What do you consider to be the worst form
of animal abuse in food production?
Leslie
Dear Leslie,
To me, the point of comparing the levels of cruelty suffered by
animals in different factory farms is to sense where the points
of entry are in terms of awakening the public to these abuses.
It has been the treatment of veal calves that has been most widely
recognized by the American public for its cruelty in recent years.
This is why the consumption of veal has dropped 62% in this country
in the last decade.
I think the form of factory farming most likely to be next recognized
by the American public for its cruelty involves what is done to
pigs. The females, who can weigh up to 600 pounds, spend most of
their three or four years of adult life housed in metal crates that
are only two feet wide - barely larger than the size of their own
bodies. The cages are so small compared to the pigs' size that the
animals are almost completely immobilized. The only time the pigs
are given more spacious accommodations is when they are nursing,
and then they are kept in metal crates that are only slightly wider.
The pigs in these cages spend most of their time displaying symptoms
of extreme boredom and severe frustration, such as biting the bars
in front of them and chewing without food. Standing on concrete
or metal slats, they can not turn around for many months at a time,
and never set foot on (much less root in) the earth.
This form of pork production is standard operation procedure in
the United States. It is the norm.
The European Union, however, is close to adopting legislation that
would ban the practice of keeping pigs in crates. And in Florida,
animal welfare groups are already collecting signatures to place
a similar statewide ban on the use of these crates on next year's
ballot, as the kickoff for a national campaign.
Let's hope they succeed. And let's do more than hope. Let's do what
we can to awaken people to see the cruelty in their bacon and pork
chops, so that this immense misery need not continue. The vast majority
of people who eat these products are unconscious of the conditions
suffered by the animals. The more we can expose the actual realities
of the situation, the more public awareness will develop - and the
more the demand will increase for a change in the way food is produced
and in the way animals are treated.
People don't want misery on their menus. They just don't know that's
what's there. It's time to lift the veil.
