The Problem

Animals suffer miserably at factory farms. Mercy For Animals works to expose and end their abuse.
Extreme Confinement and Abuse

Pigs, cows, chickens, fish, and other animals raised at factory farms experience unimaginable cruelty. Mercy For Animals investigations have uncovered routine abuse and frequent brutality at these facilities, including cows kicked, punched, and dragged by the neck; piglets’ tails cut off with dull blades; chickens stabbed and stomped to death; and fish skinned and cut open while still conscious and able to feel pain.

A Pig’s Plight

Pigs endure unrelenting abuse from the day they are born. Male piglets shriek in pain as their testicles are ripped out and their sensitive tails cut off without painkillers. Mother pigs are crammed into small, filthy gestation crates. Constricted by metal bars on all sides, they cannot lie down comfortably or even turn around for nearly their entire lives.

Mercy For Animals investigations have uncovered pigs shocked with electric prongs in their eyes, bludgeoned with metal pipes, kicked, and stabbed for minutes while still conscious.

Learn more.
No Compassion for Cows

Cows exploited for dairy are treated like mere milk-producing machines—constantly cycling through pregnancy, birth, and milking until their bodies give out or their milk production is no longer profitable. Calves used for veal are ripped away from their mothers and locked in crates. They are fed a low-iron milk substitute that makes them anemic. By the time of slaughter, many calves are too weak to walk.

Mercy For Animals undercover investigations have exposed workers at dairy factory farms dragging cows by their necks with ropes attached to tractors and viciously kicking and hitting them. Cows were tied up, shocked, and hit on their heads with sledgehammers.

Learn more.
Cruelty to Chickens

Hens used for eggs are crammed by the thousands into windowless sheds. Their sensitive beaks are seared off, and many develop painful bleeding prolapses that go untreated. Birds die from the horrifying conditions, and their bodies rot next to hens laying eggs for human consumption.

Chickens raised for meat are bred to grow so fast they frequently cannot even walk without pain. Air acrid with ammonia causes severe skin and throat irritation, blindness, and fatal respiratory problems. Abuse from factory farm workers is also rampant. Mercy For Animals investigative footage shows workers stabbing chickens with spiked clubs, stomping birds to death, and ripping limbs off live chickens.

Learn more.
Fish Factories

From the water to the cutting table, fish are tormented. They are suffocated, skinned, and dismembered, often while still conscious and able to feel pain. Crowded by the tens of thousands in tanks at factory farms, fish suffer severely from intensive confinement. The conditions spur injuries and illness. Fish often lose their eyesight or become infected with parasites.

Fish slaughterhouses are no less horrific. A Mercy For Animals investigation at a catfish slaughter facility exposed a grisly reality—fish flailing in buckets gasping for oxygen, skinned fish still moving on the cutting table, and workers tearing the heads off live fish.

Learn more.
Tormented Turkeys

Bred to grow unnaturally fast, turkeys at factory farms often suffer heart attacks and debilitating leg deformities. They live most of their lives crammed together inside large sheds. At just five months old, they are killed.

At slaughter, birds are ripped from their transport crates and violently thrust upside down into metal shackles. Many birds struggle to breathe. Others suffer broken bones. They are painfully dragged through electrified water before their throats are cut open—often while the animals are still conscious. Many birds are scalded alive in feather-removal tanks.

Learn more.

Yes! I want to join millions of people who are starting to stand up for animals.

Follow Us!
9 Billion
number of land animals killed for food each year in the United States
47 Days
average age at which chickens raised for meat are slaughtered
0.8%
percentage of donations to animal charities that go to farmed animal organizations

But together, we are changing things

Mercy For Animals has worked with major companies to implement far-reaching animal protection policies that combined will touch the lives of over a billion animals every year.

close

Behind the Stats

  • Piglets Mutilated and Mother Pigs Crammed in Tiny Cages
  • Baby Cows Stolen From Their Mothers
  • A Drone Flew Over a Slaughterhouse

You can be a hero.

Farmed animals are some of the most neglected and abused.

Stand with us as we continue to build a just and sustainable food system, one that is better not only for animals but for people and our planet.

Will you be a hero for farmed animals by supporting our life-changing work today?