Factory Farms Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Factory Farms - Research Paper Example For instance, chickens are so overcrowded that they must have their beaks cut off, because, if they do not, they will peck one another to death. Pigs are in tiny pens that are so small that the pig cannot turn around, and they are stacked in pens, one on top of the other, so that the animals above them deposit their wastes onto the animals below them. Since pigs are, by nature, clean animals, this is no doubt abhorrent to them, yet this is how they must live, for years, until they are carted off to go slaughter. Cows are cruelly branded with a hot iron and crammed into feed lots. The fate of these animals is abhorrent to anybody with a conscience. These animals can feel pain and fear, and to put them into these conditions is beyond barbaric and cruel. Beyond this, factory farms are also bad for the environment. The animal excrement causes pollution that runs off into the water. Taking the animals off the farm and onto the feed lot deprives the farming soil of fertilizer, which means that artificial fertilizer must be used, and this means using fossil fuel. Moreover, land must be clear cut to raise food for these animals. In short, factory farms and the proliferation of animals on these farms is a very inefficient use of resources. Regular methods of farming, in which animals are free to roam the land, and graze on grass, and have a natural life, must be brought back. This would not only be good for the environment, but it would result in much less cruelty to animals. Even though factory farms produce a large quantity of food, and the food is ostensibly necessary to feed a growing planet, farmers should make innovations that make their operations less cruel to animals and more kind to the environment. A. Cruelty to Animals Animal rights activists and animal lovers everywhere are clear that animals should not be subjected to needless suffering. The evidence regarding factory farms indicates that animals suffer needlessly, so these factory farms are violating ever ything that animal lovers and animal rights activists stand for. James McWilliams, author of ?hy Free-Range Meat Isn't Much Better Than Factory Farmedstates that the basic argument against factory farms is that ?nimals held in confinement are denied access to the basic preconditions of happiness the freedoms to move, make basic choices, have sex and socialize. The fact that animals are transformed into the moral equivalent of machinery, rather than respected as living creatures, will stike any sensible observer as fundamentally wrong...thoughtful consumers do not want animals to be needlessly hurt(McWilliams). And ?eedlessly hurtis exactly what animals are on the factory farms. For instance, chickens are kept in extremely overcrowded conditions. According to Freedman & Barnouin, chickens have to have their beaks cut off of their faces because, in their overcrowded conditions, they would peck each other to death if they did not (Freedman & Barnouin, p. 84). Chickens are also given ho rmones that make them grow so rapidly that their hearts and lungs cannot keep up with the growth, and they die of heart failure. Cows are branded with a hot iron without anesthesia, and can live on the range without shelter or veterinary care. Cows may also live for months in an overcrowded feedlot, where they are fed growth hormones and rich grains. The rich grains sometimes causes the cows intestines to ulcerate and rupture. These factory farms have so many cattles that they often have downed animals which are lame when they come to the slaughterhouse. These animals are often beaten and prodded to get them to move (Factory Farming Animal Cruelty is Standard Operating Procedure for 95-99% of Animals Raised For Food). Pigs also live in deplorable conditions. Naturally clean animals, they are forced to