Violence, terror and starvation are the only things that chickens, turkeys and hens, involved in
industrial farming, are forced to sustain throughout their whole lives. 90% of birds have broken bones
before slaughter. Of ten billion animals, killed by humans, six billion chickens are killed after nine
weeks of life. 20% of egg-laying hens die of stress or disease from the inhumane conditions. Turkeys
are given less than three feet of room in their environment. These birds are continuously manipulated
not only by the antibiotics but also by the workers themselves who kill the animals for entertainment
and as another way to satisfy meat and egg sales by terrorizing and shocking them into another laying
cycle.
Chickens are probably the most abused animals on the planet. They are crammed in filthy sheds
among their own excrements with less than half a square foot per bird while turkeys have less than three
square feet per bird. Chickens and turkeys die even before slaughter because of starvation, disease and
heart attacks from overwhelming stress caused by growing so rapidly from the antibiotics to promote
growth that they can’t take their own weight. They have their
beaks cut off to not peck other birds, which is extremely painful,
because many nerves are in the beck. Turkeys also have their
toenails chipped off. The farmers beat the birds for no real
reason in the sheds. Turkeys are also manipulated to have large
breasts for meat. Turkeys reproduce by artificial insemination,
which is the process of injecting semen into the vagina or uterus
other than by sexual intercourse. Half a billion turkeys hatch
every day in the US by these means.
Five to Eleven egg-laying hens are crowded into a 14-inch square wired cage of 300 million in the
warehouses. The hens can’t move, open wings and cannot fulfill their normal behavior patterns and
social needs. They suffer from severe
feather loss, bruises and abrasions from
rubbing against the wired cages. Their
beaks are also cut off. It takes 34 hours in
those conditions to make a single egg. If
the birds don’t lay eggs any more, before
their slaughter weight the workers shock
them into another laying cycle. Their
bodies are severely taxed with the duty of
laying 250 eggs per year. The hens suffer
from the “fatty liver syndrome” which
occurs when the liver cells accumulate too
much fat for protein for the yolk of the egg,
“cage layer fatigue” when their bodies become too weak to pass another egg and from loss of calcium
used for the egg shells. After one year they are sent to slaughterhouse, grinded alive and end up in lowgrade chicken meat products or in animal feed usually to hide bruising from buyers. When male chicks
don’t grow fast enough or large enough to be raised profitably for meat they are discarded crushed by
the weight of others or they are simply grinded alive.
The PETA campaigns McCruelty and Kentucky Fried Cruelty have finally revealed from
undercover investigations the terrible practices that the farmers inflict on chickens every day in
McDonalds’ and KFC’s slaughter houses. The chickens are firstly treated without care and as a result
they always end up with extreme injuries. The birds are ripped apart, the workers spit tobacco into their
eyes, they spray paint their faces and throw them against the walls. McDonalds refuses to eliminate
these practices. These methods would be considered illegal if towards dogs, cats, pig, cows and many
other animals. More than 850 million chickens that end up in KFC’s buckets each year are abused.
When the birds arrive at the
slaughterhouses they are taken out
of the crates in which they were
stuffed while being transported in
trucks, where they sometimes die of
starvation, and are hung by feet in
shackles on a moving rail. They
process thousands of birds per hour. Workers don’t mind the birds that fall
and leave them there to suffer. The machines sometimes crush the birds. The first station is the stunning
tank, which is where the bird’s heads are submerged into an electrified bath of water. Some birds are
immobilized, but are still capable of feeling pain from low current. Then a mechanical blade slits their
throats, but some are missed. The next stage is a tank where the birds are again submerged in boiling hot
water. Between 10% of the birds which die
during molt, those which live lose 25% of
their weight or more. The birds missed by
the killing blade are boiled alive. This
situation affects millions of birds each year.
Lastly their feathers, organs and parts in
excess are removed and they are sent to the
meat packinghouses.
There are many campaigns, which have an objective of making people vegetarian, but that is not
the point. The issue is not whether to become vegetarian or not. The issue is to eliminate the cruelty
predominant in industrial farming. Cruelty to living things is not only morally wrong but is also
dishonest to the consumers, because the truth is hidden from us. Further more, the conditions described
in this article make it clear that the resulting product, that may contain bruised bird meat or grinded
organs and bones, is unhealthy for human consumption.
Bibliography:
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Support Our Campaigns-PETA and Animal Rights- www.peta.org
Meet Your Meat- www.meat.org
Why KFC- www.kentukyfriedcruelty.com/w-whykfc.asp
The History of McDonald’s Cruelty- www.mccruelty.com/why.aspx
Humane Eating and the Tree R’s- www.hsus.org/farm/humaneeating/rrr.html
Factory Farming-Meat- www.animalcruelty.com/asfastfacts.html
Laying Hens- www.farmsanctuay.org/issues/factoryfarming/eggs/
Factory Poultry Production-www.farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/poultry/
Poultry- www.mercyforanimals.org/poultry.asp
Image of KFC PETA Campaign Logo- www.kentukyfriedcruelty.com/wwhykfc.asp
 Image of McCruelty logo- Images of Maltreated Chicken and Turkeywww.mccruelty.com/why.aspx
 Image of Hens in Cageshttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Industrial-Chicken-Coop.JPG
 Image of Chickens Crowded in Shedhttp://www.jehovahjirehfarm.com/CAFO_broiler_photo.jpg