Cows
- In 2010, 34.2 million cattle were slaughtered for meat - Cows are incredibly social and sentimental animals - Cattle are regularly dosed with antibiotics - Calves are subject to painful and fear-causing mutilations including castration, dehorning, and branding with no pain relief - Irons used for branding are at about 950 °F and pressed into the skin of cows for multiple seconds - Calves are put on an extremely unnatural diet to make them gain weight faster to be ready for slaughter faster - Cows are kept in extremely crowded and fecal-filled feedlots where the air is saturated with ammonia, methane, and other harmful chemicals - Many cows are still conscious when their throats are slit as they hang by a leg and bleed out, crying out in pain as they slowly bleed to death |
Pigs
- Mother sows are kept in gestation crates barely larger than their bodies where they can't turn around - Piglet's testicles are ripped out and their tails are clipped off without pain killers - Pigs suffer from large, open wounds - Piglets that are deemed useless and smashed against the ground in order to crush their skulls, and then thrown into a pile of other piglets and slowly left to die - Pigs are ranked as the 6th most intelligent animal - Neurotic behaviors displayed by pigs in crates show the high levels of stress and frustration pigs suffer from - Bolt guns are used to stun the pig, which usually doesn't do it properly; during slaughter pigs are incredibly stressed and scared - Many pigs are bled out which still conscious |
Broilers
- 51.4 billions "broilers," chickens raised for meat, are slaughtered each year - Genetic alteration has caused chickens to grow at a much faster rate, about 65% faster than normal, leading to broken legs, congestive heart failure, and other health problems - This genetic alternation means chickens are killed at around 42 days old, where their natural lifespan is 10 to 15 years - A chicken has an average of a square foot in which to live when shoved in the standard housing - Thousands of chickens are killed each hour at slaughterhouses - To be slaughtered, chickens are hung by their feet on a conveyer belt and their throats are slit, which does not consistently kill the chickens, which causes them to be fully conscious when plunged into a vat of scalding water - Chickens carry salmonella, e.coli, and other bacteria and spread them when dipped in water vats - 140 chickens are killed per minute - Chickens are regularly given antibiotics to prevent disease brought on by poor sanitary conditions, close-quarter confinement, and damaged genetics. |
Fish
- Scientific studies confirm that fish feel pain, their pain receptors are striking similar to that of mammals - More than marine mammals die each year from ingestion of and entanglement in fishing debris - Bycatch, or species not purposely caught by large trawling ships, die on a regular basis and include marine mammals, sharks, and seabirds |
Dairy
- Mother cows cannot feed their calves and have milk to sell, so 21 million dairy calves are slaughtered every year around the world - Cows share a very strong bond with their calves - 97% of daily calves are forcibly removed within the first 24 hours after birth, causing severe separation anxiety in the mother cow - Male calves have no use to the dairy industry and if not killed are destined to be veal, living for only about 16 to 20 weeks - Veal calves are chained by their necks into small wooden crates that are not even big enough for them to turn around in; they are also fed an iron deficient diet in order to prohibit muscle growth - Cows are forcibly, artificially, and repeatedly impregnated - Since cows are forced into increased milk production, mastitis is common - Most dairy cows are confined to tight indoor living conditions and unable to carry out basic behaviors - Dairy cows become unproductive after 4 to 5 years and are slaughtered, where as there natural lifespan is 20 to 25 years |
Eggs/ Layers
- "Layer" refers to hens who are used for egg production - 5 hens usually share a cage that is around 18 square inches - Stress causes hens to die within 1 to 2 years, whereas their natural lifespan is 15 to 20 years - Genetic manipulation has increased the natural annual number of 10 to 15 eggs to 200 to 300 eggs per year which leads to frequent disease and mortality - Sensitive beaks are cut off in order to prevent pecking due to stressful conditions - Male chicks provide no profit for the industry, so 6 million newborn make chicks are killed annually - Unwanted chicks are either thrown into bins to crush and suffocate one another, gassed, or are put into a grinder that grinds them alive, and still sometimes doesn't fully kill them but only partly damages them leaving them to die slowly - Studies show chicks are more intelligent, alert, and aware of their surrounding than human toddlers |
Fur
- A majority of animals used for fur are kept on fur farms - Farmed animals include mink, foxes, rabbits, chinchillas, raccoons, beavers, and lynxes - Animals are kept in small cages, which leads of emotional stress - These animals suffer physical trauma in the small wire cages - Killing methods for farmed animals include gassing, electrocution, neck-snapping - Sometimes the animals are not fully killed and wake up while being skinned alive, only to bleed to death in a pile of other corpses - Trapping is another common method to get fur from coyotes, where it may take days for the hunter to come and kill them - About 1 in 4 trapped animals end up chewing off their own foot or leg to escape, only to die later from blood loss or infection |
Leather
- In 2016, 290 million cows were being killed annually for leather It is estimated by 2025, 430 million cows will need to be slaughtered annually - Cattle are tortured, abused, and then skinned in front of each other - Workers, including children, are abused as well; they work in dangerous conditions that involved dangerous chemicals - Leather is not only made from cows, but also from goats, crocodiles, seals, emu, kangaroos, horses, dogs and cats among other animals - Contrary to popular belief, leather is not a by product from beef, but comes from a completely separate group of cows that mostly come from India - To prevent exhaustion while traveling long distances, chili or tobacco is rubbed in the eyes of the cows |
Wool
- Domesticated sheep have been bred to not be able to shed their own wool and can die of heat exhaustion - Mulesing: when wool gets too long, flies lay eggs that grow into maggots that eat the sheep; so, farmers cut off large strips of flesh, without anesthesia, off the backs of sheep - A million sheep die each year from cold exposure from being shearing too early - Rough handling causes injury to sheep - When they don't produce enough wool, they are sent to slaughter |
Down
- Down is the soft undercoating fowl have to keep them warm - Live-picking, or "harvesting" of feathers happens usually every 6-7 weeks - Can leading to bleeding follicles and skin damage, like tears - An estimated 50%-80% of down is plucked from live birds |