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Jazmine Becerra
ENG101
Dr. Milton
April, 8, 2016
Researched Essay
Animal Cruelty in Factory Farms

Over 56 billion farmed animals are killed every year by humans. More than 3,000
animals die every second in slaughterhouses around the world. (Animal Equality-- Food).
Factory farming is a process in which large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions
intended to maximize production at minimal cost. Animals are submitted to small cramp living
conditions and killed inhumanely. Which raises the question; should the animals living
conditions in factory farming be improved? Factory farmed animals today are all treated
extremely inhumanely. Although some factory farm owners might argue that the cost isnt worth
the benefits, it will create a cleaner, safer, healthier environment for the animals and in the long
run for us. The conditions in which factory farm animals live should be improved by increasing
sanitary living space and enforcing a respectable means of killing the animals.
Animals are being treated as commodities and are often raised in intense confinement,
crammed together with little space, natural light or stimuli. In order to save space, factoryfarmed animals are crammed together in barren pens and crates. Very much so often than not,
animals are forced to live in their feces and other animals who have died in the process. An egglaying hen in a barren battery cage often spends her whole life crammed into a space smaller
than an A4 sheet of paper per animal. (CIWF (2011). Welfare issue for Egg-Laying Hens). This
often results in the animals to inflict injuries on each other out of sheer boredom, frustration and
stress. To reduce these injuries, mutilation has become commonplace, with teeth clipped, tails

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docked and beaks trimmed - all usually carried out without pain relief. Cramming animals
together in their hundreds creates the perfect conditions for diseases to be transmitted.
According to Websters Dictionary, humane means characterized by kindness, mercy
or compassion. The way in which animals are being slaughtered is incompatible with this
definition. Factory farmed animals are often killed in the most unimaginable ways. Common
methods of killing and disposal include suffocation and being ground up alive. Humane
Slaughter Act dictates that cattle, pigs and other livestock are stunned before their throats are cut,
this law is routinely violated. (Animal Legal and Historical Center). Industry reports indicate
that even when animals are stunned, there is still an alarming failure rate. It is not uncommon for
improperly stunned animals to be dismembered or boiled alive in scalding tanks while fully
conscious. How would one ever deem this to be humane or just?
Cows produce milk only when pregnant or nursing, all dairy farms subject their cows to a
relentless cycle of impregnation and birth. Their babies are taken away immediately, so that the
milk can be collected for human use. Male calves, since they are of no use to the dairy industry,
are sold for beef or veal. When a cows milk production declines at an average of less than five
years, she too is slaughtered for meat (How We Treat The Animals We Eat) We force animals to
endure a relentless cycle of giving and consumers taking, very much so far from respectable.
Factory farm animals deserve to be treated in a more respectable means in regards to the way we
treat them when they are living, and the way in which we kill them.
Its not just farm animals that suffer from factory farming, our health is also put at risk.
Forcing animals to live in close proximity to one another encourages the spread of harmful
bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella. Which are commonly associated with contaminated
eggs, poultry, meat, unpasteurized milk or juice, and cheese. (Food safety). E. coli can be easily

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found in some factory farmed animals water on a day to day basis. E coli is found in
contaminated water, including drinking untreated water and swimming in contaminated water.
With high numbers and confined spaces, factory farms can be the perfect breeding grounds for
infection. A large-scale UK survey found that battery-cage farms are six times more likely than
non-cage farms to be infected with the strain of salmonella most commonly associated with food
poisoning. (Veterinary Record (2010)). Factory farmed animals living conditions need to be
improved to reduce risk of disease to both animals and humans. In the long run if we dont take
care of the animals when they are alive and how we kill them it can ultimately affect our own
health.
Factory farmed animals are forced to live in tight unsanitary living space and stripped of
a life that they were given. The least we can do as consumers is provide a healthy clean
environment for factory farm animals, and a respectable means of killing them. Being boiled and
slaughtered alive just doesnt show the ideal of respectable.

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If you didn't know factory farming is the confinement of animals in tight rooms, boxes, metal
crates, wire cages the list can go on. This is a prime example of how pigs are tortured in factory
farms. Their entire bodies are crammed into a wired cage to avoid altercations and keep them in
one spot, they are not able to move.

Works Cited
"Disturbing Facts on Factory Farming & Food Safety." Disturbing Facts on Factory
Farming & Food Safety. Organic Consumer Association, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
"E. Coli." Food Safety, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/bacteriaviruses/ecoli/index.html>.
Efsa Journal. RESULTS ON ACRYLAMIDE LEVELS IN FOOD FROM MONITORING
YEARS 2007- 2009 AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT 1 (2007-2009): n. pag. EFSA.
Europen

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"Food." Food. Animal Equality, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

<http://www.animalequality.net/food>.
Food Safety Authority. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.
<http://www.efsa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/scientific_output/files/main_documents/21
33.pdf>.
"Farm Sanctuary." Factory Farming Cows. Farm Sanctuary, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.farmsanctuary.org/learn/factory-farming/dairy/>.
Garces, Leah. "Welfare Issues for Egg Laying Hens." Compassion in World Farming
USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016. <http://www.ciwf.com/farm-animals/chickens/egglaying-hens/welfare-issues/>.
Hodges, Cynthia F. "Detailed Discussion of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act."
Animal Legal and Historical Center. Michigan State University College of Law, 2010.
Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
"Stop Factory Farms." Stop Factory Farms. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.stopfactoryfarms.org/which-companies-use-humanely-raised-meat/>.
TheAnimalHolocaust. "Best Speech You Will Ever Hear - Gary Yourofsky." YouTube.
YouTube, 22 Dec. 2010. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.