Animal Welfare in American Farming Practices
As a human, we possess certain rights that protect us in society, however the animals we raise for food live under a much more complicated system that constantly changes. Americans have recently begun to protest animal treatment, especially in the meat industry. Many animal rights groups claim that animal farming is an inhuman practice that violates the rights of all living creatures. Farmers believe that animal right shouldn't change as any changes could cost them millions in new technology to safely care for the animals. The American farming industry poses several moral issues about animal rights which possess no easy solution, however new alternatives appear to have answers for this growing dilemma.
America focuses heavily on its livestock and crops earning us a major role in global trade as a farming nation. Unfortunately this has led to some poor choices in treatment of our animals. Many farmers who believe in animal rights say that it started back when farmers only tended to fewer animals, “Ownership of farm animals became concentrated in fewer hands, and flocks and herds grew larger. As a result, the individuality of animals was lost to their owners and they began receding from most people's everyday life” (Namit 29). When people lost their connection to the animals that provided their food, the quality of the animal's lives began to dramatically decrease. Consumers constantly pushed farmers to their limits with high quotas. To keep up with demands agriculturalists turned to some unorthodox practices to keep costs low and still maintain their annual quotas; “To raise efficiency and cut costs, farm animals began to be engineered for abnormally rapid weight gain, fed unnatu...
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... concept. An animal cannot follow our rules of morality, “Perhaps most crucially, what other species can be held morally accontable” (Scully 44). As a race humans must be humane to those that cannot grasp the concept. Animals do not posess human rights but they posess the right to welfare and proper treatment by their handlers.
The moral responsibilities of America's agricultural industry is an issue that posess no current solution. The only current solutions are the creation of cheap synthetic meat or a change of how Americans veiw animal morality. Synthetic meat only appears as a distant solution on the horizon. The only current solution to animal morality is a change in how we veiw animals. They posess no ablilty to be moral so it falls upon humans as the intellegant race to be humane to animals and treat them with kindeness we bestow upon other humans.
The modern fight for animal rights has been geared toward factory farms and the removal of animal testing and ag-gag laws. Protection for test animals and farm animals has become an important focus for many animal rights groups including ASPCA. The end of uncomfortable and inhumane treatment of animals is still a fight thousands are fighting
Factory farming is often a sore spot for American and other first world consciences. Even those that are ethically comfortable with consumption of animal products are often discomfited by the large-scale maltreatment of living creatures that is present in contemporary agribusiness. Writings that are similar to Peter Singer's “Down on the Factory Farm”, which depicts the multitude of unnatural horrors and abuses that billions of farm animals undergo before they are ultimately slaughtered for our use, make up the majority of the commentary on the subject. There seem to be few writers with the audacity to dispute the popular outcry that there is something morally reprehensible in our systematic exploitation of other species. Yet, as Stanley Curtis shows in “The Case for Intensive Farming of Food Animals”, a less emotionally charged examination is likely to be necessary if we have any aspirations of revising the current model into one that is not only more humane, but also sustainable for the environment and for the growing human population. Though our sympathies are immediately swayed by Singer's work, we must remain cognisant that, as Singer himself said, “We can't take our feelings as moral data, immune from rational criticism” (The Lives of Animals 89). Though Curtis's work seems at times overly cold in its utilitarian views, it provides an undoubtedly useful contrast to the call-to-arms of Singer's work. Evaluating them in tandem is likely the best approach to deriving a model that placates our moral dissatisfaction while meeting the requirements set forth by reality.
Throughout the last century the concern of animals being treated as just a product has become a growing argument. Some believe that animals are equal to the human and should be treated with the same respect. There are many though that laugh at that thought, and continue to put the perfectly roasted turkey on the table each year. Gary Steiner is the author of the article “Animal, Vegetable, Miserable”, that was published in the New York Times right before Thanksgiving in 2009. He believes the use of animals as a benefit to human beings is inhumane and murderous. Gary Steiner’s argument for these animal’s rights is very compelling and convincing to a great extent.
