Christina Quinones Animal Cruelty in Factory Farming

     Animal Cruelty in Factory Farming 

Animal Cruelty in Factory Farming

Do you know where food comes from? Do you know what exactly your food was before it came to your dinner plate? Do you know what it was given as food before being turned into processed meat? Unfortunately, animals raised for food in factory farms are suffering in unnatural, inhumane, unhealthy conditions that affect their overall health.  There are so many viral videos and pictures that show overcrowding, small cages, teeth-clipping, tail-docking without the use of anesthetics, GMO's (genetically modified Organisms) injections , constant breeding for the high demand of meats, milk, and eggs, and rough handling meaning, kicking, hitting punching and even skinning the animals alive. Many companies protest this act of violence against animals such as PETA, and the ASPCA due to them not being to be free-range animals, not being able to raise families, feel soil or just live their natural way of life. Factory farming mindset is to have the most output in sales along with the least amount of costs spent to produce it.

                                                                                

               Research

Production of processed meats should be a gift because we can reproduce these animals and they are not going extinct any time soon, but due to the conditions that these animals bare for mass production of meats, milk and eggs do break them down eventually. Since factory farms try to use the least amount of money as possible to care for the animals, so many of them are forced into tiny spaces to take up less space and cram more into one building but with that comes diseases and infections that spread like wildfire. The use of GMO's usually will have one benefit that is achieved, but there is most likely an equal but opposite reaction to it. There are have many pros but have many more cons, they do help produce more meats but the meats contains many hormones and steroids that affect the consumer later in life such as cancer due to consuming many different types of GMO'S on the daily. There could be a possibility of allergic reactions due to the body resisting the food source from all of the modified changes and slowly people will not be able to eat the foods over time.

 Hens

They are categorized depending on where they go for farming, broiler hens offer more money to farmers if they have larger thighs and breasts, this results in them becoming too heavy for their legs and often break their bones because they cannot support their own body weight. They are also raised in tiny wired cages and forced into it with up to five other hens which cause them to become really fatigued and aggressive with one another, therefore they are debeaked and toes are cut off to avoid them from harming each other. They often never see sunlight or have any fresh air ever in their lives, They will breathe in their own ammonia. Layer chickens are newborn chicks that are picked from a conveyor belt to see if it is male or female, the males are suffocated, decapitated, or crushed in some type of way, while the females are debeaked and shoved into battery cages. It causes many of their bones to become brittle and break, one in five hens will die from this particular abuse, in which the ones that die from stress and disease are grounded up into feed for the others. Molting hens are constantly exposed to light to lay eggs, because they have a laying cycle and farmers want much more from them, so they are either killed or forced in a molting method which they have no water and are kept in the dark for 18 days and then exposed to light to begin another laying cycle which causes so much strain on their bodies that they will often die.

  Cows   

are auctioned off to other ranches to either go to slaughterhouses, feedlots or dairy farms. Feedlots are when cows are forced to eat and sleep in their own stool and given hormones to grow bigger since the air that they are exposed to is so bad that there is bacteria in the air and they will end up developing a respiratory disease. Slaughterhouses are very cruel,  these cows experience some of the worst conditions because there is such an amount killed within every hour to keep up with the schedule of what the company has for them. workers then turn to abuse and become immune to their suffering, many of the cows are not stunned properly before being slaughtered. The cows that are conscious still will be hung upside down and have their throat slit. Dairy cows are forced to become milk machines that are in crowded areas, the equipment that is used to milk them sometimes will develop bacteria and infections in their udders.This causes many health issues because they are producing ten times more milk than they should in their life. When they turn between the ages of three to five years of age they are slaughtered for their meat.

                                                                                   

                           Pigs

They are also treated as the cows are, in order to be slaughter they are supposed to be stunned before but unfortunately, many workers do not know how to properly stun a pig and therefore the pig his hung up by its hind legs in the air and its throat will be slit. Sows are female pregnant pigs who are meant to be continuously pregnant to have piglets, once those piglets are born they are only with their mother for a few weeks then taken away to be quickly fattened up and their tails will be cut off so others can not bite them. fifteen percent of them will die and the mother is then strapped to a rape table where she is impregnated once again. when she can no longer breed so quickly, she will then be killed. the piglets are to grow up to six months of age in tiny wire cages and then slaughtered

                                                                           

                                                         Personal Statement

This social issue is extremely relevant to me because as not only am I a huge animal lover, but I am also really health conscious through the food that I put into my body. I do believe that everything that we put into our bodies daily does affect our health later in the future. Being aware of the food we eat isn’t the easiest thing to do but it does give us a sense of warning and of what these animals that we choose to eat go through to get to our tables every night. Many of the meat categorized animals that we eat go through torturous routines to live a life behind bars. Many of these animals are tightly packed in cages, behind bars, or in small locations.  Even though these animals are being raised for food production in the future, these animals still have feelings and do react to their living situations.  Animals feel the stresses that they are put under to produce what we as humans need to survive but they are under so much pressure to mass produce so quickly. Many of the animals get sick, drop in weight and eventually die from either stress, loneliness or viruses that spread throughout the facilities from their feces.  As a huge animal lover, I see all animals being free and being either in good homes with great care or animals that belong in the wild without being hunted but domesticating animals for the production for the high demand of meats is animal cruelty. Animals deserve to live a happy life just as if any other human being would like to live. I cannot stand the idea of harming an animal, I personally understand that we need to eat and for that we need to sacrifice animals but as long as it is done in a humane way then it is a little more acceptable. 

                                  Carmen Cerna  

" I think factories that are dedicated to growing stock are cruel and unethical. when the animals are made for the purpose of dying, it takes away their right to life. I also knew that the conditions which these animals live in are unsanitary and inhumane. many diseases and mutations can be derived from them and it is more compelling because it all comes back to us in form of food. "

                   Lizbeth De Lira  
" Animal cruelty is too often, the price paid in order to consume meats,eggs, and milk by the masses. The harsh reality for thousands of factory farmed animals is that they spend nearly all of their lives condemned in small cages and uncertainty conditions. I strongly believe that all factories need rules and regulations in order to ban the cruel confinement and treatment given to farm animals for profit. Instead, factory farms can apply more responsible practices when handling animals and can provide them with an adequate amount of space to grow and thrive." 

      Kristil Mejia  
" There is a quote from Paul McCartney that I strongly agree with,.." if slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarian." ...it wasn't until I went vegan that I truly understood the cruelty animals endure in factory farms. I now believe that an act of cruelty to an animal should be viewed and taken as seriously as a act of cruelty towards a human being."

                                    What you can do to help!

                        • Go vegan! Stop eating animals and animal products.
                        • Ask restaurants to serve more vegan and to remove veal from their menus.
                        • Ask supermarkets to carry more vegan products.
                        • Support downed animal protection legislation and legislation that abolishes battery cages,
                           veal crates, force-feeding, and intensive-confinement systems.
                        • Educate others about the cruelty involved in factory farming.

                       Animal Welfare Act

The Animal Welfare Act was signed into law in 1966. It is the only Federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers. Other laws, policies, and guidelines may include additional species coverage or specifications for animal care and use, but all refer to the Animal Welfare Act as the minimum acceptable standard. The Act is enforced by USDA, APHIS, Animal Care. 

https://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/animal-welfare-act 

http://visionlaunch.com/pros-and-cons-of-genetically-modified-animals/#

http://www.lcanimal.org/index.php/campaigns/other-issues/factory-farming

https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/