Once upon a time in the land that should be make-believe there lived a pig. This pig didn’t have a name, but I’m going to call him Fluffy. One day Fluffy the Pig ended his fetus days and was born into this dark world. Unfortunately for Fluffy, he was born on a factory farm. Soon the king of the farm chopped off Fluffy’s tail. We’ll call this king Mr. Psycho. When Fluffy the Pig was about two weeks old, Mr. Psycho kidnapped him and stuck him into a pen with concrete floors and metal bars. The pen was so overcrowded with the other pigs that Fluffy couldn’t even move. The environment he was in was the most unsanitary place and all the pigs had respiratory problems from inhaling the toxic air. After six months of living in this discusting plca,e Fluffy met Mr. Psycho again. Mr. Psycho took a rope and tied it around Fluffy’s neck. He dragged Fluffy to the slaughterhouse and put him in a tiny barred in cubicle so Fluffy could watch his other pig friends get murdered by Mr. Psycho. Now it was Fluffy’s turn. Mr. Psycho took Fluffy out from his prison and hung him by his feet. Fluffy kicked and struggled. Mr. Psycho’s plan to stun Fluffy unconscious was unsuccessful. Fluffy was just too smart for Mr. Psycho. As a punishment for his intelligence, Mr. Psycho let Fluffy down and took him to the second slaughterhouse. There he boiled Fluffy alive. Mr. Psycho got paid lots of money for this. He used all the money for himself and thought nothing of the animals he raised.
Do you believe Fluffy the Pig was treated fairly? This story is an example of what pigs and other farm animals go through on factory farms.
When a piglet is born, the farmer cuts off his tail to lessen tail biting. He takes notches from the pig’s ears for identification. Because the farmer doesn’t want to spend the money, he’ll give nothing for the pain. The pigs are taken from their mother when they are two weeks old. They are put into overcrowded pens which are filled with dust and noxious gases. Over half of the pigs develop various respiratory diseases. They often get swine arthritis from damage from the floors, fath growing rates, and lack of exercise. The female pigs are forced to have over 20 piglets per year. They are put into small pens whi are only 2 feet wide during their pregnancy. They are put into crates to give birth. They have no room to stand or lie down and they suffer from soars on their shoulders. The unnatural floors and not enough exercise causes obesity and legs crippling. The pig is slaughtered when she can no longer breed.
The farmer could care less about these diseases and mutilations that the pigs have. It’s cheaper to ignore them.
After six months a pig who isn’t used for breeding, is sent to the slaughterhouse. They are hung upside down by their hind legs and stunned unconscious. The worker sticks a knife in the pig’s neck and the pig bleeds to death. If that doesn’t work out, the pig will be boiled alive.
Hens are packed into a cage that is sixteen inches wide with four hens per cage. They suffer from severe feather loss and bruises from rubbing against the wire cages. All egg laying hens have their beaks cut off. This involves cutting through bone, cartilage, and tissue and is very painful for the hen. There is nothing given for the pain because it is cheaper.
The hens lay over 250 eggs per year. Many die from egg bound, when their bodies are too weak to lay another egg. Many hens can not get enough calcium for themselves which results in broken bones and death.
After a year, the hens are sent to be slaughtered. Often their bones are shattered during handling from their lack of calcium. The farmers could care less about this lack of calcium that hens have, it’s cheaper.
Many male chicks are killed at the hatchery because they don’t grow fast enough or large enough for profit. They are thrown into trash cans where they suffocate or are crushed to death. Another way to get rid of them is by grinding them up alive. It’s inexpensive to kill chicks in an inhumane way.
Modern dairy cows produce 100 pounds of milk a day, ten times more than what they would naturally produce. The cows are constantly under stress. Half of the dairy cows in America suffer from a bacterial infection in their udders (mastitis). They suffer from other various diseases along with that. That farmers don’t try to treat the diseases or prevent them. It saves them money.
Bovine growth hormone is now being injected into cows to get them to make more milk which harms the cows even moe and increases the birth defects in their calves.
Beef cattle are often unprotected from the weather. Many of them freeze to death or dehydrate. A lot of the cattle get a cancer (“cancer eye”) that eats away the cattle’s eye and face, creating a crater in the cattle’s head. Farmers ignore this serious and painful disease because it is cheaper.
For identification, rancher will burn the cattle’s skin or waddling, which involves cutting chunks from the skin that hangs under the neck. They are given nothing for the pain because it is cheaper.
Eventually the cattle is sent to the slaughterhouse where it is hung by the back legs. The cattle is stunned by a mechanical blow in the head. The animal will be cut in the throat whether they are unconscious or not.
The chickens are given less than a square foot of space and the turkeys are given less than three square feet. All of the birds have their beaks cut off. The turkeys have their toes clipped. They are given nothing to kill the pain because it is cheaper.
The chickens and turkeys grow faster than their heart and lungs and they are not developed well enough to support the rest of the body which causes heart failure and death. The farmer makes more money when the birds grow faster.
After six weeks the birds are taken to the slaughterhouse. They are hung by their feet on a moving rail. To stun them, their heads are dunked into electicfying water and then their throats are cut by a mechanical blade. If the blade misses, the bird is boiled alive.
A lot of sea life is caught in nets. The unwanted fish that have been caught are thrown back into the water usually dead or half dead. Farm-raised fish are put into overcrowded tanks which cause fish to get diseases or suffocate. When the fish reach the right weight, they are put on an oxygenated tanker truck and suffocate.
Do you think the animals are treated humanely on factory farms? Should farmers spend more money to prevent diseases and give more space for the animals? Just because they’re going to die anyway, doesn’t mean they should have to suffer living a miserable and torturous life. It isn’t fair to the animals. Would the farmers want to be treated like that? I don’t think so. So why to the treat the animals so cruelly? They treat them worse than how they treated slaves. It is nearly the 21st century. It’s about time factory farmers realize the animals they are raising are not inanimate objects. They are living, breathing things just like people and the farmers should treat them how they would want to be treated. They treat them worse than like dirt.