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| Animal Place: FACTORY FARMING: What does it mean? |
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Animal Friendly Menus |
'Factory farming' refers to how nonhuman animals are raised for food and fiber. They are treated as machines, their usefulness based solely on their profitability. To make them profitable, they are subjected to horribly crowded conditions and, for many species, mutilations of their bodies.
Pigs and cattle are castrated, chickens have their beaks cut with a hot blade, and turkeys have their toes cut off. All these surgical procedures, which are highly painful, are performed without anesthesia. Doing the same things to cats and dogs is illegal, but not for animals raised for food production!
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All About Profit
Production is not always measured by what the individual does, rather by the productivity of a large group. For example, with chickens forced to lay eggs, decisions on whether to keep the chickens are based on the number of eggs produced by the whole flock. When egg production is down, the whole flock slaughtered. In addition, to keep the animals alive and productive, millions of dollars worth of medication such as antibiotics is fed yearly to these animals. These medications eventually taint the food human beings eat. This also results in the creation of resistant bacteria which can cause human illness and death.
Treated Like Machines
Most machines require some sort of fuel, like gasoline or electricity, to make them work. Like machines, animals in factory farms are given only what is essential to keep them functioning and productive; their fuel is the food and water they receive. But, unlike machines, animals have needs and desires that cannot be met just by furnishing them with fuel. Like human beings, they become bored and unhappy if not allowed to be themselves. All animals must have opportunities to socialize. Depending on the species, they also need to dust bathe, sun bathe, perch in trees, wallow in mud puddles, root around in the earth and be free to choose what it is they wish to do from one moment to the next. |
Extreme Deprivation
On a factory farm, animals are deprived of all opportunities for anything other than a boring or often extremely stressful existence. The animals don't live; they exist. After a shortened lifetime of extreme crowding, they are killed. For example, hens raised for their eggs are kept three to five in a cage measuring about 12x18 inches. Pigs kept for breeding spend their lives in crates just a bit larger than the size of their bodies, but not large enough in which to turn around. Little to no attention is given to behavioral or psychological needs, despite scientific research, and basic common sense, showing these are critical for the animals? well-being. Productivity is the "bottom line".
The Hidden Truth
The factory farming industry does not want you to know the truth behind the ugliness of their business. They try to mislead you into thinking all is well by showing cows romping with their calves on idyllic pastures or hens playing with their chicks. The reality is that calves are torn from their mothers at birth, hens never see their chicks, breeding sows are kept in cement stalls a few inches wider than their bodies, and turkeys have their toes severed. |
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What You Can Do
Keep in mind that the products made from animals are not essential for sustaining human life. You can live quite well and healthfully, on a completely vegetarian diet. Such diets have less risk of cancer and other health problems than those based on animal protein and fat. And, more importantly, you can feel good knowing that you are not responsible for the inhumane treatment and deaths of animals in factory farms. |
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SOME FACTS TO CONSIDER
Over nine billion animals raised and killed in the U.S. each year. To put this in terms of numbers that may be a bit more easy to conceptualize, that’s:
- 24,657,534 every day
- 1,027,397 every hour
- 17,123 every minute
- 285 every second
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