You are probably unaware of what is happening behind the closed doors of factory farms. The brutality can only be described as horrific. All animals are ill-treated, without a thought.
While there is cruelty attached to eating any kind of meat, here are six of the cruellest.
Foie Gras
Considered a delicacy, but has a sordid story attached to it. Pipes are forced down the throats of geese, and they are force fed with grains. The force-feeding leads to increasing the size of the bird’s liver by ten times the normal size. They are kept in horrible conditions and they are crammed into tiny cages. They are highly distressed due to the conditions and tear their feathers out and also attack other birds. All this while standing as their engorged abdomens, prevent them from sitting. Many of them end up dying because they choke on their own vomit, due to the grain being forced down their throats and entering their lungs.
Factory Farmed Bacon
If you are probably not aware of how factory farmed bacon is produced, chances are you are enjoying every bite. It is likely that you might choose not to eat another morsel of this variety once you find out how factory farmed bacon is actually produced. Most adult pigs are known to spend their lives in confined metal cages. After the mother pig has given birth, she is moved to a farrowing crate where there is only space for an additional concrete area where the piglet can be nursed. Here they are forced to live on grounds covered with feces.
The piglets are removed after they are about a month old and the male pigs are castrated without the use of any pain killers. Both male and female pigs are tortured, as their tails are cut, teeth clipped in half and their ears are mutilated. They are often forced to live in their own vomit and feces and pumped with growth promoters until they become fat enough for slaughter.
Most pigs suffer from diseases such as mange, however, these factories, simply kill the pigs instead of providing veterinary care.
Veal
Female calves are often slaughtered and sometimes kept alive to produce milk. However, for male calves, the story is not such, they are taken away from the mother, when they are just a day old and chained inside tiny stalls for about 3 – 18 weeks to be raised for veal. They are fed with a substitute for milk so that they end up gaining more than 2 pounds a day and fed a diet that is low in iron so that they become anemic and they flesh does not develop colour. They live very short lives, constantly longing for their mothers and suffer from a host of illnesses such as diarrhea, lameness and pneumonia.
Factory Farmed Milk
Calves are separated from their mothers when they are as young as a day old. This is done so that the cows can focus on milk production. Cows are forced to spend all their lives standing on concrete floors in crowded lots, where they live walking on their own feces. A cow lives up to 20 years, however, due to constant stress, their life span is reduced to 8 or 9 years and with them being diseased at a young age, their milk production to slows down, and they are counted as being worthless by the age of 4 or 5. They are then sent for slaughter.
Caged Eggs
Hens have a sad life. Those used to produce eggs are cramped with more than 5 or 11 hens in battery cages, where they are stacked tier upon tier in huge warehouses. The wire mesh rubs off their feathers and chafes their skin and makes their feet become crippled, and they tend to develop osteoporosis, which leads to broken bones. Only female chicks are used for their egg production skills, and therefore male chicks are killed in high-speed grinders.
Hens can live up to a decade, but due to being raised primarily for their egg production ability, they lose their egg production capabilities by the time they reach the age of 2 years. These chickens are caught by workers and their bones are broken forcefully. What follows is even more brutal.
Feed Lot Grain Fed Beef
All beef was traditionally grass fed, however, things changed and government subsidies now allows growers to feed them grain. After the first few months are spent on pasture, grazing on grass, steers are rapidly fattened with the help of grain. A large amount of soy-based protein supplements, corn, antibiotics and other drugs are used for the fattening process. This unnatural weight gain disturbs the digestive system.
These methods of raising meat, eggs and milk are simply inhuman and unkind and should be stopped. What can you do to make a difference? Choose a diet that is plant-based. If you cannot, then choose to eat meat, eggs and milk that comes from local, humane and ethical farms. Opt for Free-Range, Grass-Fed, Organic, Hormone and Antibiotic Free labels.
Make an appointment with Hermeet Singh Suri (HOM, BSc., RHN, Epigeneticist) at The Homeopathic Plus Centre and learn how you can work around a diet that is rich in plant sources so that you do not have to indulge in any cruelty along the way.
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