Animal rights are practically non-existent in many different ways today. Factory farming is probably the worst thing they can do to the poor helpless animals. Factory farming effects chickens, cows, pigs, and many other animals that are used for food, milk and eggs. One of the biggest organizations against factory farming is called Compassion Over Killing (COK). They go to great lengths to protest and inform people about animal cruelty.
America’s habitual complacency coexists with its lack of inquisitiveness. People used to know where their food came from because they asked. They knew the country, state, and most likely the farm as well. Currently, society is so far removed from the entire food process that their knowledge of its origin is limited to the grocery store it came from. This disconnection not only creates a lack of appreciation for the source, but a lack of interest in conditions, treatment, and final product too. People’s common “ignorance is bliss” attitude has led to animals’ torturous inhumane treatment, slaughter, and conditions. They are also pumped full of a plethora of preemptive drugs intended to sustain their lives without a physician’s attention.
Over the past few decades, small and medium sized farms have been taken over by large-scale factory farms. These farms house billions of animals used for consumption each year. The conditions on factory farms are filthy, overcrowded and disease ridden. Animals forced to live out their lives on these farms are subject to extremely harsh conditions, such as mutilation, confinement and living spaces piled high with feces. Not only do conditions on factory farms make life for livestock absolutely miserable, but factory farms are also negatively impacting human health and the environment. The production and sale of meat has become a billion-dollar industry based upon the bloodshed of other sentient beings. With this being the case, at the very least, factory farms need to be properly regulated and companies involved need to be held accountable for their abuse.
As can be seen throughout history with events such as the industrial revolution, a desire for high production and high profits often times leads to conditions that are unsafe and inhumane. Today we have realized this and made many reforms to abolish this kind of callous behavior, yet these reforms have not been extended to apply to the animals that are daily abused at factory farms. In order for these operations to have the high amount of output they do they must train their workers to desensitize themselves to the plight of the animals. At a typical slaughterhouse approximately 250 cows are killed every hour, this rush forces workers to shift their view of the animals to become mere objects of production, and in effect promotes inhumane treatment to force cooperation (Factory Farming: The Truth From Behind The Barn Door).
Every year millions of animals are abused, injured, and hurt. It seems as if humans are not very concerned about animal rights according to these statistics.. Animal rights is the idea that animals should not have to suffer and be able to be in possession of their life. Some people are willing to sacrifice things such as certain brands of makeup or certain kinds of food to improve animal welfare. For many years animals have been experimented on and placed in factory farms. Factory farming is a method of producing food products where the factories value how much they produce and how much they profit over the welfare of the animals. These farms keep animals confined in small spaces and make the animals eat things they were not originally
Each year, 10 billion animals, not including fish, are raised and killed each year for food, but did you know that an overwhelming 99% of them are raised and killed on factory farms? A factory farm is a place where animals are packed into spaces so tight that they can hardly move. They are forced into cages so small that the animals can’t even turn around. Many of these animals have no access to the outdoors and they spend most of their lives in cages or pens. This type of treatment can cause severe and mental distress. Many would agree that this type of treatment is animal cruelty, but why are there so few laws to protect these animals? Every year, animals raised for meat, dairy and egg industries are among the most abused in the United States. Many of the abusive tactics used on farm animals would be illegal to do to dogs or cats. These farm animals are inhumanly slaughtered, tortured and killed. In some cases before these animals get to the slaughter house they suffer brutally cruel treatment that has been legal for the most part. One of these practices is of shoving a pipe down the throat of a duck or goose to force feed the animal several times a day. One example of the abuse that goes on inside these factory farms is a practice called 'debeaking'. It is a process that involves cutting or burning through bone, cartilage and soft tissue to remove the upper beak of chickens, turkeys, and ducks. These animals are not even given anesthetics. These farm animals are also deprived of exercise so that all their bodies’ energy goes toward producing flesh, eggs, or milk for human consumption, fed drugs to fatten them and keep them alive in conditions that w...
