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Monday, 07 January 2008
MEET THE ANIMALS WE EAT
Chickens
More chickens are killed and eaten than any other animal. Anyone who has ever encountered chickens kept as companion animals knows that they are intelligent and inquisitive - and fiesty!
There are two types of commercial chickens - 'broilers' raised for meat and 'laying hens' who are used to produce eggs.
Broiler chickens are crammed into dark, dingy sheds, sometimes 100,000 at a time. They are bred to reach their slaughter-weight in just six weeks. They put on so much weight, so quickly that their still-developing legs often buckle under the strain. Access to food and water points then becomes even more difficult, as the birds are unable to force themselves through the crush. Weaker and sicker birds collapse and die from thirst and hunger.
The cramped conditions may also lead to abnormal aggressive behaviour, such as pecking at each other, which can turn to cannibalism. To try to stop this from happening, chicks have the ends of their beaks sliced off with a hot blade, which is extremely painful. Inside the sheds, the litter that lines the floor is not changed for the duration of the birds' lives. They are forced to stand and sleep in their own faeces and urine, which covers their feet, causing ulcers and sores and often burns away the feathers on their breasts. Because of the terrible conditions, bugs and germs run rife. Farmers put antibiotics in the food in an attempt to fight off disease and infection.
The birds are sent off to slaughter when only six weeks old, to be made into nuggests and other chicken meat products for peoples plates.
Eggs
Hatcheries breed different types of chickens for egg production or for meat. Each year, 'useless' male chicks born of the egg-laying variety are 'disposed of' as they are of no use to the industry being unable to lay eggs. The males – as well as the weak and sick females - are separated from the rest and thrown into giant sacks or crates to be sent to the gas chamber or a giant mincing machine into which they are thrown alive.
Battery farms consist of row upon row of wire mesh cages stacked on top of each other inside huge windowless sheds. Four or five hens are crammed into each cage, with less space each than three-quarters of an A4 piece of paper. They can barely move, let alone stretch their wings.
The stress of living in such conditions will often cause the hens to be abnormally aggressive, pecking at and pulling out one another's feathers. In extreme cases this leads to cannibalism. Decaying corpses of dead birds are rarely removed from the cages, as the farm workers might not even notice them. To try to avoid hens injuring each other, they have the tips of their beaks sliced off when they are chicks.
Before they are 18 months old, hens are usually worn out and not ‘profitable’ enough for the industry. These are sent for slaughter and sold for next to nothing, usually ending up as stock cubes.
Cattle
There are two types of cattle: dairy and beef. Those raised for beef are heavier and carry more flesh.
Dairy cows produce milk only after giving birth. To keep up the supply, they are subjected to a constant cycle of pregnancy and birth. Separation of mother and calf is incredibly distressing for both. Cows will bellow for days and have been known to escape and travel miles in search of their young.
Cattle regularly have their horns chemically burnt off to prevent them from harming each other in the confined, stressful conditions of the sheds and during transport.
Male beef calves are often painfully castrated with no anaesthetic, despite being slaughtered at 10-12 months old - which is before they are even old enough to breed. When barely a year old, many cattle are sent to livestock markets where farmers and dealers bid on them.
Handlers have little sympathy for the animals and routinely slap, kick and beat them while moving them. Even in the height of the summer, animals at markets are rarely given any water to drink.
From market, they will be transported to another farm for further fattening or will be sent for slaughter. Typically killed when still only one or two years old, they are destined to end up as meat for burgers and other beef products.
Pigs
Pigs are sensitive and playful animals, much like dogs. Most pigs today are raised inside filthy, cramped factory farms, where breeding sows (female pigs) are forced to produce as many piglets as possible in a never-ending cycle of pregnancies.
A week before they are due to give birth, sows are moved to a farrowing crate - a cage-like structure built from metal and concrete that is only a little bit bigger than the sow herself.
Inside this device she is unable to stretch, turn around or move freely, in order to prevent her from crushing her babies.
Crushing is an occasional natural occurrence in the wild, and only made more likely in factory farms due to the abnormally large litters modern sows are forced to produce.
At three or four weeks old, the piglets are taken away from their mothers. A high protein diet causes them to grow very big, very fast. As with other animals produced for food, the freakishly large pigs suffer painful leg and joint problems. The filthy, cramped and unnatural conditions also lead to heart and breathing problems, as well as infections that affect the gut, skin, brain and nervous system. In an attempt to fight off disease, pigs are routinely fed a cocktail of drugs.
Although they have a natural lifespan of 15 years, pigs are typically slaughtered when only 3-6 months old, to be made into sausages and other pork meat products.
For more info and really cool pig packs, go check out
kids4pigs
Save Babe
Fish
Scientists have proved conclusively that fish feel pain.
If fish were able to scream and shout, far few,er people would eat them! The idea that fish don't feel any pain is ridiculous, because they have a brain, a nervous system, pain receptors and are very sensitive to slight changes in water temperature and pressure.
Fish, like humans and other animals, have a brain, nervous system and pain receptors all over their bodies. When under stress and faced with dangerous situations, they display symptoms including pounding heartbeat, fast breathing, adrenaline rush, writhing and gasping. The Farm Animal Welfare Council Report on the Welfare of Farmed Fish states that:
The fact that fish are cold-blooded does not prevent them from having a pain system and, indeed, such a system is valuable in preserving life and maximising the biological fitness of individuals. The receptor cells, neuronal pathways and specialised transmitter substances in the pain system are very similar in fish to those in mammals.
When hauled up from the deep, fish undergo excruciating decompression. The intense internal pressure ruptures the swimbladder, pops out the eyes and pushes the oesophagus and stomach out through the mouth. Fish caught in nets will die of crushing or suffocation, or have their bellies sliced open on the decks of the ships.
On commercial fish farms, salmon, trout and other species are reared in dirty, cramped, underwater cages and pens. Due to overcrowding, infections and diseases spread easily. Many become ill with painful lice, which eat them alive from the outside in. The industry tries to control the lice through the use of antibiotics and toxic pesticides.
Salmon are typically killed by first being clubbed on the head and then having their gills cut so that they bleed to death. Many trout are condemned to a slow and agonising death by suffocation in air or on ice.
To learn more about fish check out FISHING HURTS.
Click below to watch Peta's undercover investigations revealing what REALLY goes on inside factory farms.
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