A recent Wall
Street Journal article showcases a group of researchers who are working
to decipher chicken language. The reason? To determine when chickens are
stressed, unhappy, or sick.
According to the article, “It is a matter of profit for
commercial chicken growers, who lose money on sick or uncomfortable birds.
Chickens with feathers ruffled by heat or cold or illness don’t eat as well or
fatten up as quickly as healthy, contented ones. Farmers say if software can
alert them to warning sounds from their flocks, they can act quickly to adjust
chicken-house temperatures or treat sick birds.
While it’s wonderful that this new information could be used
to somewhat improve the lives of birds forced to endure factory farm
conditions, as long as animals are treated as mere commodities from which to
profit, animal abuse and neglect will continue to run rampant on modern farms.
The best thing we can do to keep chickens and other animals
safe and happy is to leave them off our plates.
For more information on adopting a healthy and humane
plant-based diet, check out ChooseVeg.com.