 Hula Paradiso Publications
Inc.
On
traditional family farms, cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens
are almost part of the family. Chances are that each
animal has a name, And when the animal is taken to
slaughter, farm families try to make sure that the
processing is done humanely, causing the animals as
little stress and suffering as possible. The chickens
that provide eggs and the cows that furnish milk, cream
and butter live long and productive
lives.
Farm animals are
turned out in pastures, with access to shelter during inclement
weather. Humane treatment of animals is based on understanding
of their natural behavior. When farm animals are treated with
respect, nature itself is respected. Farmers call this "good
husbandry".
There is a direct
connection between respect for natural animal behavior and
protection of the environment. Animal husbandry practices that
accommodate the natural ways of animals tend to be much more in
tune with sustainable and non-polluting farm
practices.
Today, industrial
style animal raising ignores animal nature and welfare by
standardizing the animals raised to eliminate natural genetic
diversity, by speeding up animal production through genetic
manipulation and the use of chemical and drug additives to
feed, and by concentrating production in giant confinement
barns that crowd animals together in inhumane conditions ripe
for disease. In turn, more drug inputs are needed to keep them
alive. These facilities are actually animal factories. The
water and air pollution associated with animal factories stems
directly from the reducing of animals to units of industrial
production.
-
Millions of
broiler chickens are housed in industrial barns
containing up to 25,000 birds. Birds are bred to have
such heavy breasts that many are unable to stand, and
die of thirst because they are unable to reach
water;
-
Thousands
of dairy cows are confined in concrete encased
feedlots. To artificially boost milk production, cows
are often injected with hormones that cause crippling
loss of bone mass and produce painful infections.
Animals are milked by mechanical devices as many as
three times each day. The farmer/animal connection
ceases to exist in these massive industrial dairy
factories;
-
Hogs are
confined by the thousands in industrial barns which
force them to spend their lives in tight metal pens,
often standing painfully on slated concrete floors,
breathing almost poisonous levels of ammonia and
hydrogen sulfide from the manure stored under their
pens. Hogs are sentient, social creatures that can be
debilitated by stress when deprived of outlets for
their nature behavior. Antibiotics and other artificial
inputs are given, in part, to overcome the physical
symptoms of this stress.
-
Egg laying
hens are confined by the millions in giant industrial
barns, living in tight metal cages, called "battery
cages" stacked one atop another. Hens are forced to
artificially molt (lose their feathers) through
systematic starvation.
-
Huge beef
feedlots in western Kansas, Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma
Panhandle, and eastern Colorado confine thousands of
steers and heifers and feed them hormones and
antibiotics to promote faster growth.
-
The Humane
Slaughter Act, passed in 1960 by the US Congress, has
no provisions for awarding fines or penalties, is
generally not enforced by the US Department of
Agriculture, and is routinely ignored.
WWW.SIERRACLUB.COM
Sierra club @2008
|