Undoubtedly, Factory Farming is animal cruelty. We must end it. May is the month of International Respect for Chickens. Below you can read some of the most convincing reasons to eat less chicken. Spread the word as much as you can.
1) Most Abused Animal
Chicken is the most abused animal on the planet. From cruel mutilations like debeaking to being bred to grow at unnatural rates, chickens on factory farm live miserable lives. Approximately 60 billion chickens are suffering in factory farms like this every day.
Chickens are treated as a commodity in factory farming. They suffer severe cruelty and do not have proper space to live naturally.
Watch this video to see difference between chickens raised in high welfare and low welfare
2) Cruel Production in Intensive factory farming Systems
The more we drive food production, the cheaper food becomes, and the more our diets become dominated by a smaller number of species grown intensively and at scale. In factory farming, chickens spend most of their time on barren shed stuffed with other chickens. They are not also provided at least 4 hours of darkness in the shed, which makes rest, a constant challenge. They spend their whole life with an unhealthy amount of weight in poorly lit, cramped, and barren lands.
Forced growth of chicken due to overdose of antibiotics. This is done due to cruel production of meat to meet consumers' demand for food.
3) Forced and Rapid Growth
A factory farmed chicken lives an average of 42 days while in the wild, a could expect to live for several years. Chickens raised and killed for meat have been bred to grow so quickly they often become immobilized under their own body weight and endure devastating pain and cruelty. Due to rapid growth and often being unable to walk in overcrowded conditions, chickens nowadays are fatter than years prior, leading to the meat that contains 224 percent more fat and 9 percent less protein. [1] As a result of rapid growth, many chickens on factory farms suffer skin wounds, painful lameness, and overworked hearts and lungs before being slaughtered for food.
A chick deserves to live more.
4) Loaded with Antibiotics
The enormous increase in the demand for animal protein has rapidly increased the use of antimicrobials in the animal health sector, where these drugs are used to treat and prevent infections and promote rapid growth. 75% of all total antibiotics are being used in farming globally. Superbugs/AMR can make medicines less effective right when pandemics put health systems under extreme pressure.
Chickens need space, not antibiotics which cause them a lot of suffering and miserable life.
5) Chickens are intelligent beings
Chickens are intelligent and sensitive beings, deserving of good lives. These smart birds are also able to recognize more than 100 individual faces, not only of their fellow chickens but also of humans. They can solve puzzles by pecking at the pieces with their beaks to let their human helpers know which ones go where.
Chickens are intelligent and deserve to be treated better.
6) Plant-based chicken is better for all
Till 2019 the per capita consumption of broiler meat in India was 3.35kg per person which was very low to China with 10.5kg per person and we need to stop here before it exceeds much further and leads to the worst for these animals that will also adversely affect our planet too. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, of the 28,000 species threatened with extinction, approximately 24,000 are threatened primarily by animal agriculture. Global dietary patterns need to converge around diets based more on plants, owing to the disproportionate impact of animal farming on biodiversity, land use and the environment. Such a shift would also benefit the dietary health of populations around the world, and help reduce the risk of pandemics.
Use plant-based chicken instead of real chickens. This can save the lives of many chickens and give them a chance to live a better life.
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Most of the world's 60 billion chickens farmed for their meat are confined to cramped, intensive conditions in factory farming. Genetically selected to grow fast and develop large, heavy breast muscles-- they experience great pain and suffering.