The Cyberactivist

Now, this is a very rare thing to have happen, so I was glad to see it actually make the news and that charges were filed. Usually these factory farms get away with whatever they want. The most they can expect is a letter and maybe, just maybe a small fine. Which is probably all that will come of this situation too, only the incident got a bit more exposure than usual. But only because someone actually saw chickens being dumped from a conveyer into a trash bin, videotaped it, and reported it. Not because it is uncommon. Not at all. You ought to see some of the things I have seen, much less some of the things I have read about since I became an activist.
If you don't want to wander back through the archives or search for specific information here on my site, check out the extenseive archive of articles I have at my group at Yahoo, which contains articles a full year older than those at the Care2 discussion group. And keep in mind that the stories reported represent only a small fraction of the abuse that happens. These stories only represent the situations where these companies got caught literally red-handed. It's insane the lengths they will go to to save a buck or two. And the last thing on their minds is the welfare of the animals, despite what they say.

I mean, it wasn't long ago (last February to be exact) that a factory farm in California got away with throwing live chickens into a wood chipper! They got away with it simply because the operators of the facility told the authorities that a veterinarian by the name of Gregg Cutler recommended it as a "humane" way of culling chickens. Does that sound at all humane to you?! It sure does not to me. So, why did Cutler say it was?

Well, he denied actually coming out and recommending it, but did admit to discussing it as one way to deal with the problem of a breakout of Newcastle disease in a meeting. Yeah, right. Uh huh.

The fact that he even admits to discussing it as a "humane" and "alternate form of euthanasia" should be a cause for concern, especially as he was sitting on the Animal Welfare committee of the AVMA, who promote themselves as."the leading voice for humane and proper care of animals."

Ummmm. I have to disagree here with them on this. Throwing live chickens willy-nilly into wood chippers is NOT humane! It's atrocious and callous. Needless to say they didn't even make sure that they went in headfirst. Can you imagine too many worse ways to go? My goodness, what is this world coming to when someone on the welfare committeee of an association of veterinarians actually think this is acceptable?! Not to mention the fact that the people reponsible for doing this are so desensitized to suffering that you wouldn't want them living next to you and your kids and companion animals.

I know what it did to my mind to be a part of that kind of violence. I can therefore only imagine and get a feeling for what these people felt as they did this to these poor, defenseles and innocent birds just in order to save a cruel industry. Many of the birds were never even diagnosed with the disease, but just because they were located in the area that was circulating, it was decided that the best course of action was to kill them all. Kind of like what is now going on with the bird flu situation, which I will be discussing soon during this 'thon.

Isn't it amazing what happens in this industry that you never know about and that you not only support with your dollars when you go shopping, but also support with your own tax dollars? I mean, even when I worked for Tyson, I didnt know about things like this!

United Egg Producers themselves did a survey to find out what kind of priority consumers put on humane treatment of farmed animals. Would it surprise you to know that they found that 3 out of 4 - 75%!! - would choose products certified as protecting animal care over those that are not? How about the fact that they would do so, even if it cost more? In fact, the study showed that 54% of people were willing to pay 5-10% more, and an additional 10% would be willing to pay 15-20% more. So, why doesn't the industry respond?

Well, in a way they do. They lie. And work even harder at keeping people out of their warehouses of live animals to see what is going on citing a agri-terrorist threat or bio-security concerns. Yeah, I'm sure Al Quaida is sitting around plotting to infect these places with all kinds of interesting diseases. It's just not their way. Besides, why bother? These factory farms are nothing but cesspools of disease anyway. If it weren't for the loads of antibiotics they feed these animals, they wouldn't even survive until slaughter. And many of them don't anyway. They die every day. I have seen backhoes full of dead birds being hauled out of the chicken houses around here myself with my own eyes. Just like I saw dead pigs lying outside factory farms when visiting one of those. It happens every single day. No, these new concerns and laws being introduced are to simply keep activists from documenting and exposing to the public what goes on in there behind those closed doors. And, sadly they are succeeding at it.

After reading the last few posts, if you are still willing to eat eggs and support this kind of cruelty then you have no heart.

Because you are not ignorant anymore. You lost that excuse when you read and learned about it.

If you are insistent about eating eggs, then at the very least take the time to find out where they are coming from. Seek out the small producers who take great pride in caring for their animals the best they can. They will be proud to show you their operations, not keep you out. Of course, these animals still go to slaughter when they are no longer productive, but it is a step in the right direction.

But the best choice of all is simply to go vegan. It's really not as hard as you think it is.