Factory Farming
Essay by review • November 2, 2010 • Essay • 594 Words (3 Pages) • 1,355 Views
Animal rights are practically non-existent in many different ways today. Factory farming is probably the worst thing they can do to the poor helpless animals. Factory farming effects chickens, cows, pigs, and many other animals that are used for food, milk and eggs. One of the biggest organizations against factory farming is called Compassion Over Killing (COK). They go to great lengths to protest and inform people about animal cruelty.
Chickens have to endure suffering that no living thing should have to go through. The egg laying chickens have to be forced into tiny cages without enough room to stretch their wings. Up to 8 hens are crammed in to a cage that is the size of a folded newspaper, about 11"-14". Stress from the confinement leads to severe feather loss so the chicken will be almost completely bald in the cold cages. When the chickens are of egg-laying age, there beaks are cut off without any pain killers to ease the pain, they do this so the chickens don't break their own eggs and eat them because the chickens are hungry.
Broiler chickens, luckily for them, only live up to 7 weeks old until they are big enough to be slaughtered. Their life starts out in incubator trays with hundreds and thousands of other chicks without enough head room to stand up, and not enough room to take 2 tiny steps. So for the first week of their lives it goes from cramp trays, to cramp boxes, to getting dumped onto the filthy floors of the factory farm. They don't clean the floors from the past chickens either. As the chickens grow the walking space gets smaller and tighter for the chickens. The chickens are selectively bred and are given special drugs in the food and water to make the chickens grow incredibly fast. Because of the breeding and drugs, a lot of the chickens develop leg problems which make is sometimes impossible to walk and stand so they either can't get to the food or they can't reach the water. Also, because of the ammonia in the feces, the chickens often get the skin on their stomachs burnt because the ammonia is so strong and will just sear the feathers and skin. The ammonia is also in the air so it is hard to breath and just think of what is in the chicken that you eat on a daily basis. When the chickens turn 7 weeks old, they are transported to the slaughter house and are hung by their feet and on conveyor
belts and they go past a blade that is supposed to slit the chickens throat while conscious
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