Animal Mistreatment and
The Destructive Practices of Factory Farming
Mahshad Ash
When people
generally think about farms and animal agriculture, they picture big, beautiful
grass fields where the animals roam free, where farmers treat their animals
with respect and with a loving hand, and where they are then killed under the
gentlest and least invasive circumstances. The reality of this idea is not only
false, but it is so far from the actuality created due to the demand of animal
products and by-products dictated by the 7 billion humans living on earth. Factory
farming is a large scale and intensive industrial system that rears thousands
of animals such as chickens, turkeys, cows, pigs, lambs, rabbits, and ducks
under strict indoor conditions. These animals are treated with hormones and
antibiotics to prevent disease and create the largest produce output with the absolute
minimum financial input. People have been conditioned to develop a complete
denial of farm animals as living beings with their own needs and nature. People
have been led to develop an ideology that any destruction, sorrow, or decay
caused by factory farming is somehow acceptable because it is how our ancestors
lived and how we are designed to live by nature, or because they wrongfully
think that it is crucial for human wellbeing to ingest animal proteins due to
skillful propaganda and influence beginning at an early age. Factory farming
and modern animal agriculture techniques are detrimental to the environmental
health of our planet concerning food, water, land, emissions, hormones, and
contributes to the horrific and sickening mistreatment of farm animals conducted
all around the world.
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Water Crisis
First of all, animal agriculture
consumes copious quantities of fresh drinking water: one of the most crucial
and limited resources required to sustain all life on Earth. Water scarcity is the lack of abundant available water resources to meet water demands within a region. It affects around 2.8
billion people around the world at least one month out of every year, and more
than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
The production of meat, especially cows, wastes an immense amount
of water. It takes 1000 gallons of water to produce just a single gallon of
milk. According to PETA, it takes 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1
pound of beef, which is the equivalent of about four hamburgers. The dissipation
of this practice wastes approximately 50 full bathtubs of water, and the amount
of water used to produce the quantity of meat and dairy that one person
consumes in a year is the equivalent of taking 17 showers a day, or 6190
showers in the year. Raising animals for food takes up half of all water used in the
United States, and more water could be saved by not eating a pound of meat rather
than if the average person did not shower for six months.
Meanwhile,
it takes 500 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of black beans, which comes
to ten bathtubs full of water. According to the Huffington Post, beans
only use 5 gallons of water per gram of protein produced, whereas beef uses
29.6 gallons of water per gram of protein produced. Besides the fact that black
beans waste less water during growth, they also contain just as much protein as
beef in a 100g serving. Not only does animal agriculture waste enormous amounts
of water, but the Environmental Protection Agency also reported the practice to
be the biggest water polluter due to fecal matter being dumped in our
waterways. Animal agriculture is a harmful industry that jeopardizes the future
of our species as fresh water becomes more and more scarce within our planet
due to irresponsible and unnatural farming practices.
Land and Emissions
Furthermore, the planet is facing deforestation leading to threatened
amount of natural land, as well as substantial amounts of methane and carbon
dioxide emissions due to factory farms which are polluting the air and the
oceans.
According to PETA, about seven football fields of land are bulldozed
worldwide every minute to create more room for farmed animals. In the year of 2004
to 2005, 2.9 million acres of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil were destroyed
in order to grow crops to feed animals on factory farms, and more than 90
percent of the Amazon rain forest that has been cleared is used for meat
production. If the food produced for animals was fed to human beings instead, we
wouldn’t need to grow nearly as many crops, and we could eliminate the need to
decimate the rain forest.
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According to COWSPIRACY,
animal flatulence makes up 20 percent of U.S. methane-gas emissions, and 51
percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture. In
fact, a 2008 study concluded that a meat-eater’s diet is responsible for more
than seven times as much greenhouse-gas emissions as a vegan’s diet.
It takes more than
11 times as much fossil fuel to make one calorie from animal protein as it does
to make one calorie from plant protein. Of all raw materials and fossil fuels
used in the U.S., more than one-third are devoted to raising animals for food. Animal
agriculture is a leading source of carbon-dioxide, nitrous-oxide, and methane
emissions, the top three greenhouse gasses.
If every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and ate vegan
food instead, it would be the equivalent to taking 500,000 cars off the road. The
University of Chicago found that going vegan is more effective in fighting
climate change than switching from a standard car to a hybrid. The National
Audubon Society, the Worldwatch Institute, the Sierra Club, the Union of
Concerned Scientists, the United Nations, and Al Gore’s Live Earth say that
raising animals for food damages the environment more than any other practice
in the world, and that a global shift toward a vegan diet is necessary to
combat the worst effects of climate change and to be able to grow crops to feed
the anticipated 9 billion people alive in 2050.
Ethics and Hormones
Thereafter, farm animals are treated awfully by factory farm workers
who have no regard for the mental, emotional, or physical well-being of these
sentient beings, and are treated with growth hormones that alter the welfare of
the animal as well as the consumer. Two out of three farm animals in the world are now factory farmed. Worldwide,
about 70 billion farm animals are now reared for food each year.
In
farming practices, more money is produced for chickens with enlarged thighs and
breasts. As a result, the animals are bred to be so heavy that their bones
cannot support their weight, where consequently, their legs often break. A typical supermarket chicken today
contains more than twice the fat, and about a third less protein than 40 years
ago due to unnatural and cheap farming practices. Other animals are injected
with hormones in order to increase their money-oriented value. In 2011, there were 8,481 tons of antibiotics
sold for use on livestock in the EU, which is the equivalent to the weight of
706 double-decker buses.
According to The LCA, chickens are raised in such overcrowded
enclosures that they become aggressive. To stop them from fighting with one
another, their beaks and toes are cut off without anesthetic. Some starve to
death after being de-beaked. Five to eight of them are crammed into 14 square
inch cages: cages so small that the birds cannot even spread their wings. The
floors of layer hens' cages are made of extremely uncomfortable wire which
chafes their skin, rips out some of their feathers, bruises their bodies, and
deforms their feet. Layer hens' bones are so brittle that they often shatter during
handling. Approximately one in five die of stress and disease. In the industry,
newborn chicks are placed on a conveyor belt where a worker picks each one up
to see if it is male or female. Newborn males are placed in trash bags and
suffocated, decapitated, gassed, crushed, or ground up alive because they are
non-profitable to the industry.
With the demand of beef, cows, like all farm
animals, are treated as commodities. Beef cattle live
in holding pens where they are forced to eat and sleep in their own excrement.
They are given growth hormones and, because the air is so full of bacteria,
many contract respiratory disease. Cattle
are castrated and de-horned without anesthetic. Dairy cows live in crowded
pens or barns with concrete floors. Milking machines often cut them and cause
other injuries. Some give them electrical shocks which cause extreme pain and
even death. Dairy cows are forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would
produce in nature. As a result, they experience numerous health problems. After
dairy cows give birth, their calves are immediately separated from them – a
practice which causes cows great grief – they can be heard bawling for their
young for weeks at a time. They are then milked repeatedly for the fluid meant
for their calf. Baby calves live in small wooden crates; some are chained. They
cannot turn around or even stretch their legs. The floors of their stalls are
slatted, causing them severe joint pain. Since their mother's milk is taken for
human consumption, calves are fed a milk substitute deficient in iron and
fiber. They are deliberately kept anemic and their muscles are withered so that
their flesh will be pale and tender. Water is often withheld from them. Some
are killed when they are only a few days old to be sold as low grade veal for
frozen dinners. The rest are slaughtered when they are 16 weeks old; they are
frequently too sick or crippled to walk. Ten percent of veal cows die in
confinement. They never see the sun, touch the Earth, or taste the grass.
Pigs are known to be very smart animals. They
are smarter than cats and dogs, and are extremely capable of forming emotional
connections of love, sadness, and fear. In order to maximize profits, female
pigs are continually kept pregnant by being strapped to a "rape"
table. After being impregnated, sows are placed in 18 to 24-inch-wide pens or
metal gestation crates. There is barely enough room for them to stand up, lie
down, walk, or turn around. Straw is considered too expensive, so they are forced
to lie on hard floors which cause crippling leg disorders. Sometimes they are
tied to the floor by a chain or strap. After giving birth, sows are only
permitted to nurse their newborns for two to three weeks, as opposed to the 17
weeks they would naturally spend. The piglets are then taken away to be
fattened up. By that time, approximately 15% of the newborns will have died. They are then placed in overcrowded pens with floors made of wire
mesh, metal, fiberglass, or concrete. The stress and disorder of such intense
confinement drives some pigs to cannibalism. They are slaughtered at six months
of age for their meat. It is evident that all vestiges of emotion, wellbeing,
freedom, and love – like the most basic relations of intimacy such as breast
feeding between mother and young – are stripped from farm animals due to the
high demand of animal products and by products for one simple reason: human
desire.
Factory farming and the ignorance produced by
those contributing to the harmful practice of animal agriculture shows the success
behind propaganda that is achieved by stripping all true connections associated
between humans and animals and replacing it with the desire for taste,
convenience, and normality. By destroying all aspects of respect between humans
and animals and taking the freedom of farm animals for the production of milk
and meat, industry owners use hormones, clear cut forests, and manipulate
copious amounts of the world’s food and water resources in order to create the
largest product output with the most minimal financial input – doing all of this
while stripping the emotional and physical well being of these innocent
creatures. Although the reality of the exploitation of living beings through
this despicable system is harsh and terrifying, ending this horrendous and
abusive cycle is absolutely crucial to the survival of our planet, and human righteousness
as a whole. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “the greatness of a
nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”.
When people think of the
neutralization of the human mind, they generally do not realize the reality of
the disinformation put in place by the animal agriculture industry. We realize
after reflecting upon ‘Got Milk’ commercials that we are not baby calves in
need of breast milk. After realizing that we do
not need animal protein to remain healthy, we comprehend that we were feasting
on the tortured flesh of the voiceless. In the world today, vegetarianism and
veganism is a growing lifestyle that directly opposes this harmful industry. Veganism,
although it is constantly expanding, is persistently being generalized and insulted
by those who are too scared of change. The world will not change if the minds
of the masses disregard important issues within the world and continue their
harmful habits with the excuse of wanting comfort and ease. I think there's a mythology that if you want to end the suffering of
a population, you have to be sainted, like Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela or Mahatma
Gandhi. Ordinary people with lives that go up and down and around in circles
can still contribute to change. Ordinary people can stand up and say no to
what is wrong. It is not your right – based on your traditions, your customs,
and your habits – to deny animals of their freedom so you can torture them,
enslave them and kill them. It is not your right – based on craving or impulse
– to strip future generations of water, food, health, and clean air. That is not
what rights are about. That is not what humanity stands for.
References
11 Facts About
Animals and Factory Farms. (2015, March 10). Retrieved May 11, 2016, from
https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-animals-and-factory-farms
2011 Vegetarian
and Vegan Stats. (2011, December 2). Retrieved May 11, 2016, from
http://www.peta.org/living/food/2011-vegetarian-vegan-stats/
Anderson, K.,
& Kuhn, K. (2014, June 26). Facts and Sources - COWSPIRACY. Retrieved May
11, 2016, from http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
Boehrer, K. (2015,
April 13). This Is How Much Water It Takes To Make Your Favorite Foods.
Retrieved May 11, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/food-water-footprint_n_5952862.html
Danali, E. (2015,
November 4). Less meat, better for everyone - Greenpeace. Retrieved May 11,
2016, from http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/food-for-life-eat-less-meat-who/blog/54640/
Factory Farming.
(2016). Retrieved May 11, 2016, from
http://www.lcanimal.org/index.php/campaigns/other-issues/factory-farming
Mind-Shattering
Facts Linking Factory Farming to Climate Change. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11,
2016, from http://www.peta.org/features/meat-climate-change/
The 10 smartest
animals. (2010). Retrieved May 11, 2016, from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24628983/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/smartest-animals/#.VzOu8PkrLIU
