Who Goes First?

From: Gluteus Maximus (legion_at_ceaserus.com)
Date: 08/16/04 

Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 13:25:34 +0100

http://www.bluehoney.org/Poultry.htm

Who Goes First?

If you only choose one, drop the poultry, not the beef!

by Michael P. Ryan

Every day in the United States, over 20 million birds[7] are abused,
then cruelly killed, without ever getting the legal recognition as
"animals." This is a serious crime, and one that would easily, with
close examination of the practices, convince a person to go
vegetarian. Many people, when considering going vegetarian for the
first time, automatically opt to eliminate red meat from their diet
over other animals. However, if the person is becoming vegetarian
because they want to reduce the amount of lives they take--a common
animal rights reason--the elimination of beef over poultry products
isn't the right first step.

With a look at the numbers of lives being taken, it quickly become
obvious that it is not the beef that should be the first to go; it
should be the poultry. More than 7.8 billion birds a year are
killed[7] for the human diet, but only 140 million cattle, sheep, and
pigs.[4] In a single year the average American will consume, among
other animals, 1/7 of a cow, 1/3 of a pig, 1 turkey, and 30
chickens.[4,7] Using this consumption rate, if a person eliminated
beef and pork from their diet, it would save, over the course of a
typical lifetime, about 7 cows and 20 pigs, a sure benefit, and a just
reason. However, the elimination of chicken and turkey from that
person's diet would mean many more lives saved, in fact, nearly 2
thousand more. This assumes that the consumption rate of the other
sources of meat are not "accommodated for," and rise. If one
eliminates red meat, but simply replaces it with an equal amount of
chicken--as has been occurring for the last few decades--the number of
lives lost will sky-rocket! In 1995, the average (live) weight of a
slaughtered chicken was 4.67 lbs,[7] and for cattle it was 1,183
lbs.[4] So, for every cow saved by switching from beef to chicken,
more than 200 chickens will die.

Good science has confirmed the common sense belief that birds such as
chickens and turkeys are totally capable of feeling pain. There is no
reason to believe that the pain of a cow is greater than that of a
bird, nor is there any reason to believe one is more important than
the other. Using the same utilitarianism that Peter Singer used in his
book, Animal Liberation, one sees that the numbers of lives involved
necessitate an elimination of poultry first, if a person is going to
eliminate only one thing at a time.

The production of eggs and poultry are undeniably cruel. Most people
realize that the suffering for these animals is definite, but to what
degree, people often have no idea.

Most of the eggs consumed in the United States come from the ever
growing industry of the factory farm. In fact, 98%[6] of the 250
million "layer" hens[1] are raised in standard factory farm battery
cages. There is no roaming, or time with the young, or any of the
traditional farming methods employed at these factories.

Although a chicken's wing span is 32 inches, the battery cages in
which these animals are confined are only 18 inches wide, and often
contain 5-6 chickens. These cages are usually stacked on top of each
other, forming long rows. The farmer's interaction is done through
regulated conveyer belts: some take eggs and excrement away, some
bring food and water. The floors of these cages slope in the direction
of the food and water troughs, and as a result, weaker hens are often
crushed at the bottom.[6]

The resulting stress from this treatment is so much that they have
been known to self mutilate and peck each other to death. The factory
farmers, to alleve this problem, slice their sensitive beaks with hot
irons, rendering it useless. Understandably, the machine that butchers
the face of these animals creates sores that makes even eating and
drinking a painful chore.[3] As if this wasn't disturbing enough, when
egg productivity drops, the factory farmer starves and dehydrates the
hens to initiate a forced molt during which the chickens will shed all
their feathers and loose 30% of their body weight before food is
restored. This leads to a new period of increased egg production.[2]

Currently, the unnatural treatment of these animals, which include
genetic and chemical manipulations, have yielded birds that lay
abnormal numbers of eggs, averaging 250 a year. Compare this with the
one or two clutches of, say a dozen per clutch laid by their wild
counterparts. It is easy to see here why the birds are commonly
plagued with reproductive problems, a result of trying to farm an
animal like a plant, and depriving them of exercise: bits of eggs clog
their oviducts, which in turn become inflamed and paralyzed. Eggs are
formed that are too big to be laid, and uteruses "prolapse," a result
of incessantly pushing abnormally huge eggs through the vagina of
small birds.[2]

Productivity is the name of the game. Because male chickens don't
produce eggs and aren't economical for meat production, egg-producing
companies suffocate or grind alive 280 million male new-born chicks
per year. Hens, bred to be "super layers," remain economically
productive for no more than two years, at which time they are sent to
the slaughter house. Their natural laying span is fifteen to twenty
years.[6] After their (short) lifetime of intensive confinement and
rapid egg production, their bones have become brittle due to
osteoporosis. Some chickens become paralyzed and can no longer feed,
starving to death. For survivors, more bodily harm comes when workers,
driven by efficiency not gentleness, grab hens by any convenient body
part in transfering them from the battery cage to the transport
cage.[2]

Although not raised in small wire cages, poultry raised for meat
suffer some of the same cruelties. Housed in warehouses with tens of
thousands of other birds, instead of flocks of less than 100 which
would occur in the wild, chickens peck at each other, so the farmer
debeaks them.[6] The decades of artificial selection for rapid growth
and excess meat has led to chickens whose legs can't fully support
their extremely over-developed bodies. Consequently, chickens suffer
from chronic joint pain and crippling leg disorders.[5,6] Turkeys have
been bred to the point that they can no longer mate naturally.[5]

Currently, there are no federal welfare laws regulating poultry
raising, transport, or slaughter in the United States, leaving the
fate of these animals totally up to the farmer. For obvious reasons,
the U.S. egg industry is completely opposed to humane slaughter
legislation for poultry. Economics, not compassion, determines how
poultry is treated.

Supporting this industry is supporting mechanized cruelty to animals.
The amount of needless suffering is immeasurable, and is not
compensation for the elimination of red meat from one's diet, or even
second to eliminating beef. Poultry is the biggest problem, taking
many more lives. From the sheer number of the animals used, in both
chicken and beef, the priority, in my mind, rests with the elimination
of poultry from one's diet. Surely the best option is to eliminate all
forms of animal products from one's diet. However, for those just
making the first step to a vegan lifestyle, free of cruelty and
needless suffering, the elimination of poultry (and eggs) should be a
first priority.

 

References:

"Chickens & Eggs," National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS),
Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Jan.
31, 1996.
Karen Davis, "The Battery Hen: Her Life is not for the Birds," United
Poultry Concerns.
Karen Davis, "Debeaking Poultry," United Poultry Concerns.
"Livestock Slaughter," National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Jan. 26, 1996.
"Manifesto for Farm Animals," Compassion in World Farming.
"Poultry and Eggs: Gone Rotten," People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals.
"Poultry Slaughter," National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS),
Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Feb. 2,
1996.

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