I only eat humane animal products
Free-range. Grass-fed. Organic. What's the problem?
Sadly, the various 'humane' labels attributed to many animal products are little more than a marketing ploy to keep people paying for an inhumane product. As more and more people become mindful of the negative effects their food choices have and with so much information now available online, the animal exploitation industries must find creative ways to alleviate the fears of shoppers.
Whatever's written on the labels of the food we buy, it's important to understand that many of the most horrible abuses these animals endure are industry standard practices whether the animal is 'humanely raised' or not. All animals 'humanely' raised for meat, eggs and dairy also still suffer a violent, bloody and premature death when their throats are slit at a fraction of their natural lifespan. There is also the glaring problem when claiming we kill these animals humanely that in every single case, the animal does not want to die.
Some standard practices farm animals endure no matter how they are raised include:
- The male 'layer' breed of chicks thrown alive into grinding machines aged one day old,
or dumped en masse into giant plastic bags or containers where they are crushed,
suffocate or starve to death.
- Male dairy calves removed from their mothers at birth and killed for veal because they
don't produce milk.
- Piglets having their testicles ripped out without pain relief.
- Dairy cows repeatedly and forcibly impregnated in order to produce milk (we take the
milk intended for their young who are either killed or raised to suffer the same fate as
their mothers, who themselves are killed as soon as their milk production starts to slow).
- Chickens restricted upside-down in 'evisceration shackles' or a 'killing cone', their throats
cut so they bleed to death, sometimes they are stunned first via electrocution, often they
are not.
- Cattle and pigs incapacitated by a captive bolt to the skull, hung upside-down, their
throats cut so they bleed to death.
- Sheep and pigs stunned via electrocution, hung upside-down, their throats cut so they
bleed to death.
- Fish suffering violent and painful decompression when hauled up in nets. Survivors are
crushed to death from the weight of other fish, bleed to death, or slowly suffocate.
- Cattle, sheep and pigs forced into gas chambers to be horrifically incapacitated, hung
upside-down and bled to death via a knife to the throat.
With these practices in mind it's also worth checking out HumaneFacts.org, a great resource for exploring
the realities behind deceptive food labelling. Articles by Free From Harm here and here are also worth a look.
Whatever's written on the labels of the food we buy, it's important to understand that many of the most horrible abuses these animals endure are industry standard practices whether the animal is 'humanely raised' or not. All animals 'humanely' raised for meat, eggs and dairy also still suffer a violent, bloody and premature death when their throats are slit at a fraction of their natural lifespan. There is also the glaring problem when claiming we kill these animals humanely that in every single case, the animal does not want to die.
Some standard practices farm animals endure no matter how they are raised include:
- The male 'layer' breed of chicks thrown alive into grinding machines aged one day old,
or dumped en masse into giant plastic bags or containers where they are crushed,
suffocate or starve to death.
- Male dairy calves removed from their mothers at birth and killed for veal because they
don't produce milk.
- Piglets having their testicles ripped out without pain relief.
- Dairy cows repeatedly and forcibly impregnated in order to produce milk (we take the
milk intended for their young who are either killed or raised to suffer the same fate as
their mothers, who themselves are killed as soon as their milk production starts to slow).
- Chickens restricted upside-down in 'evisceration shackles' or a 'killing cone', their throats
cut so they bleed to death, sometimes they are stunned first via electrocution, often they
are not.
- Cattle and pigs incapacitated by a captive bolt to the skull, hung upside-down, their
throats cut so they bleed to death.
- Sheep and pigs stunned via electrocution, hung upside-down, their throats cut so they
bleed to death.
- Fish suffering violent and painful decompression when hauled up in nets. Survivors are
crushed to death from the weight of other fish, bleed to death, or slowly suffocate.
- Cattle, sheep and pigs forced into gas chambers to be horrifically incapacitated, hung
upside-down and bled to death via a knife to the throat.
With these practices in mind it's also worth checking out HumaneFacts.org, a great resource for exploring
the realities behind deceptive food labelling. Articles by Free From Harm here and here are also worth a look.
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Below are some videos showing how all animals (humane, grass-fed, free-range, organic or factory farmed) are slaughtered. It's likely you won't want watch the videos or that if you do that they'll make for uncomfortable viewing. If that is the case, then please ask yourself how what's happening to these animals could ever be considered humane.
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Pig Slaughter: 'Humane' gas chamber method
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Cow doesn't want to die
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Chicken slaughter: 'Family farm' method
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Abuse at a 'certified humane' slaughterhouse
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The hatchery process
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Pig Slaughter on a family farm
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Whole Foods 'humane' supplier investigation
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The US slaughterhouse process
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Free-range hen rescue
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Inside a lamb slaughterhouse
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"Animals go into the slaughterhouse alive and come out chopped into pieces
and people like to think something humane happens along the way."
- Larry Fisher
and people like to think something humane happens along the way."
- Larry Fisher
