My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.powered-by-produce.com
and update your bookmarks!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Meet Your Meat: Chickens and Turkeys

Chickens and turkeys are by far the most abused animals on the planet. They are crammed into dark, windowless, overcrowded sheds with as many as 40,000 birds per shed. These sheds are filthy with excrement and reek of ammonia.

A writer for The New Yorker visited a chicken shed and wrote, “I was almost knocked to the ground by the overpowering smell of feces and ammonia. My eyes burned and so did my lungs, and I could neither see nor breathe…. There must have been 30,000 chickens sitting silently on the floor in front of me... living in nearly total darkness, and they would spend every minute of their lives that way.”

These conditions cause the chickens and turkeys to develop chronic respiratory diseases, bronchitis, weakened immune systems, "ammonia burn" a painful eye infection, and open, untreated, infected sores and wounds.

(Yes, turkeys and chickens like this are processed for slaughter... mmm.)

Not only is the floor of the shed covered in excrement, but it is also littered with dead bird corpses. The birds that don't die from diseases cause by filth, or heart attacks caused by the gross weight gain, can die from starvation. Because chickens and turkeys are genetically manipulated and fed huge quantities of antibiotics to promote abnormally fast and large growth, often their legs cripple under their immense weight. The crippled animals can not stand or walk to get food or water. By the age of 6 weeks, 90% of broiler chickens are so obese they can not walk.

Chickens and turkeys are handled very violently. They are roughly grabbed by their legs, necks, wings, and slung into crates, or slammed onto the ground. They are kicked, and stomped on, then left to suffer with broken legs or wings.

Plus, birds are exempt from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, so they have no federal legal protections. At slaughter, chickens and turkeys are shackled upside down by their fragile legs. Their throats are slit while they are still fully conscious, they are then immersed into a pot of scalding water to remove the feathers. Many are still alive when they are scalded to death. Every year, 9 billion (with a 'b') chickens and 300 million turkeys are killed for food in the US.

If you eat chicken and turkey, you can watch this:

____________________

Breakfast: Fruit leather and string cheese.

Lunch: Veggie Delight sub from Subway.

Dinner: Stir Fry. Just toss in ANY veggies you like (squash, zucchini, broccoli, bell peppers, onion, tomoato, water chestnuts, spinach, those little corn things, even pineapple, just to name a few) and add soy sauce, or teriyaki sauce, or any type of marinade, it doesn't even have to be Asian, just something you like!

2 comments: