In the next few minutes you will be given an eye-opening look behind the closed doors of modern farms, hatcheries and slaughter plants revealing the journey that animals make from farm to fridge.
For nearly their entire four month pregnancies mother sows are locked in narrow metal stalls barely larger than their own bodies. Many of the animals develop open sores and scratches. Workers often kick, hit and yell at pigs to move them.
Soon after birth piglets are castrated by workers who cut into their skin and rip out their testicles. Next the workers chop off their tails. Both of these painful procedures are nearly always done without anesthesia. Many animals die from botched mutilations.
Piglets who become sick or injured or who are not growing quickly enough are killed.common killing methods include throwing animals into bins and painfully gassing them with carbon dioxide. Others are killed by being slammed headfirst into the ground.
At a factory farm in Ohio workers killed injured sows by hanging them on a forklift until they were slowly strangled to death, a practice defended by the pork industry.
In the next few minutes, you will be given an eye-opening look behind the closed doors of modern farms, hatcheries, and slaughter plants; revealing the journey that animals make from farm to fridge.
For nearly their entire four-month pregnancies, mother sows are locked in narrow metal stalls barely larger than their own bodies. Many of the animals develop open sores and scratches. Workers often kick, hit, and yell at pigs to move them. Soon after birth, piglets are castrated by workers who cut into their skin and rip out their testicles. Next, the workers chop off their tails. Both of these painful procedures are nearly always done without anesthesia. Many animals die from botched mutilations. Piglets who become sick or injured, or who are not growing quickly enough, are killed.
Common killing methods include throwing animals into bins and painfully gassing them with carbon dioxide. Others are killed by being slammed, headfirst, into the ground. At a factory farm in Ohio, workers killed injured sows by hanging them on a forklift to be slowly strangled to death; a practice defended by the pork industry.
Pigs raised for meat typically live only five to six months, a mere fraction of their natural lifespan, in over-crowded pens, like this. Workers tattoo the animals with ID numbers, by hitting them with metal spiked mallets.
Once pigs have reached market weight, they are sent to slaughter, they are hit in the head with a steel rod, hung upside down, and have their throats slit. Improper stunning condemns many pigs to having their throats slit while they are fully conscious, and suffering. Others are even scalded alive, in the hair-removal tanks.
From the moment they hatch, the egg industry subjects chicks to horrors few of us can even imagine. At the hatchery, workers quickly and roughly sort the males from the females. Because male chicks don't lay eggs, and don't grow quickly enough to be raised profitably for meat, they are killed within hours after hatching. Male chicks are typically thrown into giant grinding machines while still alive. This practice is deemed "standard" and "acceptable" by the egg industry. Another killing method is to drop male chicks into trashbags to be smothered, or suffocated. More than 200 million unwanted, male chicks are killed on their first day of life, each year in the United States. The females have it even worse, destined for a life of prolonged cruelty. To reduce pecking, induced by overcrowded living conditions, workers use a hot blade or laser to remove part of the chicks' beaks. This mutilation can cause both acute, and chronic, pain. After de-beaking, the birds are moved to cages where they will spend the rest of their lives. Nearly 95% of egg-laying hens spend their lives confined in tiny, wire cages, like this. Most birds never see sunlight or breath fresh air. They are packed so tightly they cannot even spread their wings, walk, or turn around without pushing other birds aside. The harsh and unrelenting environment of the cage takes its toll, often leading to severe feather loss, open wounds, and birds trapped in cagewire. For many hens, the stressful confinement is too much, leading to premature death.
Undercover investigations of egg farms from coast to coast have revealed a culture of cruelty and neglect, including workers stomping on birds; throwing live hens on dead-piles and trashcans; and painfully mangling birds' spines in botched attempts to break their necks.
At one or two years of age, when a hen's egg production begins to decline, she is violently ripped from her cage. Workers often fling the birds into metal carts, where they are painfully suffocated with carbon dioxide.
