaughterhouses had Glass Walls, Everyone Would be Vegetarian

Music legend Sir Paul McCartney has been an outspoken advocate for animals since the 1970s. While he will always be one of the most famous rockers in the world being a “Beatle,” he is also a passionate voice for animal welfare and animal rights.

While living on his farm in Scotland with his wife Linda in the 1970s, he became a vegetarian after having an epiphany about “the taking of animals’ lives,” as he was eating meat and looking out his farmhouse window to his lambs, sheep and horses in the pasture. It was in that moment, that he made the connection between the lives of their own individual animals and using and killing animals for meat. For Paul, it has been almost 40 years that he’s been an unwavering vegetarian.

Since that realization, Paul has been a vocal advocate for meat-free campaigns. He partnered with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) on narrating the powerful 13-minute documentary, “If Slaughterhouses Had Glass Walls,” about the inhumane horrors of factory farming and the slaughter of billion of farm animals for food today. In the video, he encourages every person to give up eating meat and animal products altogether because of the sickening cruelty of the meat industry and the enduring misery farm animals experience. He also contributed to the creation of the popular Meat Free Monday campaign that encourages people to eat less meat.

In addition to farmed animals, Paul’s advocacy extends to wild animals and specifically to elephants. He worked to expose the repeated abuse of an elephant named “Sunder” in India, and called for Sunder’s release. He’s fought against ivory poaching and the trafficking of tusks, and supported a ban on the trade in dog and cat fur in the EU, as well as posed for photos with baby seals in support of The Humane Society of the US’s campaign against Canadian seal hunting. Paul has also been a strong voice fighting against vivisection and joined the British Union in the Abolition of Vivisection, asking the EU to ban cosmetic testing on animals. He has worked on the Be Cruelty Free campaign supported by Humane Society International (HSI) to end animal testing on cosmetics. And it worked! In 2013, the EU banned the sale of any cosmetics that were tested on animals. In 2014, India followed the EU in the same ban and extended it further to include banning the import of cosmetics tested on animals.

As a songwriter, Paul has written several songs about animals and animal rights. He has integrated animal issues into his songs and encouraged his fans to get involved in these issues and become active advocates for animals.

The quote, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian,” has been attributed to both Paul and Linda. He asserts, “Animals raised on modern factory farms and killed in slaughterhouses endure almost unimaginable suffering. I hope that once you see the routine cruelty involved in raising, transporting, and killing animals for food, you’ll join the millions of people who have decided to leave meat off their plates—for good.”

“Animals raised on modern factory farms and killed in slaughterhouses endure almost unimaginable suffering. I hope that once you see the routine cruelty involved in raising, transporting, and killing animals for food, you’ll join the millions of people who have decided to leave meat off their plates—for good.” ~ Paul McCartney

Each one of us can reduce the pain, suffering and cruelty experienced by all farm animals by adopting a plant-based diet.