Role Of Factory Farming In Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals

688 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Animal cruelty in farms

97% of 10 billion animals are killed each year in factory farming. Factory Farming started in 1926 when a farmer received a delivery of 450 chickens, which was more than what she ordered. Instead of sending the extra chickens back, the farmer decided to keep the chickens in an indoor facility through the winter, and the chickens survived. In the next ten years her amount of chickens went up to 250,000. In California, a farm kept close to one million chickens in one place, but the farm soon had to destroy them due to disease of the closely confined chickens. So began the road to Factory Farming. In Jonathan Safran Foer’s book, "Eating Animals," he links how chickens are treated in factory farming by telling a story about someone stuck in …show more content…

The number one most talked about subject of factory farming is the cruelty, but there is not enough people are doing something about it. Animals in factory farms live in very confined spaces, and they also spend most of their lives in dim lighting, which makes them go blind. Every day, employees inflect mindless cruelty to the animals because of the fast pace processing line. For example, chickens are confined in wire cages with a maximum of 8 1/2" by 11" of space, which is as big as this peace of paper, and they have their beaks,which is one of the most sensitive part of a chicken, cut and seared to prevent cannibalism. This shows the cruel living conditions chickens have to live in. The way that factory farms handles the animals is …show more content…

The deadly fumes and low pay alone would keep a lot of Americans from picking a factory farming job. That is why most factory farms hire illegal immigrants that need a job to support a family. The dangers are more than just dealing with live animals in the fast pace processing line with sharp tools, but there is a threat to the employees mental health. For example, mindlessly destroying animals can take a toll on someone's mind. Either the employee needs to not feel empathy, or the employee would become violent or depressed. This is why the working conditions are

Show More
Related

  • How Do We Farm If We Must?: Analysis With Peter Singer's Down on the Factory Farm and Stanley Curtis's The Case for Intensive Farming of Food Animals

    2210 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Factory Farming In Frankenstein

    1934 Words  | 4 Pages

    When it comes to the pros and cons of factory farming, according to a non-profit organization called Farm Sanctuary, the cons definitely outweigh the pros. Food production in the United States today is dominated by factory farms, and their treatment of animals has been downright abusive. The usual farm consists of small, hugely overpopulated living spaces for the animals, and they are considered commodities to get more money rather than a living animal. Almost all of the animals undergo extreme amounts of mutilation at the hands of the farm workers and they usually cause chronic and/or extreme amounts of pain to the animals because they are usually done without any form of pain relief for the animals. All of this abuse towards the animals is all so the farmers can maximize the output of the products they get from the animals, and the animals’ bodies cannot support the overgrowth and they usually form painful, debilitating deformities from it. The areas in and around these large farms are generally extremely polluted from the extreme

    Read More

  • Meat Eating: On Eating Animals by Namit Arora

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the article, “On Eating Animals,” Namit Arora explains that for much of our settled history--and even today in parts of the world--most people lived in close proximity to farm animals. Animals fertilized our crops, shared our labors, and nourished our bodies, helping us enlarge our settled communities.” (Arora). Animals were once like a family member. People would tend to their animal’s needs and make sure they were well taken care of just like any other member of the family. We would give them names, show them at county fairs and make sure their living conditions were comfortable and as sanitary as possible. Further on in “on Eating Animals,” Arora explains that “In the twentieth century, the inexorable logic of modern economics and the assembly line turned farm animals into number-tagged bodies to be fattened, disinfected, and processed as quickly and cheaply as possible.” (Arora) This led to the factory farming of animal products that we still use today. The ASPCA defines factory farming as, “…a large, industrial operation that raises large numbers of animals for food.” They co...

    Read More

  • Factory Farming in the U.S.

    624 Words  | 2 Pages

    Factory farming has changed drastically over past 6 decades. We often believe that our food comes from a peaceful, happy farm, but in reality farm animals are put through misery on a daily basis. Regardless of whether it is an independent farm or contracted farm, livestock is mistreated and then harvested for meat or dairy production. The way production animals are treated on factory farms should change for the safety of the animals and the people who consume them.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Factory Farms

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Factory Farm Cause And Effect Essay

