Animal Industry Facts: A brief insight into the lives of the animals rose for our own benefits, to create unnecessary products for our own consumption

Poultry – Whether the birds are battery or cage free they are subjected to debeaking. As the result of confined spaces many become crippled and suffer from heart and lung failure. This all leads to their slaughter, 40-42 days later. In natural conditions a chicken can live up until the ages of 7-12 years.

Eggs – Even free-range eggs come from birds kept in groups of up to 16,000 per shed. They can also still legally be debeaked. When a hen starts to produce fewer eggs she loses her ‘value’ and is sent to slaughter in order to fill pies and the likes. All egg consumption contributes to the murder of any male chick born by an egg-laying bred hen as their meat does not meet certain standards. They are killed immediately through gassing, neck dislocation or shredding devices.

Dairy – A glass of milk is no more morally defensible than a plate of steak. Cows are kept within a cycle of pregnancy throughout their lives in order to produce milk. They can be milked up to 3 times per day by machines the majority of the time. Due to the stress caused throughout this process she will have decreased fertility levels within a few years and will therefore be replaced and used as low graded meat. The Male calves born during this cycle required to produce milk for our own pleasure, are of an 'incorrect' breed to be used for meat and are therefore either slaughtered or sent to veal farms.

Pigs – Piglets are naturally weaned at ~4-5 months but in the pig industry can be removed in up to 4 weeks. They will then experience trauma in the forms of tail docking, teeth clipping and castration for the males. After ~six weeks they go to ‘fattening pens’ and the majority are slaughtered at the age of 6 months. Naturally, pigs can live to the ages of 15-20 years.

Fish – In the fish-farming industry, fish can be starved for two weeks before they go to slaughter to avoid contaminated flesh when being gutted, which will affect flesh quality when being consumed. Methods of slaughter include: clubbing, CO2 filled stunning tanks and air or ice suffocation. These all subject the fish to prolonged suffering and result in unnecessary death.

Honey – To produce honey, beeswax and other products produced by bees, the queen is artificially inseminated by the sperm of decapitated bees on a routinely basis. After 2 years, when her egg-laying capability decreases, she is replaced. During this process, her wings are clipped so that the hive remains in a set location. To save feeding bees during the winter, colonies are often killed. Farming bees adds to the pressures that wild bees face along with other pollinating insects.

(The Vegan Society 2008)

Our use of animals does not end here. Additionally, we continue to use wool, silk, shellac, leather, cochineal, fur and consume other animal fleshes and secretions. They are all forms of exploitation.


For further information on the above as well as other animals we use for animal products, please visit www.vegansociety.com or purchase the ‘Animal Free Shopper, 8th Edition’ by The Vegan Society. Or both!

For up-to-date statistics on monthly/yearly animal slaughter numbers in the UK, please visit http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/foodfarm/index.htm


Reference:


The Vegan Society (2008) Animal Free Shopper. 8th edition. The Vegan Society, Birmingham, UK