On Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:10:18 +0100, Geoff
wrote:

http://vanguardpublications.blogspot.com/

PART FOUR - The Birds We Consume

Published September 19, 2006
by Larry Parker



Much of the media's attention has focused recently on the debate
surrounding Chicago's foie gras ban. Most surprising to me in all this
is how such a large number of restaurant owners, chefs, and consumers
seem to be so devoid of compassion for the animals in question.
Spouting pompous phrases concerning their own rights and freedoms,
these self-indulgent people appear to possess a seriously distorted
sense of priority. Their arguments even take on a sinister aspect when
we consider that what's at stake is merely the satisfying of one's
appetite for an unnecessary delicacy.

Up to now, this series has only dealt with the factory farm atrocities
inflicted on mammals (pigs, cows, and calves), and has shown that the
lives these creatures endure can at times exceed our most horrific
imaginings. So much so, that one might easily conclude there could be
no greater degree of animal cruelty still left to be discovered.
Regretfully, however, this is not the case, and even the torments so
far described must take back seat to those of the industry's feathered
populations - the chickens, the ducks, and the geese.



BROILER CHICKENS

Chickens bred for their meat are known as "broiler" or "roaster"
chickens. The cycle of suffering for these creatures begins with their
mothers, referred to as "breeder" chickens. While still very young,
breeder chickens are inducted into life by having their beaks sheared
off with a hot knife, a very painful procedure performed without
anesthesia and oftentimes resulting in disfigurement or chronic
discomfort. Raised in filthy sheds and kept in intensive confinement,
the chickens rarely if ever see the light of day and are never allowed
to engage in natural or instinctive behaviors. Moreover, for their
entire lives they're maintained on a near-starvation diet resulting in
a constant state of anxiety and frustration. The reasoning behind this
is to prevent them from growing too quickly since their flock has been
bred for accelerated growth; and it's the broiler chicken, not the
breeder chicken, which the industry wants to fatten up. So on behalf
of her offspring, the Mother is condemned to a life of deprivation.

No sooner are they hatched then her chicks are likewise met with a
rude awakening. Literally "poured" down mobile sliding ramps by the
thousands, these newborns are crammed together into holding pens to
await their initiation into hell - a painful debeaking, exactly as was
performed on their mothers. The chicks are then crowded together in
long industrial sheds known as "poultry houses" or "grower houses",
where as many as 40,000 birds will co-exist under one roof. Here
they're packed so densely they barely have enough room to walk, and
the resulting stress often causes the chicks to attack one another out
of frustration - hence the debeaking.

Sanitary practices in grower sheds are literally nonexistent. The
chickens spend their entire lives standing in litter that's infested
with their own feces, causing the air to turn thick with the smell of
ammonia, which in turn mixes with an ever present haze of dust and
feathers. Unable to escape this stifling atmosphere, many of the
chickens suffer from bronchitis, cancer, heat prostration, weakened
immune systems, and "ammonia burn" (a painful eye condition oftentimes
resulting in loss of sight). The virulent bacteria known as
salmonella, which causes food poisoning in humans, is also widespread.
In an attempt to keep as many chickens as possible alive in these
disease-ridden conditions, the industry responds in much the same way
as it does with pigs and cows, by simply administering increased
dosages of antibiotics.

But the living conditions in grower houses are only half the story.
Scientifically bred for enhanced tissue growth in the breast and thigh
areas, and with the addition of specialized drugs, the birds rapidly
swell to full proportion, reaching their market weight of 3-1/2 pounds
in just 6 or 7 weeks. The chickens pay the price though as their
heart, lungs, and other organs are unable to keep pace with the
accelerated growth rate. Large numbers of them suffer from congestive
heart failure, gastrointestinal diseases, and chronic respiratory
infections. Furthermore, their legs are unable to support the abnormal
weight gain, commonly resulting in crippling, lameness, and bone
disease. Because of obesity, as many as 90% of broiler chickens are
rendered incapable of walking by the time they're 6 weeks old. Many
die simply because they're unable to reach a water nozzle.

Heart attacks, lung collapse, and crippling leg disorders all
contribute to hundreds of millions of broiler chickens dying every
year before they can even reach slaughter. Those who manage to stay
alive long enough are rounded up after 6 or 7 weeks and literally
thrown or stuffed into small open-air crates for transport to the
slaughterhouse. They're so severely mishandled during this process
that a large number of them suffer from bruises and broken bones. The
crates are then stacked on top of each other and loaded onto the backs
of large transport trucks. Forced to travel for up to 12 hours without
food or water and exposed to the extremes of heat and cold, many more
birds die before reaching their destination. These are the lucky ones!

As poultry is specifically exempted from protections of the federal
Humane Slaughter Act, the chickens, in their final moments, find
themselves facing the prospect of a horrifying and merciless death.
Shackled by their feet, the birds are routed through an assembly-line
station to be electrically stunned and to have their throats sliced.
Both processes are notoriously innefficient, however, and as many as
25% of the birds are delivered to their final stop, the scalding
tanks, while still fully conscious. So after suffering an
unsympathetic existence from the time of their birth, these
unfortunate creatures are finally released from life by being boiled
alive.



EGG-LAYING HENS

Chickens bred for egg production, otherwise known as egg-laying hens
or "layers", comprise a completely different branch of the poultry
industry - one, however, that's no less brutal. To begin with, the
male chicks are unable to lay eggs and therefore offer no substantial
value to the industry. They're killed instantly, either ground into
animal meal or stuffed into plastic bags and left to slowly suffocate
under each other's weight.

The females, on the other hand, begin their lives with the painful
procedure of debeaking. As with broiler chickens, this is done to
counteract aggressive behaviors induced by stress. The birds are then
jammed into tiny wire enclosures known as "battery cages", as many as
4 to 7 chickens occupying a single cage measuring no more than sixteen
inches across. Here they'll spend the remainder of their lives. Unable
to move around or spread their wings, and barely able to stand, the
hens are pressed up against the sides of the cages, resulting in
scratching, bruising, and loss of feathers. No veterinary care is
provided, and the untreated wounds become infected, turning into
festering sores.

The wire floor beneath them is sloped, allowing their eggs to roll
into a collection trough, but causing injury to their feet and
furthermore causing the feet of many chickens to become entangled.
Many more birds have been observed with their heads or wings entangled
in the sides and tops of the cages. Unable to reach food or water,
these unfortunate victims slowly starve to death, and far too often
the carcasses of the dead and dying are simply left in the cages to be
devoured by flies and other insects.

The battery cages are stacked one on top of another and arranged in
long rows, allowing as many as 100,000 or more chickens to be stored
in a single shed. Birds in the lower tiers are constantly showered
with the excrement of those in the upper tiers. Disease is commonplace
in an environment polluted by infectious lesions, rotting corpses, and
the unremoved excrement from tens of thousands of chickens. By way of
solution, the industry once again relies on it's standard remedy of
antibiotics.

Denied the ability to exercise while encouraged into a state of
constant egg production, a large number of hens suffer from
osteoporosis and calcium deficiency. Their bones become weakened and
brittle, resulting in crippling and even more deaths. After about a
year or two of this regimen, the hens are "spent" - physically and
emotionally depleted. But the industry isn't ready to let go just yet.
A procedure referred to as "forced molting" is applied which involves
denying the hens food and water while keeping them in darkness for up
to two weeks, thereby shocking them into one or more additional
egg-laying cycles. The consequences of this are catastrophic to the
birds, as their already exhausted bodies are traumatized even further,
causing 5% to 15% more to die as a result.

Bruised, crippled, diseased, and nearly catatonic, the "spent" hens
are finally shipped to slaughter or to landfills to be buried alive.



FOIE GRAS

Ducks and geese raised for foie gras also live every day of their
lives in misery and are arguably the most tortured and abused of all
the animals on factory farms. Debilled at an early age, the birds are
kept in filthy sheds, either crammed and crowded into small pens, or
worse still, confined in individual cages, deprived of the ability to
walk, turn around, or spread their wings. Sanitation in the sheds is
nonexistent, as the floors are covered in feces and vomit. Just as
tragic, yet not as well publicised, is the fact that ducks require
regular submersion in water to maintain their health, and yet access
to this type of activity simply doesn't exist. Their eyes and mucous
membranes clog with infections, and many are permanently blinded.

But it's the practice of force feeding which constitutes the true
aspiration of cruelty. Two or three times a day workers rotate
throughout the sheds grabbing each of the ducks and jamming a long
metal tube down their throats. Up to a pound of nutritionally
deficient corn mash, about 10% of the bird's total body weight, is
then pumped through the tube directly into their bellies. To grasp the
effect of this, try to imagine a 150 pound man having 15 pounds of
meal forced into him two or even three times a day.

This routine continues for up to 4 weeks, and the impact on the birds
is nothing short of devastating. The most prominent and in fact the
intended result is that their livers become diseased and swell to ten
times normal size. The inflated organ rubs and presses against other
organs of the body causing extreme pain. Breathing becomes laborious
for the birds, while their legs are forced to angle outwards, making
the act of walking nearly impossible. In this crippled state, they're
unable to even groom themselves.

A large percentage of the birds suffer from obesity, pneumonia, blood
toxicity, nerve damage, anal hemorrhaging, bacterial and fungal
infections in the digestive tract, and impaction of undigested food in
the esophagus. Many of them die when their livers become so huge they
literally burst open. Many die from suffocation, as they try to inhale
regurgitated food. Many die because they're unable to defend
themselves from the numerous rats who roam the sheds with impunity.
And as if this weren't enough, many die simply because of
irresponsible workers carelessly puncturing their throats with the
feeding tube.

Finally, after about 4 weeks, the surviving birds are slaughtered, and
their enlarged diseased livers are harvested for the gourmet delicacy
known as foie gras. Bon appetit!

At present there are only two companies responsible for foie gras
production in the United States: Sonoma Foie Gras in California and
Hudson Valley Foie Gras in New York. Landmark legislation enacted by
California in 2004 bans the practice of force-feeding as well as the
sale of foie gras produced from force feeding, thereby ensuring that
Sonomo Foie Gras will soon be out of business. However, the larger of
the two companies, Hudson Valley, is still operating without
restriction, and is responsible for the raising and slaughtering of
400,000 birds per year. But even this is an insignificant amount
compared to the more than 24 million birds killed for foie gras every
year in France, accounting for 75% of the worlds total production.

Numerous European nations have outlawed foie gras production,
including Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, Norway, Finland,
Switzerland, Austria, and Denmark. Israel, once the world's fourth
largest producer, banned foie gras production in 2005. The European
Union, meanwhile, continues to place pressure on France and other
producing nations within it's scope, while moving closer to enacting
legislation which could one day abolish this offensive practice
throughout all of Europe.


Next Time: Where do we go from here?