Help Make National Chicken Month One for the Birds |
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September 11, 2006
In an attempt to increase sales, the National Chicken Council—an agribusiness industry trade group—has declared September "National Chicken Month." One thing the industry certainly won't trot out in its PR efforts this month: its poor record on animal welfare.
The nine billion chickens used for food each year in the United States suffer terribly both on the factory farm and during slaughter. These animals are genetically selected to rapidly gain weight and, as a result, suffer from serious welfare problems including painful leg disorders and heart failure.
During slaughter, the fully conscious birds are shackled upside-down, a painful and terrifying process. They are then electrocuted into immobility, but not unconsciousness. Their throats are cut. Those who miss the blade drown in tanks of scalding water designed to loosen their feathers.
As increasing numbers of consumers learn about the realities of chicken production and slaughter, the National Chicken Council developed voluntary industry guidelines for chicken producers to try to assure the public that the industry takes animal welfare seriously. However, the program still allows so much abuse that animal scientist Dr. Temple Grandin stated in the July, 2006 issue of Meat & Poultry that "the National Chicken Council Animal Welfare audit has a scoring system that is so lax that [it] allows plants or farms with really bad practices to pass."
According to The HSUS' Factory Farming Campaign director Paul Shapiro, "If the chicken industry wants to prove that it's serious about reducing animal suffering, two good steps include moving away from astronomical growth rates and replacing conventional slaughter methods with those proven to cause far less suffering."
You Can Help
1. Ask the USDA to protect chickens from the worst slaughter abuses.
2. Follow the Three R's in your own diet.
3. Check out HSUS' list of chicken-friendly products.
See the Video
Battery-Cage Eggs
Electric Stunning
Fast Growth
Related Links
About Chickens
Choice Eats: Chicken-Friendly Products
Wondering What The "UEP Certified" Logo Means?
Scientists and Experts on Battery Cages and Laying Hen Welfare
