Shining Light on Farm Animal Cruelty: A Review of "Beyond Closed Doors" |
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November 30, 2006
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Factory farms: cruel and out of step |
By Paul Shapiro
Beyond Closed Doors
Sandgrain Films 2006
Running Time: 57 minutes
Purchase the DVD
In director Hugh Dorigo's new film, "Beyond Closed Doors," veterinarian Emily Levine asks, "How many scientists and veterinarians and Ph.Ds is it going to take to realize that an animal with four legs might want to walk?" As elementary as this is, in today's world of factory farming, this is exactly the type of question still being debated.
While most Americans may not have trouble understanding that animals with legs should be given a chance to walk, even this basic need is denied to hundreds of millions of laying hens and millions of calves and pigs at any given moment in our country. Moreover, billions of other farm animals suffer from a variety of welfare problems, most notably intensive genetic selection for astronomical rates of productivity.
Expert Witnesses
Dorigo's film features interviews with an impressive list of people involved in farm animal welfare work, from scientists and veterinarians to authors and theologians. Many of the interviewees persuasively make the point that the practices associated with today's system of factory farming are not only cruel and inhumane, but are also out of step with the ethical sensibilities of our society. The film includes discussions of several efforts to improve the welfare of farm animals, including the 2006 ballot initiative in Arizona that banned the confinement of calves in veal crates and breeding pigs in gestation crates.
Several of the interviewees refute the common agribusiness defense for intensive confinement—that animals wouldn't produce if they weren't happy—noting that hyper-productivity causes some of the most serious welfare problems and that even humans in extremely stressful situations, such as those in dire poverty or in prison camps, still "produce" (they work, eat, reproduce, and so on).
Legal Revelations
Two of the more shocking revelations in the film involve the widespread lack of legal protection offered to animals on factory farms, as well as the concerted efforts of agribusiness to criminalize the actions of those who seek to expose the suffering of these animals. While there is no significant federal legal protection for "food animals" while on farms, many state anti-cruelty codes generally exempt common farming practices, no matter how abusive. And rather than trying to address the rampant disregard for the welfare of animals on factory farms, some state legislatures—such as Missouri's—are enacting new laws that make it a crime simply to photograph or videotape factory-farmed animals, as is commonly done by anti-cruelty investigators working on exposés to inform the public about such abuse.
While "Beyond Closed Doors" offers a disturbing glimpse into animal agribusiness, it unfortunately does not include interviews with any defenders of the status quo. Even though the film is clearly an editorial against factory farming, some type of response from an agribusiness official would have definitely added to it. Dorigo does note that he was turned down by officials from the pork industry and the American Veterinary Medical Association (typically a defender of factory farming practices), but it is hard to imagine that there was literally no one from the industry willing to talk.
Consumer Choices
Toward the end, the film discusses several of the alternatives to factory farming, from choosing vegetarian options to choosing animal products that come from animals who suffered less than those on factory farms.
Regardless of where viewers are on the spectrum of personal eating habits, there is little doubt that they will come away from "Beyond Closed Doors" with a sense that there is something dramatically wrong with the way we treat farm animals today and that our society must address this serious problem.
Paul Shapiro is the director of the Factory Farming Campaign for The Humane Society of the United States.
See the Video
Battery-Cage Eggs
Confinement by Crate
Electric Stunning
Foie Gras
Related Links
An HSUS Report: The Welfare of Animals in the Meat, Egg, and Dairy Industries
Humane Eating and the Three Rs
A Pragmatic Primer for Making a Difference: The Way We Eat
The Case for a Plant-Centered Diet
The Jungle: Upton Sinclair's Roar Is Even Louder to Animal Advocates Today
The Dirty Six: The Worst Practices in Agribusiness
About Farm Animals
