Chickens are intelligent and social animals who, like us, feel pain and suffering; and also, like us, want to live free and enjoy their lives.
Despite the hens’ innocence, the egg industry treats these gentle animals worse than our penal system treats convicted murderers and rapists. Hens are locked in overcrowded, tiny, filthy cages called “battery cages,” unable to freely spread their wings or turn around. Part of their beaks are painfully cut off. Injuries go untreated, causing them to languish in agony. And when their egg production declines, they are sent to a grisly death. So I ask, how badly do we really need cheap eggs? Read the rest of this entry »
Hillside Animal Sanctuary conducted an undercover investigation of “humanely” raised ducks at a farm in England. This farm has met the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ humane standards, and is allowed to label their meats with the RSPCA’s “Freedom Food” seal of approval. This label is supposed to ensure that the animals had a good life and were treated humanely.
Were the ducks given a good life? According to the investigators’ report:
We filmed shed after shed where literally THOUSANDS of ducks existed in
unimaginable conditions.
The stench of ammonia enveloped hundreds of crippled, blind, injured and dying birds as they were left to linger on for days in the hope that they would draw breath long enough to make it to the slaughter line for that extra bit of profit.
Veterinary surgeon, Amir Kashiv, watched the videos and noted:
Many of the ducks are deformed – especially leg deformities leading to lameness, and many can’t seem able to walk at all – using their wings as crutches which will evidently lead to wing damage too. Other leg lesions and swellings in the limbs are also visible.
One duck is seen dragging a paralysed leg, which seems dislocated and possibly fractured. Other plumage and eye lesions are also visible. Many of the ducks also exhibit signs of nervous system problems: poor balance, can’t right themselves from dorsal recumbancy, apparent blindness.
Watch the video and see for yourself the conditions that “humanely” raised animals endure. Read the rest of this entry »