Crowded by the thousands into filthy sheds, chickens and turkeys are denied many of their most natural behaviors and needs, such as fresh air and exercise. Through genetic selection, chickens and turkeys raised for meat have been bred to grow so large, so quickly that many suffer crippling leg disorders, chronic joint pain, and fatal heart attacks. Sick or injured birds often have their necks broken. Others are clubbed to death. Those who reach market weight are thrown into transport crates and loaded onto trucks bound for slaughter plants. Handling is often violent, and frequently causes bruises, broken bones, and other injuries. At the slaughter plant, the birds are dumped from their crates, then roughly snapped upside-down into moving shackles, by their fragile legs. From there, the birds are dragged through an electrified vat of water, which renders them paralyzed, but not necessarily unconscious. They are then pulled across a blade, which slices their throats, causing blood to pour from their necks.
Some of the birds, who miss the blade, have their throats slit or their heads ripped off by a backup killer. Other birds are drowned and scalded in the tanks of hot water, designed to loosen the birds' feathers.
Cows produce milk for the same reason that humans do: to nourish their young. But calves on dairy farms are dragged away from their mothers and violently killed. All so that humans can have the milk instead. The majority of today's dairy cows are confined on factory farms. Some spend almost their entire lives standing on concrete floors. Others are crammed into massive mud lots. Workers subject young cows to painful mutilations and amputations. Here, a worker cuts off a cows tail, slicing through her sensitive skin, nerves, and bone without any pain killers. Another routine practice is de-horning; burning into the calves' skulls to remove their budding horns. Pain killers are rarely used.
2010 undercover investigation at a dairy farm in Ohio revealed a farm worker stabbing cows with pitchforks, beating them in the head with crowbars, and punching baby calves. Injury and illness often run rampant in these disease-ridden factory farm environments. The cows too injured or sick to stand are called "downers" and are often left to slowly suffer and die from their injuries.
At a fraction of their natural lifespan, the so-called "spent" dairy cows are prodded onto transport trucks, and shipped to slaughter houses.
An undercover investigation at a slaughter house in California revealed "downed" dairy cows being kicked, shot, pushed with forklifts, and water-hosed in the mouth and nostrils, in an effort to get them to the kill-floor.
Most cattle raised for beef endure several mutilations without painkillers, including castration and hot-iron branding. Most spend the last few months of their lives in overcrowded feed lots, standing in their own wastes. Unreliable stunning practices at the slaughterhouse condemn many cattle to having their throats cut, their limbs hacked off while still alive and conscious. Undercover investigations at Kosher slaughterhouses throughout the United States documented the routine practice of cutting open the throats of fully aware and alert cattle.
Fish, and other sea animals, are sensitive, intelligent creatures who have a demonstrated capacity to suffer pain. Massive trawling nets indiscriminately drag hundreds of tons of fish and other animals along the ocean floor. As they are dragged up from the ocean depths, the fish undergo excruciatingly painful decompression. The extreme changes in pressure can rupture their swim bladders and pop out their eyes. They are then tossed on board, where the surviving fish either suffocate or are crushed to death. Others are still alive when they are hacked apart on these floating slaughterhouses. Untold millions of dolphins, turtles, and other non-target aquatic animals are also killed by ocean trawler nets each year. Today, approximately one in five fish consumed, worldwide, is raised in captivity. Like factory-farmed animals on land, farm-raised fish are crowded by the tens of thousands in small, disease and excrement-ridden areas their entire lives. When fish reach market weight they are loaded onto tanker trucks and shipped to slaughter, where common killing methods include slow suffocation.
Farmed animals are every bit as intelligent, curious, and capable of feeling pain and suffering as the dogs and cats that many of us know and love.
If you are at all moved by this film, please do your part. Make a commitment today to explore a vegan diet; it could be one of the best decisions of your life. By withdrawing our support of this cruel and violent system, we can put our ethics on the table and make a statement for a kinder and more compassionate society for all animals.
For delicious vegan recipes, nutrition information, and tips on making the transition to a plant-based diet, please visit chooseveg.com.
