"At Issue" - The first step in learning to live with wildlife is to understand that animals are instinctively driven to satisfy their 4 basics of life; territory, shelter, food & water. Find out more about ways to discourage wildlife away from our attics and back into the wild ....
May is International Respect for Chickens Month. NAfA is celebrating chickens everywhere by hosting events and arranging displays at local libraries. Following is some information regarding chickens being raised for food:
Human Health
Many people who are concerned about their own health having been switching from eating beef to eating chicken. Please consider the following facts first:
98 percent of chicken carcasses are contaminated with E. coli bacteria by the time they reach the market, largely because of the filthy conditions where chickens are raised. (Motavalli)
On factory farms, chickens are fed large quantities of antibiotics to keep them alive in conditions that would otherwise kill them. Chickens are given nearly four times more antibiotics than human beings or cattle in the USA. (Rich Hayes, "Antibiotics Overused in Chickens", The Baltimore Sun, July 23, 2001)
About 70 percent of the calories in eggs are from fat, mostly saturated fat, and eggs are full of cholesterol (213mg/egg).
Eggs are a leading cause of Salmonella food poisoning. (Taken from Stick up for Chickens - Go Vegan, United Poultry Concerns, Inc.)
Replacing whole eggs with egg-whites doubles the number of eggs used, increasing the number of hens in captivity.
The Environment
*Global Warming *Overexploited *Depletion of Natural Resources *Deforestation *Wasted Land *Water and Air Pollution
The most serious environmental problems of our time are all directly linked to eating meat.
About 800 million people on the planet now suffer from hunger or malnutrition, yet the majority of corn and soy grown in the world feeds cattle, pigs and chickens. (Mark Bittman, The New York Times, January 27, 2008)
Waste run-off from farms irrevocably damages water quality and is a major environmental concern.
Chicken manure is often used as fertilizer for crops, and when it rains excessive nitrogen and phosphorus are washed into nearby bodies of water.
Outbreaks of harmful bacteria in some geographical areas are thought be the result of polluted water conditions caused by waste run-off from chicken farms. (Answers.com/chickens)
"Free Range"
"Free range" conveys a positive image of animals living a natural life outdoors. Life for chickens on a "free range" farm is similar to life on a factory farm.
Hens are painfully de-beaked at the hatchery.
Although chickens can live active lives for 7 to 15 years, at the end of a year or two are transported to a slaughter plant, live poultry market or live animal auction.
At egg production plants, unwanted male chicks are suffocated to death or ground up alive shortly after hatching.
Typically, 2000 or more "free range" hens - each hen having only 1 to 2 square feet of floor space are confined to a shed without access to the outdoors.
Confinement, Transport and Slaughter
98 percent of eggs in Canada come from hens confined to tiny wire battery cages where each hen has less space than a letter-sized sheet of paper.
Such inhumane living conditions prevent battery chickens from performing basic behaviours, such as walking, spreading their wings, preening feathers, perching, dust bathing, and laying eggs in a nest.
Naturally, chickens are frustrated from living in such distressing conditions, resulting in an industry that condones painful de-beaking of chicks to prevent pecking aggression and cannibalism.
Jammed inside coops, chickens may travel inside transport vehicles up to 36 hours to their final destination - slaughter.
During transport chickens are exposed to extreme weather conditions like heat, wind, rain, sleet and snow without ever having access to food or water.
At the slaughterhouse chickens are roughly removed from their coops and hung upside down by their legs on a conveyor belt which transports them first to an electricity bath and then to the knife that slits their throats.
Chickens are killed at such an incredible rate of speed that errors often occur and every year millions of chickens are transported along the conveyor to a vat of boiling water (that will condition their skin for the easy removal of their feathers) still alive and conscious.
What You Can Do
You can be the change you want to see in the world!
Go vegan: With more delicious, easy-to-prepare vegan products showing up on grocery shelves every day, it's now easier than ever to switch to a diet free from animal products. Educate yourself: Contact Niagara Action for Animals for more information on the lives of farmed animals. Ask us about our monthly vegan potlucks! Educate others: Talk to your friends and family about how badly chickens and other farmed animals are treated, and urge everyone to join you in making a better life for the animals.
Links
Check out these incredible organizations working diligently to improve the lives of animals being raised for food:
