BUT YOU TRY NOT TO THINK ABOUT IT
Unfortunately as we get older, we are methodically drawn away from our connection to other animals, and conditioned to turn a blind eye to their suffering. Living in an anthropocentric world, we are trained to find various excuses for the exploitation of animals and are constantly assured of our inherent superiority to all other beings. As a result of this problematic mentality, most wild animals have been hunted to extinction and those that remain, are doomed to suffer the horrific consequences of the Anthropocene.
Though it is true that the ever – growing presence of humans has affected the lives of all living beings, those suffering the most devastating consequences of our greed are farmed animals, who are raised and kept in frightening conditions for the sole purpose of becoming someone’s supper.
However, as much as we try to ignore the ugly truth of our consumer choices, or how desperate we are to convince ourselves of our inherent superiority and the subsequent right it gives us to erase the value of the lives of other animals, the truth remains that we are directly responsible for the suffering of trillions of sentient animals who are tortured through every life stage and eventually brutally killed while their loved – ones watch in terror, waiting for their turn to enter the kill – floor.
It is time we take a look at the life of the victims…
Chickens
Approximately 68.790.000.000 slaughtered worldwide per year
Source/2018 https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/animals-slaughtered-for-meat
Chickens are subjected to more torturous conditions than most, if not all other farmed animals. They are stacked in tiny wire cages, or placed under large tents by the thousands, a condition usually mislabeled as “free – range”. Their entire lives are spent in a miserable, unhealthy setting, where they have no access to the outdoors and most never get to see the light of day. Many of these animals spend years unable to move.
As a result of this, chickens often develop a very aggressive behavior toward one – another, causing serious injuries. To avoid this outcome, most farmers de-beak their chickens, without the use of anesthetic.
These unlucky birds spend their short lives trapped and unable to stretch their wings, or forage for food. Their cages are so small that they cause wounds that never heal, while their feet often merge with the wires, a process that causes them excruciating pain. The animals barely cling to life, surrounded by their own feces and urine and unable to engage in any of their natural behaviors.
Those who are lucky, or unlucky enough to survive, are sent to the slaughterhouse, where they are hung upside down and killed (sometimes ineffectively), while fully conscious.
The fate of egg – laying hens is no different. They too spend their lives in cages so tight that they are unable to turn around, and are soon killed because their spent bodies are unable to keep up with production standards. As for male chicks who are useless to the industry, they ground up alive only a few hours after hatching and usually turned into minced meat, or used to make pet food.