Is it Worth It?
Is it Worth Killing Animals for Food and Products?
Chickens Raised for Food
About nine billion chickens are raised and killed for meat each year. The industry refers to these chickens as “broilers” and raises them in huge, ammonia-filled, windowless sheds where artificial lighting to make birds eat as often as possible. They feed the chickens growth hormones to make the breasts larger. 285 million chickens are raised for eggs in the U.S., and they spend their lives in battery cages, stacked in a huge warehouse. Millions of day-old male chickens are killed every year because they are worthless to the egg industry. Once at the slaughterhouse, the birds are dumped from their crates and hung upside down, further injuring their legs, which are often broken. Their throats are CUT open by machines, and they are put in SCALDING-hot water for feather removal. They are often conscious throughout the entire process. Because chickens bones are so brittle from egg production that the electric current would cause them to shatter, chickens often are not even stunned before their throats are cut.
Cow Cruelty
Cows are crammed onto trucks where they go without food, water, or rest for the duration of the journey, which can sometimes be days. Many cows collapse in hot weather; in the cold, cows sometimes freeze to the sides of the truck until workers pry them off with crowbars. These animals who arrive at the slaughterhouse healthy enough to walk, many are frightened and don't want to leave the truck, so they are shocked with electric prods or dragged off with chains and shot in the middle of the head to kill the brain. Most cows hides are covered in manure when they enter the slaughterhouse making meat susseptible to bacteria and disease.