Farm animals, like all animals, feel pain and deserve to
be protected from cruelty, but, unfortunately, in recent years, state
anti-cruelty laws have actually been amended to exclude farm animals
from the most basic legal protection. As a result, more than 9 billion
sentient animals endure intolerable living conditions, cruel
mutilations, inhumane transportation and handling, and untimely deaths
every year across America.
Ironically, the recent trend in the U.S. away from 'red
meat' consumption has actually increased the number of farm animals
exploited because consumers are replacing red meat with poultry. More
than one hundred birds have to be killed to get the same amount of meat
as would come from one cow.
Chickens and turkeys raised for meat have been
genetically altered to grow twice as fast and twice as large as their
ancestors. While this rapid growth rate increases profitability, it also
increases health problems. An industry journal (Feedstuffs", May 26,
1997) reports, "...broilers now grow so rapidly that the heart and lungs
are not developed well enough to support the remainder of the body,
resulting in congestive heart failure and tremendous death losses." In
addition, the birds' underdeveloped legs have difficulty supporting
their unwieldy bodies, and they commonly become crippled. Literally
hundreds of millions of chickens and turkeys die before reaching the
slaughterhouse every year.
Birds raised for meat are crowded by the thousand into
huge factory-like warehouses where they can barely move. Chickens are
given half a square foot of space, and turkeys are given less than three
square feet. When they reach market weight, they are thrown into crates,
stacked on the backs of trucks, and then hauled off to the
slaughterhouse where they are hung upside down by their legs and have
their throats cut.
While all animals used for "food" suffer, perhaps the
worst cruelty is at the hands of the egg industry. In the U.S., more
than 200 million chickens live in battery cages where five hens are
typically packed into a wire cage measuring 18 by 20 inches. The
overcrowded birds experience severe feather loss as they rub constantly
against the wire cages. Eventually, they become agitated and driven to
excessive pecking. To reduce the resulting injuries, the birds are
'debeaked', a painful procedure which involves cutting through bone,
cartilage, and soft tissue with a hot cauterizing blade.
After a year in production, the hens' egg production
rates drop off, and they are considered "spent". At this time, the
"spent hens" are either killed or force molted. Force molting involves
keeping the birds in darkness and withdrawing food and water to shock
their bodies into another egg laying cycle. The hens lose as much as 25%
of their body weight, and many die during the process.
After one, two, or even three years in battery cages,
"spent hens" are killed. Some are used in soups, pot-pies and other
processed foods where their bruised and battered bodies can go
unnoticed. The others are ground up alive, manually decapitated,
crushed, composted, or otherwise discarded.
Millions of baby male chicks also suffer at the hands of
the egg industry. Egg laying chicken breeds don't grow fast enough to be
raised profitably for meat, and the males will never lay eggs, so they
are killed immediately after hatching. The unwanted chicks are commonly
crushed or ground up alive, suffocated in trash cans, or killed by
Of all the "foods" that come from animals, Americans
consume more dairy than anything else, and more milk is being produced
in the U.S. than ever before. Modern dairy cows commonly produce ten
times more milk than they would in nature. They are under extreme stress
and succumb to various production related diseases. In a healthy
environment, cows live in excess of 20 years, but on modern dairies,
most are sent to slaughter after just three or four years in production.
While much of the dairy operation, including feeding,
manure disposal, and milking has become mechanized, the job of putting
milk machines on the cows' udders is still done by human hands.
Sometimes, the person putting the milkers on the cow gets slapped in the
face by the cows' switching tail. To prevent this inconvenience, some
dairies are now cutting the tails off their cows.
In order for a cow to produce milk, she must give birth.
Half of the dairy calves born are female, and they are raised to replace
older cows in the milking herd. The other half are male, and because
they will never produce milk, they are raised and slaughtered for meat.
Most are killed for beef, but hundreds of thousands are confined in
small wooden crates and then killed for veal.
In addition to spawning the veal industry, the dairy
industry is closely intertwined with the beef industry, as ultimately,
all dairy cattle are killed for beef. Along with unwanted male calves,
worn out dairy cows are sent to the slaughterhouse and killed for ground
beef. In some cases, dairy cows are so sick that they cannot even stand.
Called "downed animals", they are literally dragged onto trucks and
hauled off to slaughter.
Beef cattle, by and large, have not been subjected to
industrial factory conditions like other farm animals. Still, they are
subjected to painful mutilations like castration and hot iron branding
without anesthesia, and although beef cattle may live much of their
lives on the range, most spend their last few months at the feedlot.
Here, they are crowded by the thousand into dusty, manure laden holding
pens. They are implanted with growth promoting hormones, and fed
unnaturally rich diets designed to fatten them quickly and profitably.
Unlike beef cattle, most pigs live their entire lives
indoors. They are packed into metal and concrete pens, crowded by the
thousand into huge warehouses. The air in these hog factories is laden
with dust, dander, and noxious gases which are produced by the animals'
urine and feces. Respiratory disease is rampant for both pigs and farm
workers. Slaughterhouse surveys have found 70% of pigs to have
pneumonia, and worker surveys have found that 60% experience breathing
While most pigs are slaughtered at 6 months, breeding
sows may endure years in intensive confinement. After being artificially
inseminated, the sows are held in small pens or metal gestation crates
which are just two feet wide. They are kept here for the their four
month gestation period, and then, just before giving birth, they are
moved to metal farrowing crates where they can barely stand up and lie
down. The sows often experience lesions on their bodies from rubbing
against the bars.
The conditions endured by farm animals in the U.S. are
unsettling to the vast majority of consumers, and while these concerns
have yet to affect legislative change in the U.S., change is inevitable.
The livestock, poultry, and dairy industries are marching out of step
with public sentiments, and these industries do not exist in a vacuum.
Battery cages, veal crates, and other cruel farming systems have been
outlawed by European nations, and it is likely that these and other
cruel practices will be challenged in the U.S. - hopefully soon.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
The most direct and effective thing you can do to help
farm animals is to stop eating animal products, including meat, dairy,
Educate your friends, relatives, and others about the
cruelties associated with animal "foods", and offer information about
vegan food and cooking.
Contact your Congressional Representative and Senators
and urge them to cosponsor the Downed Animal Protection Act (H.R. 443
and S. 515) in Washington, DC. This legislation would prohibit the cruel
transportation and marketing of animals who are too sick even to stand.
If you see farm animal cruelty, you may be able to take
steps toward ending the abuse. Please contact Farm Sanctuary for a guide
to stopping farm animal cruelty.
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