Video: Beachgoers Face to Face With ‘Meat’ As Cow Carcass Washes Up

Meat-eaters came face to face with who’s in their burgers when the body of a dead calf washed up on a beach in Tel Aviv, Israel. Shocked beachgoers stared as waves carried the carcass to shore.

Authorities are unsure how the calf’s body ended up in the ocean, but it’s possible that the animal was one of the millions who are victims of live export every year—packed onto transport ships in Australia and sent on weeks-long journeys to be sold for meat in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Exporters cram in the animals, including sheep who have been cast aside by the wool industry, as tightly as possible in order to increase profit, and they often become covered with their own waste as well as that of others. Animals frequently starve, are trampled, and become ill, and it’s common for those who die or who are not likely to survive the rest of the journey to be thrown overboard.

But the fact that people who regularly eat animal carcasses were stunned to see an animal carcass is evidence of the disconnect that most people have at one point between sentient animals and neatly wrapped packages of flesh on grocery store shelves.

PETA hopes everyone who was horrified to see this animal’s dead body will be inspired to choose vegan foods, which no one had to die for. And you can speak up for animals by urging the Australian government to end live export today.