The news may not be classified as great but nonetheless positive, according to the USDA the number of animals killed for food purposes(not including sea life) decreased by six-percent in 2009 while the U.S. population grew by 1%.

One contributing factor is the ever growing number of vegetarians in the U.S. According to a 2008 Harrison Interactive poll that appeared in Vegetarian Times, 7.3 million Americans consider themselves vegetarian with another 22.8 million following a vegetarian-inclined diet.

Compare that to 2006 in which it was estimated that 4.8 million vegetarians lived in the U.S. that equates to a 52-percent increase over a two year period.

But even considering the good news, the numbers are still staggering as 9.6 billion animals were slaughtered in 2009 for consumption.

Let us hope these numbers continue to decrease dramatically in addition to more people choosing a compassionate plant based diet.

Special thanks to the MFA blog.

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