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| Factory farming, money is always more important then the condition of the animals.
Factory farming is one of the worst forms of animal abuse in these day's society. Every year millions of animals live and die in miserable circumstances. These animals are being abused, to make as much profit as possible, against as low as possible costs. Chickens who are only allowed 1 hour rest, the rest of the day they need to eat to get fat, so they can by sold as quickly as possible. Many pigs see sunlight for the first time when they are loaded into the trucks to go to the slaughterhouse. In spit of the fact that their stables have windows, also many cows have to spent their entire lives in a stable till it is time to transport them. The housing of these animals is often that small that they can nearly or not lie down or move. Besides that, these animals are also stuffed with al kinds of chemical drugs, with will get into your body when you eat this meat. |
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Different ways to keep chickens.
The pictures you see above, show that there are different ways to keep chickens.
Why is this a bad industrie?
To feed all of these animals a lot of third world countries grow food to feed our animals. This way poverty and hunger will maintain in these countries until they use the ground to grow food for themselves. Also because of the use of large amounts of anti-biotic. This medicine comes very handy to farmers because it stimulates the grow of the animals, as well as it works against viruses. It has many advantages accept for the chance that viruses become resistant. That can become very bad if you get a virus infection and you need antibiotics. Consuming this meat can be a danger to your health. Don't forget the large amounts of manure that comes from these animals, that is polluting our environment. Don't forget about the unnecessary killing of animals who are not of use for this industry. For example: dolphins who drown if they are caught in the nets of the tunny fishers. A big thing is also the threatening of the normal existence of certain animal species. For example the Japanese fishing fleets. They fish at such a brutal way, that the ecological system is destroyed completely.
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Different animals, the same pain.
One the pictures above you can see that it makes no difference what kind of animal you are. You will get your share of pain...
Transportation is hell.
It's logic, that also the transportation of these animals is a hell. Chickens on their way to the slaughterhouse are brutally forced into small cradles. Often they break their legs and wings this way. Next the cradles are being put on top of each other, and transported on a open truck. The catching and the transportation is just too much for many animals. They die on the way to the slaughterhouse of their injuries or because of stress. Cows and pigs are often days on the road to other countries in these circumstances.
Cruelty Most Fowl.
In 1991, PETA investigated foie gras production at Commonwealth Enterprises located in the Catskills of New York. Despite Commonwealth's many prior claims that it made foie gras without force-feeding the ducks, PETA's investigators observed and documented the following: Three times a day, workers entered small duck pens in a factory-farm building. The ducks, knowing what was coming, struggled to get as far away from the men as possible. The workers grabbed the ducks one at a time, held them down, forced open their bills, and shoved a long metal pipe down their throats all the way to their stomachs. They then squeezed a lever attached to the pipe, and an air-driven pump forced a third of the day's six-to-seven pounds of corn mixture into each duck's stomach.
Each worker was expected to force-feed 500 birds three times a day. So many ducks died when their stomachs burst from overfeeding that workers who killed fewer than 50 of "their" 500 received bonuses. After four weeks of force-feeding, the ducks were slaughtered, their livers six to twelve times normal size -- pale, blotchy melon-sized messes instead of small, firm, healthy organs. A worker told one of PETA's investigators that he could feel tumor-like lumps, caused by force-feeding, in some ducks' throats. One duck had a maggot-covered neck wound so severe that water spilled out of it when he drank. Workers routinely carried ducks by their necks, causing them to choke and defecate in distress.
Foie gras is sold as a "delicacy" which, until Commonwealth was established, was not obtainable "fresh" in the U.S.--only as processed pâté de foie gras--because of import restrictions. Only male ducks are used for foie gras--they produce larger livers and are considered better able to withstand the four weeks of torture. Female hatchlings are treated as trash--literally. Commonwealth workers were observed stuffing a nylon feed sack with female ducklings, tying the bag at the top, and dropping it into a trash can filled with scalding water. Workers killed the surviving ones by smashing their heads against the trash can.
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Cruelty Charges Against Commonwealth.
Based on PETA investigators' evidence, eyewitness accounts, and veterinarians' statements, New York state police raided Commonwealth in April 1992. The company was charged with cruelty to animals. Sadly, the district attorney later gave in to pressure by agriculture groups, withdrew the criminal charges, and persuaded a judge to seal the case file so the proceedings which led to the dismissal would remain secret.
