Mistreatment of Animals in Factory Farms

Nearly 10 billion animals are factory farmed each year. Living in inhumane conditions, tail and beaks cut off, deformed, drugged, over stressed, sitting in waste filled rooms. Living with eye damage, blindness, bacterial infections of bones, slipped vertebrae, paralysis, respiratory diseases, internal bleeding, anemia, slipped tendons, twisted legs and necks, and weakened immune system are just some of the long time problems these animals face on a daily basis.

According to a poll done by ASPCA 94% of Americans agree that animals raised for food deserve to live free from cruelty and abuse.

What is a factory farm? ASPCA says factory farms are  large, industrial operations that raise large numbers of animals for food. Over 99% of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in factory farms, which focus on profit and efficiency at the expense of animal welfare.

The factory farming industry aims to maximize the output and minimize cost. Finding that squeezing as many animals to a small confided space as possible makes that goal easier to achieve. Major sources for animal suffering in these farms are caused by cages and overcrowding, physical alterations, like teeth-clipping or tail-docking, performed without anesthetic, indoor confinement with poor air quality and unnatural light patterns, inability to engage in natural behaviors, breeding for fast growth or high yields of meat, milk and eggs that compromises animal welfare, neglect of sick and suffering animals, often due to high ratio of animals to workers, misuse of antibiotics to compensate for unsanitary conditions, and lastly rough or abusive handling by workers.

As we can’t change the need for milk, eggs, and meat we can change how these animals are treated. To learn more about factory farming and the treatment of these animals or if you just want to help go to ASPCA.org and Peta.org.

Image courtesy of ASPCA