Let’s Think About Farmed Animals on World Thinking Day
Across the globe, 22nd February is celebrated as World Thinking Day. In the year 1926, delegates from Guide and Girl Scouts organizations across the world decided to create a day to celebrate being part of an international movement. It was called World Thinking Day, which the organizations would use as an opportunity to study and acknowledge the cultures of various countries and increase awareness and understanding of global issues.
This year, the theme for World Thinking Day is “Our World: Our Equal Future: The Environment and Gender Equality.” It aims to spread awareness about how the lives of women are affected by climate change.
As the day encourages all of us to think about this pressing issue, we must consider another global concern that affects the environment and give it some thought – animal cruelty and factory farming. They go hand in hand and affect the health of not only individuals but also the planet. Let’s dive deep and explore some thoughts about animal cruelty to ponder over this World Thinking Day.
Where do dairy, eggs, and meat come from?
Dairy, eggs, and meat come from farmed animals and birds. These creatures are tied up, caged, tortured and exploited of in various ways. The neatly arranged products on retails shelves and outlets hide behind them a grim reality that seldom comes to light. We only see the products they give us. But we never know what they have been through. They silently suffer to provide for us and satisfy mankind’s animal product needs.
How do these animals suffer?
In developed nations like the US, up to 99% of animals used for dairy, meat, or eggs are kept in factory farms. Here, a large number of these animals are crammed into cages, crates, or other enclosures inside unhygienic, unventilated sheds.
The factory farming industry is only looking out to maximize the yield of animal products and increase profits at the lowest possible costs. Unfortunately, it is always at the expense of the animal’s health and life. Factory farms make loads of money by cramming thousands of animals into tiny spaces. These animals are kept away from their natural surroundings.
To help you understand the scale of animal cruelty at factory farms, over 40 billion chickens are forced to live in overcrowded factory farms each year. They are forced to live in tiny spaces. They are made to function like machines to meet the growing meat, milk, and egg demands of our population. They can barely breathe fresh air, move in the cages, or feel the warm sun unless they are being moved to the slaughterhouse. Some animals even die due to infection or disease.
Imagine the condition of more than 10,000 animals crammed in a small barn or room. Here are some of the atrocities committed on animals that have to endure the torture day in day out.
- Animals are given very little space. They cannot even turn around or sit comfortably. They suffer injury and pain due to these dire circumstances.
- Due to lack of space, they are forced to sit or lie in their own waste. These unsanitary conditions make them more prone to diseases and infections.
- Animals often have their teeth clipped or ground and tails cut off. Many are beaten and tortured as well.
- Factory-farmed animals are force fed and given hormones and antibiotics to make them grow faster and larger and produce more milk or eggs. Some animals grow so big that they can’t walk on their own legs. In such cases, the animals can’t even reach their food or water and may die of starvation or dehydration.
- By the time the animals grow, most of their bodies wear out from producing milk or eggs.
- They are then taken to slaughterhouses. Animals raised for slaughter are packed into trucks and transported over long distances without food, water, or sufficient air.
- Many animals die en route the slaughterhouse. Those who survive are killed. Often their throats are slit while they’re conscious. They are then skinned or cut apart mercilessly.
Animal farming takes away all the basic rights to freedom from animals. Just because they don’t voice their emotions, it doesn’t mean they don’t feel fear, anxiety, or pain. It’s time to think about them and the life they deserve, just like humans.
Think About Animals
Factory farms not only promote animal cruelty and abuse but they are extremely bad for the environment. As we go about our daily lives, we tend to forget that, animals are sentient beings that feel emotions and wish to live. And what gives us the power to take away the basic rights of these helpless animals? We can be just as compassionate to animals as we are to each other. So this World Thinking Day, give some thought to the millions of helpless farmed animals. To act on it now, you can switch to plant-based foods and let the animals enjoy their right to live freely.
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