What the Experts Say.
Veterinarians who viewed PETA investigators' video footage and read their log notes said such force-feeding would damage the pharynx and esophagus so severely that ducks would not be able to eat on their own after a short period; there is a high chance of infection from using the same pipe on so many ducks without cleanings; and food is likely to enter the lungs, causing pneumonia. One veterinarian who accompanied police on their raid of Commonwealth Enterprises said, "All of the ducks [in the force-feeding area] exhibited signs of illness. Many of those ducks were unable to walk or stand. [Some] exhibited ... bill deformities." Another stated, "[Force-feeding] can injure the mouth and esophagus. ... The birds appear to be ill; their eyes are dull and their feathers unkempt." A third veterinarian who accompanied police noted that "none [of the ducks] was attempting to preen. Only severely stressed or ill ducks allow their plumage to deteriorate to the degree seen in this videotape." A New York state wildlife pathologist who examined ducks from Commonwealth said, "If this kind of thing was happening to dogs, it would be stopped immediately." He expressed horror at their "greatly enlarged livers, the product of overfeeding by force (livers are easily torn by even minor trauma)," and at one duck's "laceration of the liver with hemorrhage into the body cavity. This type of treatment and farming of waterfowl is outside the acceptable norms of agriculture and sane treatment of animals." Many New York veterinarians signed a statement that foie gras production should be outlawed because foie gras is nothing but the serious liver disease hepatic lipidosis: "Animals in this condition would feel extremely ill .... Foie gras production, by definition, constitutes clear-cut animal cruelty."
Nobel Prize-winning goose expert Konrad Lorenz was asked to read to the European Parliament a report promoting the foie gras industry. Lorenz refused, saying he felt "hot with anger" as he read the report. "My viewpoint towards the 'expert opinion' which further permits forcible fattening of geese ... can be expressed briefly: The 'expert opinion' is a shame for the whole of Europe."
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Pâté de Folly.
Foie gras and pâté de foie gras can make people fat and sick like the unfortunate birds tortured to produce it. Foie gras gets 85 percent of its calories from fat--more than twice as much as a hamburger! Cardiologist David T. Nash has pointed out, "This fat is mostly palmitic acid, a saturated fat known to increase cholesterol." De-Livering. Following PETA's exposé, activists organized protests at restaurants that serve foie gras, and PETA sent information to hundreds of restaurants in the U.S. and Canada. Many, including the San Francisco Hilton, Chicago's Pump Room, and New York's Loews hotel chain, have removed foie gras from their menus. Air Canada and Scandinavian airline SAS have both agreed to stop serving foie gras, and American Airlines agreed to stop selling it in its duty-free catalogue. Echoing the sentiments of many of the restaurateurs who received PETA's information on foie gras, George Dareos, owner of La Louisiane restaurant in San Antonio, Texas wrote: "I cannot thank you enough for providing this information to me. . . . It is simply appalling! I am discontinuing any further purchasing of [foie gras] immediately." Possibly because of the scandal of force-feeding, Commonwealth became part of the foie gras company AGY Corporation, which also does business as Hudson Valley Foie Gras, New York State Foie Gras, and Ferme de Gourmande, D'Artagnan.
Legislation Introduced.
Since 1993, New York state legislators have introduced bills that would prohibit force-feeding for foie gras production. The powerful farm lobby opposes the legislation, and as this fact sheet goes to print, the Senate and Assembly Committees on Agriculture have been unwilling to hold open hearings on cruel force-feeding.
Animal Lovers Unite.
On April 4, 1995, PETA sent a letter co-signed by 223 animal protection groups to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), which has authority to enforce New York's anti-cruelty laws. The letter urged the ASPCA to investigate and prosecute the New York foie gras producers, pointing out that New York law prohibits torturing or unjustifiably injuring animals and furthering any act of cruelty to animals. As of this writing, PETA has no word on how the ASPCA plans to act on this information, but we are hopeful they will opt to enforce the law to its fullest extent.
What can you do to help?
Of course we of Animal Frontline would rather see all of you becoming vegetarians ;)) (if you aren't already). But we realize that there are still people, who enjoy eating meat. How ever, if you do eat meat, you can also help out to end the suffering by:
Movie's and pictures.
*Warning! Some movies can be very shokking!