Disclaimer: I am neither a PETA enthusiast nor a Ted Nugent drone. I eat meat, and have done so all my life. I have been to a slaughterhouse and seen how cows are euthanized. And let me tell you, I’d prefer death by a quick shot to the brain to living the life of an egg chicken. The recent discoveries linked with the salmonella outbreak have once again brought to the forefront the horrifying cruelty of people who view animals as only the bottom line. So goes the demise of a real hen house where chickens lay eggs, scratch dirt, peck at feed, walk around and cluck, and sleep in a comfy nest. We can’t produce a half a million eggs a day like that, now can we?
Without opening up a huge, protracted discussion on food ethics or government policy (because, as I am wont to say, harsh words are often spoken with no minds being changed), something must be done about the deplorable conditions surrounding egg production in this country. Why are these egg “farms” even allowed to exist? They should be closed down for the simple reason that it is unconscionable to put an animal in an eight-and-a-half by eleven-inch space and never allow it to move.
If someone did this to a dog or cat, he would be fined and perhaps jailed. But the torture of these poor hens is allowed to go on with impunity. (I won’t provide links to the hidden-camera revelations — it’s too sickening.) Makes about as much sense as television commercials showing almost-naked women in Victoria’s Secret commercials, but never showing a single person take a drink in a beer ad. Ridiculous and stupid.
It’s likely useless to argue the point, and I know there are thousands of atrocities (against animals AND humans) being perpetrated every day. Choose your cause, and there’ll be evidence to support you. I’m just zeroing in on this particular travesty this day. It’s a shameful testimony to the greed for which our country and its industries are becoming infamous. Blah.
Fink, having fruit and yogurt for breakfast
Do you find as you grow older and wiser that it’s harder to hear about and see these things? I do. It is totally unbelievable that someone can look at a chicken or a cow or a dog etc and see dollar signs and not a living, breathing, creature. There are a couple of commercials that come on with scenes of “dancing” bears and “working” donkeys etc that I have to turn off otherwise I totally lose it.
But nothing will change until the demand for it stops. And I don’t see that happening anytime soon if ever.
I wish I lived on a farm, then I’d adopt every animal I could and save them all!
It is harder for me, yep. And I can totally be fine with farmers who raise beef cattle or chickens for the market. The farmers who do it right are meeting a demand and making a living supplying food. Some would take issue with this, I know. But quick euthanasia is one thing; daily torture in sickening conditions is another. And egg-laying doesn’t require the hen to sacrifice her life — but after seeing all the videos, I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to die and get the pain over with.
The government needs to police these farms like they police our incomes and taxes!! I just saw on the news where, in Wayne County, another farm has been secretly filmed for mistreating calves. It’s horrendous.
What a shame. Such a helpless feeling…
I highly recommend watching ‘Food Inc.’ if you haven’t seen it already.
It covers some animal cruelty stuff but most of it is about how a few huge corporations own and control all the food with no oversight. The people who are in charge of policing the food industry own the food industry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoRNnCoEx-k&feature=related
Thanks for this!