As a society we’ve come to recognize that companion animals
like dogs and cats deserve protection from abuse, and we have updated our laws to
reflect this. But sadly, we’ve left farmed animals completely
vulnerable to unimaginable cruelties that are considered standard practice by
the meat, dairy, and egg industries.
The animals raised and killed for food are just as smart
and sensitive as the dogs and cats we adore at home. Years of research have
proved this. We now know that chickens can recognize more than 100 individual
birds, cows form close friendships, and pigs are thought to have the
intelligence of a three-year-old child.
Would we ever consider it legal to shackle a dog by her hind
legs and slash open her throat? Would we allow a cat to be kept for his entire
life in a cage so small that he couldn’t even turn around? Would we permit killing
puppies and kittens by slamming them headfirst against concrete floors? Of
course we wouldn’t. But these heinous acts are completely legal to inflict on cows, pigs, and chickens in the
animal agriculture industry.
Unbelievably, there’s not a
single federal law protecting animals during their lives at factory farms.
What’s more, the law that’s supposed to protect animals at the
slaughterhouse, the Humane Slaughter Act, excludes birds and
rabbits, leaving them with virtually no protection from abuse.
The truth is that if
we treated just one dog or cat the way the meat, dairy, and egg industries
treat billions of animals, we’d be behind bars for animal abuse.
Over the past 70 years, the meat industry has had friends
(and former employees) in the upper levels of the USDA. For instance, the
current U.S. secretary of agriculture, Sonny Perdue, was the former governor of
one of the biggest poultry-producing states and the former head of several agribusiness companies. These
obvious conflicts of interest, along with the meat industry’s millions of
dollars in lobbying efforts, make it difficult and unlikely for lawmakers to
act ethically.
At the very least, lawmakers should pass legislation that
eliminates the worst forms of abuse at factory farms and allows farmed animals
to move around, breathe fresh air, and engage in other natural behaviors. And
if lawmakers truly cared, they would follow in the footsteps of New Jersey senator
Cory Booker, who not only fights for farmed animal protections but lives his
values by being vegan.
In the meantime, all of us have the power to make a
difference by writing and calling our representatives, voting for lawmakers who
promise to stand up for farmed animals, and switching to a compassionate vegan
diet. Click here to get started!