    1428 Words  | 3 Pages

    Animals trapped in factory farms are severely abused and tortured from birth to death. Chickens sometimes will be starved for up to 2 weeks and given no water to shock their bodies into moulting, chickens and hens will have their beaks removed to prevent fighting between other animals. Pigs will get their tails cut off to stop other pigs biting them off. These cruel procedures are done to minimise as few of animals dying as possible so more product can be created by the farmer. Within factory farms, animals are abused with overuse of antibiotics to prevent disease and maximise their body growth to create a higher yield of product. According to Animal Rights Action, 2 out of 3 farms are now factory farmed worldwide and factory farming is only increasing this is leading to more animals being raised for slaughter, abused and tortured, mentally and physically. This is not fair. How would you feel losing your child minutes after it's born? As within factory farms, female cows get their calves are taken away from them within minutes they are born never to be seen again. This leaves these poor female cows depressed which causes them to lose weight and because of this are slaughtered as farmers want to maximise their yield of

    Read More

  • Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation: The Reality of Fast Food Meat

    3163 Words  | 7 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • Factory Farming

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • Factory Farming

    1338 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poultry is by far the number one meat consumed in America; it is versatile, relatively inexpensive compared to other meats, and most importantly it can be found in every grocery store through out the United States. All of those factors are made possible because of factory farming. Factory farming is the reason why consumers are able to purchase low-priced poultry in their local supermarket and also the reason why chickens and other animals are being seen as profit rather than living, breathing beings. So what is exactly is factory farming? According to Ben Macintyre, a writer and columnist of The Times, a British newspaper and a former chicken farm worker, he summed up the goal of any factory farm “... to produce the maximum quantity of edible meat, as fast and as cheaply as possible, regardless of quality, cruelty or hygiene” ( Macintyre, 2009). Factory farmers do not care about the safety of the consumers nor the safety of the chicken, all the industrial farmers have in mind are how fast they can turn a baby chick into a slaughter size chicken and how to make their chicken big and plumped. Factory farming is not only a health hazard to the well-being of the animals, but the environment, and human beings ;thus free range and sustainable farming need to be put into practice.

    Read More

  • Essay On Factory Farming

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    Factory farms have portrayed cruelty to animals in a way that is horrific; unfortunately the public often does not see what really goes on inside these “farms.” In order to understand the conditions present in these factory farms, it must first be examined what the animals in these factory farms are eating. Some of the ingredients commonly used in feeding the animals inside factory farms include the following: animal byproducts, plastic, drugs and chemicals, excessive grains, and meat from members of the same species. (Adams, 2007) These animals are tortured and used for purely slaughter in order to be fed on. Typically large numbers of animals are kept in closed and tight confinements, having only little room to move around, if even that. These confinements can lead to suffocation and death and is not rare. Evidence fr...

    Read More

  • Animal Abuse In The Food Industry

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Animal Liberation by Peter Singer

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Factory Farming: Cruelty to Animals." People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Web. 29 April. 2014.

    Read More

  • Factory Farming Should Be Banned

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    The animals do not even have space to move for their life. Living life only to be tortured and slaughtered alive is a really horrible thing to experience for the animals. It is obvious that factory farming should be banned. They use antibiotics on the animals and produce harmful meats to eat. Furthermore, they contribute a lot to pollution and cause health problems.

    Read More

  • The Environmental Effects Of Eating Meat

    1335 Words  | 3 Pages

    The animals that are raised in factory farms, and the farms are ran just like any other business. According to the article Factory Framing, Misery of Animals, the factory farming industry strives to maximize output while minimizing cost, always at the animal’s expense. “The giant corporations that run most factory farms have found that they can make more money by squeezing as many animals as possible into tiny spaces, even though many of the animals die from disease or infection” (Factory Farming). This is actually quit disgusting that we eat food that walks around in each other’s feces and can attract disease. These animals live a life of abuse, but we sit back and say it’s okay because we will eventually eat them. “Antibiotics are used to make animals grow faster and to keep them alive in the unsanitary conditions. Research shows that factory farms widespread use of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria that threatens human health” (Factory Farming). These animals aren’t treated with proper care and we act as if they are machines. Chickens for example, become so big and distorted that their legs can longer support them. Eventually they die because they can longer walk to get food or water. According to Factory Farming, most of these animals have been genetically manipulated to grow larger and to produce more eggs and milk than they naturally

    Read More

  • Examples Of Persuasive Speech To Prevent Animal Cruelty

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... individuals may understand and spread the word of the horrific conditions the animals are forced to be a part of on factory farms.

    Read More

More about Role Of Factory Farming In Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals

Open Document