From one being to another

For years I have been angry and saddened by the cruelty that goes on in factory farms. Anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about animal welfare and animal rights and how deeply affected I am by this issue in particular. I have been frustrated by my own feelings and unsure what I can do or what I should do to best help these suffering animals.

Yesterday it dawned on me that rather than going to law school or going into politics or starting my own animal welfare or animal rights organization, the best thing I can do is to help these animals is to encourage people to keep talking about the issue and keep educating other people through simple conversation. It's not even about trying to get the whole world to go vegan (although I can easily give you a bunch of reasons why that would be great), but rather about helping to educate people about what goes on in factory farms and how we can all do our part to help change the situation. If you and I can talk about it then we can both talk about it with someone else and then those other people can share what they know and before you know it the information is being widely dispersed and all through regular people. I've seen this happen in my own life numerous times. I've seen friends and family members realize what was going on and make small changes in their own lives that can make huge changes in the factory farm business and more importantly, in the lives of billions of animals. I've even seen quite a few people slowly go from meat eaters to vegetarians to vegans, all from simple conversation and education.

For years agribusiness has spent time and money making sure that people believe they need lots of meat and dairy in order to be healthy. The sad part is that their efforts have worked and the result has been an increased demand for these animal products and huge profits for them. For everyone else, however, the result has been hugely detrimental. Levels of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues have risen dramatically among Americans (as well as those in other countries now following the standard American diet). Even worse than our failing health, which we have the ability to reverse through better food choices, is the unbelievable suffering that animals in factory farms have to endure. It's hard to believe that we live in a country that condones this type of cruelty and suffering. After all, we are a "civilized" country. Unfortunately we're more driven by money than by compassion or good will or anything else you might expect to find in a civilized land.

There are many great organizations committed to abolishing factory farms as well as many dedicated activists who put their time, effort, and money into helping the cause. In my personal experience, I've found that sometimes people have been alienated by my views or by those of certain organizations because they think they're being personally attacked for eating meat. My intention with this blog is to create a place dedicated only to helping animals and to keeping the conversation about the horrors that go on in factory farms as well as related topics going, not to villainize non-vegetarians. I believe that all people, regardless of whether they eat meat or not, need to know what is happening to the billions of animals affected every year. As a country we need to stop denying how dire the situation is. There aren't very many people who could step into a factory farm, observe what's happening there every minute of every day, and walk away unaffected. Even people who aren't animal lovers know what's happening is wrong, if, of course, they know what's happening at all.

Today I watched a video on cnn.com that discussed the proposed laws in multiple states that would make it illegal to take any pictures or video on factory farms. This powerful and wealthy industry doesn't want us to know what's going on in these places because they know the overwhelming majority of people will not agree with it. They would prefer to perpetuate this vicious industry in secret as long as it maximizes their profits. Animals are machines to them and all they care about is their bottom line. It will get worse and worse if we let it, as long as agribusiness can find more ways to make money in the name of animal exploitation and abuse. When I saw this video I knew I had to do my part to encourage people to talk about this issue and I had to start now. Agribusiness may have tons of money, powerful lobbyists, and plenty of politicians in their pockets, but ultimately consumers have the power. By passing this information on from one being to another we can change this system and help the multitudinous animals who suffer the most egregious abuses imaginable, all in the  name of profit and palate.

I believe that from simple conversations about factory farming and the beautiful, sentient beings who suffer as a result of it, we can create small changes in the behaviors and habits of large numbers of people. Through these small changes we improve our own health, help the environment which is also affected tremendously by the modern "farming" practices and most importantly, help the countless animals whose cries and torment go unheard. We are all beings on this planet and we all deserve to be happy and free. May we have the courage to face and eventually destroy the abomination that is factory farming. May we not turn our backs in the bliss of ignorance on our fellow beings who suffer needlessly. May we always keep the conversation going from one being to another, from one being for another until there is nothing left to talk about.

Farm Sanctuary, Watkins Glen, NY. Just like nature intended.

Taken at Farm Sanctuary, Watkins Glen, NY. Tired after a day of grazing. You'll notice her tag has a name, not a number. 

What is factory farming and why should you care?

Many people have heard of factory farming but what is it and why is it really so bad? Isn't it basically just farmers providing food for millions of people and isn't that a good thing? Sure, I can agree that feeding millions of people is great, but when it comes to doing it at the expense of billions of animals, the environment and even people, I must disagree. Furthermore, the current factory farming system is actually totally inefficient, utilizing a tremendous amount of resources for a very small output of food, but I'll explore that in detail some other day.

Let's investigate the CAFO (Concentrated animal feeding operation) or factory farm. Actually let's first just look at the "AFO" (animal feeding operation) part of that. According to the EPA, "AFOs congregate animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operations on a small land area. Feed is brought to the animals rather than the animals grazing or otherwise seeking feed in pastures, fields, or on rangeland." I don't know about you, but my mouth is watering already at the thought of animals, their poo, and their dead friends all congregating in the production of human food! Remember folks, that last quote came straight from the Environmental Protection Agency, a government agency, not an animal rights group.

The only difference between the AFO and the CAFO is the number of animals stuffed into one facility. According to the EPA this CAFOs fall into 3 categories: small, medium and large. Just to give you a sense of exactly what these standards are, a small CAFO would house fewer than 3000 swine, 16,500 turkeys or 37,500 chickens. Doesn't sound very small, does it? However,  a large CAFO would house more than 10,000 swine, 82,000 laying hens or more, and a whopping 125,000 chickens or more. Of course, they also have numbers listed for cows, veal calves, ducks, and other animals.

So what do all of these numbers mean exactly? Let's look into it a little further. CAFOs, commonly referred to as "factory farms" are defined by wikipedia.com as "a term referring to the process of raising livestock in confinement at high stocking density, where a farm operates as a factory--a practice typical in industrial farming by agribusinesses." The goal of a factory farm is to squish as many animals into the smallest space possible in order to produce the most "product" and of course, make the most profit. Essentially, it's an assembly line of live animals that can feel pain. According to wikipedia "confinement at high stocking density requires antibiotics and pesticides to mitigate the spread of disease and pestilence exacerbated by these crowded living conditions". Basically what you have is a huge number of animals living in total confinement, often unable to turn around or even rest comfortably, usually forced to stand on concrete or wooden slats, sometimes stacked on top of one another or squished into small pens or cages next to each other, living in their own excrement oftentimes among dead animals who were too sick or injured to survive in these squalid conditions. In order to remedy this filthy and miserable situation, agribusiness employs the use (overuse) of antibiotics and pesticides. So rather than clean up these miserable animal concentration camps, they use chemicals, which, needless to say, come with their own host of resulting problems, but again, I'll explore that issue later.

I'll discuss the plights of specific animals on factory farms in later entries, I just wanted to give a brief overview of the disgusting and miserable conditions of factory farms. If it doesn't sound that bad now when I get into details you'll really understand the horror and severity of the situation. Not to mention there are literally 10 billion animals who live, die, and suffer in factory farms in the U.S. every year. 


I'd like to leave this entry off with a video of factory farming. This is actually what happens in factory farms. Watching it is really the best way to fully understand the barbarity inflicted on these "farms". You can stop the video, turn away in horror, and try to forget all about it, or you can allow yourself to see firsthand the suffering these animals endure and find out what you can do to help alleviate the misery and pain. I hope you will choose the latter--educating ourselves about this matter is truly the first step to living a compassionate life that sets an example for others. As Gandhi said, you have to "be the change you want to see in the world."