WELDON - Sometimes the truth is hard to swallow.

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Gary Yourofsky and Kate Timko, from Royal Oak, Mich., have stopped in Halifax County for two days to explain the benefits of a vegan lifestyle, and, what they believe are, the cruel methods used to supply humans with meat.

As vegans, they do not eat anything with a face, a mother or a bowel movement, or anything that comes from an animal, such as milk, eggs, cheese and honey. They also don't wear animal skin, such as leather, wool or fur.

The two are members of ADAPTT, (Animals Deserve Absolute Protection Today and Tomorrow). They travel to schools and towns all over the country to spread their message, and stopped at Halifax Community College Monday and today to speak to students. They will also speak to any members of the public Thursday at 6 p.m. in room 401, building 400.

They cite kindness to animals as the main reason for not eating meat or animal by-products, as well as health and environmental reasons.

Their style is more informational than forced-down-your-throat. They provide the information, aiming to open people's eyes, and then let the chips fall as they may.

"We're just here today to take the blinders off and talk about the realities," Yourofsky said.

They showed seven minutes of video footage and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) TV ads. The ads focused on dogs and cats euthanized at shelters, the fur industry, traps, un-scientific research, circus practices and slaughterhouses.

Video footage, some filmed by Yourofsky himself, shows chickens having their heads cut off, pigs being beaten to death, animals being dismembered while fully conscious, a sheep getting its neck cut, geese with poles shoved down their throats, birds and chickens living in cages in their own filth, bulls being de-horned and castrated without anesthetics, and much more.

"Nothing on this tape is illegal," Yourofsky said.

The video clips also showed baby pigs having their tails cut off and their teeth cut out to prevent damage from fighting when crowded together, then their having testicles ripped out and holes punched in their ears, all without anesthetics.

"All this cruelty and suffering for a sandwich," Yourofsky said.

In the U.S., 10 billion cows, pigs chicken, turkeys and other land animals are raised in concentration camps until they die unmercifully by being hung upside down and having their throats slit, they said. They are then dismembered, and cooked and eaten by humans. Others are beaten or shocked to death.

"I think they did a good job as far as getting the message across to people as far as slaughter, because I for one didn't know that happened," said HCC public speaking student Dora Peterson. "It's eye-opening to anyone who wants to go vegetarian."

She said she had a taste for a cheeseburger before the speech; but not after seeing the video.

"I don't know what I want to eat now," she said.

The video clips were graphic enough to prove the point, but not enough to make you sick to your stomach, she said.

"It really makes you sit back and think about what you're doing to yourself. It's very educational."

Female animals are baby machines that live in crates and cages, and are then cruelly killed when they are no longer able to produce offspring, Timko said. She asked, whatever happened to decency and truth and compassion, especially for those who are weaker?

Birds are de-beaked without anesthetic and then live in piles of their own waste, just to be killed and eaten. "All of a sudden, people think all that feces and urine magically goes away," Yourofsky said.

It isn't natural for people to eat meat, he said. Humans are plant eaters, and are not natural carnivores. People acquire a taste for meat once it is given to them at a young age.

"We are not meat-eating creatures," Yourofsky said. "We're all born vegans."

Eating meat is also bad for your health. We kill and eat animals, and then the animals end up killing us, Yourofsky said. Heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes and other diseases are directly linked to eating meat, and the number one killer of Americans is heart disease from clogged arteries because of meat.

"Folks, eat what comes from the ground. It is natural," Timko said.

Yourofsky and Timko have hope that there will some day be equal rights for animals. It may seem like a radical idea, but it's not the first idea to be opposed and then accepted, Timko said. About 150 years ago, white men owned slaves. Eighty years ago, women couldn't vote, and 40 years ago, there was still segregation. Who knows where animal rights will be in 150 years?

There are plenty of "fake" meat alternatives, Timko said. Yourofsky ate meat for 25 years, and Timko for 23 years, but animal cruelty conditions convinced them to change.

For more information, visit www.goveg.com