going veg - chickens and turkeys: bred for pain

Dear Vgians,

i know we are all vegetarians but i wld jus like to share my reason for being one.
i also hope Vgians' common goal is to spread the word of Going Veg & promoting the benefits of vegetarianism. Our VG grp consists of vegetarians with different reasons, so i hope we can share our various reasons so we emerge with a stronger vegetarian faith. For me, ever since i turned veg on april or may 2007, i have always felt that it is now my responsibility to spread the message & play an active role in animal welfare.

to be frank, when i stepped into office last week & the 1st thing i saw was the "proud to be meat free" badge on WS & pey's bag, i was very happy. :)
(i noe audrey also has hers somewhere visible!)

so now lets take some time to think about our chickens & their fate ...


Source: http://www.chooseveg.com








extracted from: http://www.chooseveg.com/chickens-turkeys.asp

More than 8 billion "broiler" (meat-type) chickens and over 270 million turkeys are slaughtered each year in the United States.

Overcrowded by the thousands into ammonia-laden sheds where disease runs rampant, the birds often cannot even flap their wings. Most will never see sunlight or breathe fresh air, except on their way to the slaughterhouse.

The birds are forced to breathe air from oxygen-deficient sheds, full of pathogenic microbes, carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen sulfide, excretory ammonia fumes, and lung-destroying dust and dander. The high ammonia levels cause painful skin and respiratory problems for the birds.

Modern broiler chickens also experience crippling leg disorders and lameness, as their legs are not capable of supporting their abnormally heavy bodies.

Researchers have found that this lameness is so chronically painful that lame chickens will repeatedly choose food that has painkillers added to it over regular feed. Another study found that 26% of broiler chickens are severely crippled and that 90% cannot walk normally.

Turkeys also suffer from unnatural breeding. Some turkeys have problems standing and fall and are trampled on..."

Those who don't die on the factory farm are shipped to the slaughterhouse at just a fraction of their natural lifespan. At the slaughterhouse, fully conscious chickens and turkeys are shackled by their ankles upside-down to a moving conveyor belt. The birds are then given intensely painful electric shocks, which are intended to immobilize them to make it easier to slit their throats. The shocks are frequently not powerful enough to render them unconscious. After being shocked, the birds' throats are slashed, usually by a mechanical blade, and blood begins rushing out of their bodies.

Inevitably, the blade misses some birds who then proceed to the next station on the assembly line: the scalding tank. According to USDA statistics, millions of birds every year have their bodies submerged in scalding hot water while they are fully conscious. According to Virgil Butler, a former Tyson slaughterhouse worker, "When this happens, the chickens flop, scream, kick, and their eyeballs pop out of their heads. Then, they often come out the other end with broken bones and disfigured and missing body parts because they've struggled so much in the tank."

Poultry are not protected under the Humane Slaughter Act or the Animal Welfare Act.