Factory farming began in the 1920s soon after the discovery of vitamins A and D. Shirley Leung said, when these vitamins are added to feed, animals no longer require exercise and sunlight for growth (B2). This allowed large numbers of animals to be raised indoors year-round. The greatest problem that was faced in raising these animals indoors was the spread of disease, which was fought against in the 1940s with the development of antibiotics. Farmers found they could increase productivity and reduce the operating costs by using machines and assembly-line techniques. Unfortunately, this trend of mass production has resulted in incredible pain and suffering for the animals. Animals today raised on factory farms have had their genes manipulated and pumped full of antibiotics, hormones, and other chemicals to encourage high productivity. In the fast food industry, animals are not considered animals at all; “they are food producing machines” (BBC). They are confined to small cages with metal bars, ammonia-filled air and artificial lighting or no lighting at all. They are subjected to horrible mutilations: beak searing, tail docking, ear cutting and castration. The worst thing is that ...
Like many other industries, the farming industry has evolved into big business, “Animals on factory farms are regarded as commodities to be exploited for profit.” In each industry from clothing to instruments, the bosses want to make a profit. The more they can supply with the least amount of waste, the more profit they make. The same goes for factory farming. However instead of humans being the ones directly affected by big bosses, the animals are. They don’t have a voice, and can’t stand up for what is right or wrong. These animals are manipulated in every way to make a better profit. Factory farms mass produce animals for ...
Cruelty toward animals, huge economic problems, and major health concerns are just three reasons why factory farming should be banned worldwide. Many people argue that factory farming is the only way to meet growing demands for food in the world today. However, factory farming is just not necessary, especially when it comes down to killing innocent animals in order to feed people. A way to put an end to the factory farming system is by buying our food from smaller, sustainable farms. These businesses still aim to profit from their labor, but that’s not their only objective. (The Issues: Factory Farming, n.d.) They simply will not sacrifice the health of the land or the quality of food simply to make a few extra dollars.
There are many debates around the world about the topic of animal abuse. Animal abuse in the food industry has become a major problem due to the cruel treatment of animals. Most of the world's population might think that animal cruelty is only found in homes and on the street, but they forget about the other forms of animal abuse that affect the food industry. Large contributors to animal abuse are due to fishing methods, animal testing, and slaughterhouses. "Animals have always been a major part of our society in history and they have played huge roles in agriculture" (ASPCA). Factory farming is a system of confining chickens, pigs, and cattle under strictly controlled conditions. Slaughterhouses are places where animals are killed
In the past two decades, the rapidly growing society has come up with new techniques and methods to grow food more efficiently. Today, a shocking 87 percent of the population owns products that are tested on animals or come from companies that promote animal cruelty. Every day in countries around the world, animals are fighting for their lives. They are enslaved, beaten, and kept in chains for entertainment; they are mutilated and stuck in small cages so that we can kill them and eat them; they are blinded, burned, and cut up alive for “science”; they are strangled and skinned alive so that humans around the world can wear fur coats and shoes.
..., economics, and humaneness prefer otherwise. Therefore, Vegetarianism is the first logical step in Animal Rights. If we continue to kill and eat them, then what real recognition of their rights has there been? Another area where their rights are disregarded is in blood-sports, where creatures are hunted and killed for some sake of pleasure -- that terror in the hearts of animals brings warmth to the hearts of men. Vivisection, or experimental torture, is another area. To advance knowledge, they will sacrifice the lives of millions, to die in brutal and heartless tortures. The advancement of humaneness will come with abolition of these cruel and vicious practices. Those of us who work for the progression of the rights of animals and for truly equal rights of conscious beings are bold and ardent in our efforts. For the betterment of our fellow creatures is our cause.