Death on a Factory Farm

by Natasha Chart · 2009-03-17 07:03:00 UTC
Topics:

So I watched the HBO special, "Death on a Factory Farm." I'm not an animal rights activist (as some of you know to your chagrin) and I'm not planning on going vegetarian anytime soon, even after watching this.

But if that was the only way to get my food, I think I might rather starve.

(In the interests of accuracy, it's hard to say what I'd actually do if I were starving, considering that I'm living in a house with a well-stocked pantry.)

My ideal vision of livestock farming does end with animals being slaughtered and then eaten.

I don't believe that's necessarily a worse fate than wild animals would end up having. I feel like I've come to terms with that and if that really bothers someone, probably they ought be a vegetarian or vegan. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Though my ideal vision of livestock farming does not include animals sitting in their own waste, confined in pens that don't allow them to move or encourage sores to form on their bodies, being picked up by their legs and tossed several times the length of their bodies, allowed to slowly starve, left to be cannibalized by their fellows, or strangled over a course of several minutes while hanging from a chain.

I know there are farms that produce lots of food and don't do these things. I know it's bad for human beings to be working in these environments.

I also know that some people's livelihoods depend on farming. But we're pretty clever animals. Surely we can find better, less brutal, less degrading ways for our fellow human beings to earn their livings.

Natasha Chart
PREVIOUS STORY:
A Trip to the Farmers' Market
NEXT STORY:
Join the Social Media Day of Action to Rid Girl Scout Cookies of Forest-Destroying Palm Oil

COMMENTS (27)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.