Chicken for dinner
Despite being inherently pro-animal, I'm not vegetarian, but buy meat from cruelty-free sources. Really, anyone who buys battery-produced eggs should be compelled to visit the source.
I've seen battery hens, when purchasing older chickens to replace some killed by a fox, and was appalled at the conditions. When I got them home, the first thing I had to do was sit each on my lap and cut their claws, because they could not stand. It took them three days to pick up the courage to venture out of the shed but when they did, and discovered the delights of walking around and scratching in the soil, their reaction made my cry.
However, I've not had any experience of intensive chicken-meat farming, though I buy free-range reared chickens (of course, the convenient ready-meals don't give you that option and I doubt if conditions are better in 'farms' in Thailand which is where most of the chicken ready meals come from).
When I found an e-mail from the Chicken Out! campaign, to which I suscribe, I was curious, if apprehensive, to find out just what the intensive-farming conditions were and I am now feeling, quite literally, sick.
Thirty-nine days is all it takes for a new-born chick to reach slaughter size. Compare a new-born kitten, similar in size to a new chick, and then think of what size it reaches at five weeks - still tiny. By that time the chick has attained the size, just about, of a full-grown cat. This kills many from heart-failure, unable to cope with the rapid, un-natural growth, and none can hold up their weight to stand properly. And that's just the start of it; because sheds are not cleaned out during the life of the thousands of birds trapped in it, they suffer ammonia burns to skin and eyes, and have difficulty breathing.
Recently, I was shocked to be charged £12 for a free-range chicken at a local butcher's but, as tight as my budget is (being on benefits), after seeing what animals suffer in order to have a cheaper alternative, it seems little to pay for a decent life. Luckily not all butchers charge as much - Tesco charges around £5 - £6.
Please, read this and support the campaign and/or any campaigns local to you.
http://www.chickenout.tv/39-day-blog.html
We have no right to make any creature suffer like this, for our convenience.
Anyone who thinks that such a horror is justified is less than human.
Anyone who thinks it unjustified but makes no active attempt to stop it should be ashamed.
I'm going to have a large drink, now - and possibly a cry.
I've seen battery hens, when purchasing older chickens to replace some killed by a fox, and was appalled at the conditions. When I got them home, the first thing I had to do was sit each on my lap and cut their claws, because they could not stand. It took them three days to pick up the courage to venture out of the shed but when they did, and discovered the delights of walking around and scratching in the soil, their reaction made my cry.
However, I've not had any experience of intensive chicken-meat farming, though I buy free-range reared chickens (of course, the convenient ready-meals don't give you that option and I doubt if conditions are better in 'farms' in Thailand which is where most of the chicken ready meals come from).
When I found an e-mail from the Chicken Out! campaign, to which I suscribe, I was curious, if apprehensive, to find out just what the intensive-farming conditions were and I am now feeling, quite literally, sick.
Thirty-nine days is all it takes for a new-born chick to reach slaughter size. Compare a new-born kitten, similar in size to a new chick, and then think of what size it reaches at five weeks - still tiny. By that time the chick has attained the size, just about, of a full-grown cat. This kills many from heart-failure, unable to cope with the rapid, un-natural growth, and none can hold up their weight to stand properly. And that's just the start of it; because sheds are not cleaned out during the life of the thousands of birds trapped in it, they suffer ammonia burns to skin and eyes, and have difficulty breathing.
Recently, I was shocked to be charged £12 for a free-range chicken at a local butcher's but, as tight as my budget is (being on benefits), after seeing what animals suffer in order to have a cheaper alternative, it seems little to pay for a decent life. Luckily not all butchers charge as much - Tesco charges around £5 - £6.
Please, read this and support the campaign and/or any campaigns local to you.
http://www.chickenout.tv/39-day-blog.html
We have no right to make any creature suffer like this, for our convenience.
Anyone who thinks that such a horror is justified is less than human.
Anyone who thinks it unjustified but makes no active attempt to stop it should be ashamed.
I'm going to have a large drink, now - and possibly a cry.