Farm Animals Don’t Vote, Farmers Do
Humans are mammals and have a varied diet. They eat other mammals, birds, fish, crustaceans and reptiles, as well as vegetables. At one time in human history they ate other humans, but thankfully this practice, to nearly a complete extent, has been discontinued.
Recently there were articles in the press highlighting the methods used by Muslims and Jews who followed their traditional methods to kill animals for food. In the Jewish tradition this is called “shechita” and in Islam “Dhabihah or Halal”. The animals most commonly slaughtered for food are cattle for beef and veal, sheep and goats for lamb and mutton, and pigs for pork, fowl largely chickens turkeys and ducks, and fish caught in the wild or taken from the aquaculture industry (fish farming). Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Poland have banned, based on scientific evidence, the traditional methods of slaughter by Jews and Muslims, because it causes the animals killed,a great deal of pain before they die. Among the world`s scientists there is no consensus that this is true and I do not want to delve too deeply into these ritualistic methods, but I do want to make a point which is not in contention. The way animals are killed, and kept in the world`s farms and slaughterhouses is deplorable.
The veal industry was created as a by-product of the dairy industry to take advantage of an abundant supply of unwanted male calves. Close to 1 million male calves are slaughtered for veal each year. Calves raised to make veal are severely confined. Veal calves live for 18-20 weeks in wooden crates with chains around their neck. The size of the crate restricts the movement of the calf to either lie down or stand; the calf cannot turn around or stretch their limbs .They are purposely fed an all liquid milk substitute which is deficient in iron and fiber in order to produce a pale coloured flesh typical of veal. They are so weak at the time for slaughtering, that they are unable to walk as their muscles have not developed. No straw or bedding is placed in the veal crates because there is a concern that they will eat the straw and gain iron or fiber content which would colour their skin
The European Union has banned the use of veal crates for humane reasons. Though the U.S. veal industry continues to use the crates, in a recent survey, 74% of the U.S. population supported legislation to ban crates.
The cruelest of all factory farm products are the eggs produced from caged hens. The battery cages are small wire cages where about 95% of laying hens spend their entire lives. Each hen lives in about 67-76 square inches of space. A standard sheet of paper measures 94 square inches. Imagine spending your entire life in a bathtub with four other people. You cannot move so your bones and muscles would deteriorate. You would go insane and that precisely is what happens to the hens.
In the United States roughly nine billion chickens, pigs and other farm animals are consumed annually, and the vast majority of them are abused in ways that would be wanton cruelty to animals if it were done to dogs and cats. But three systems are particularly cruel—gestation crates for pregnant pigs, veal crates for calves and battery cages for laying hens. These systems of production are now illegal in Europe, and it is time for the U.S. and Canada to follow suit
We cannot avoid the use of farm animals for food but the majority of North Americans would pay more for food and not abuse these animals if they had the choice. We need inspectors to check out farms and once the new system is put in place, all producers would be on a level playing field and competition to produce cheap food to the detriment of the animals would disappear
