Farm Animal Issues:
"We cannot solve the problems we have created with the same thinking that created them." -Albert Einstein
The Winnipeg Humane Society is working to eliminate practices which cause farm
animals distress and suffering through educating the consumer, lobbying government, and consulting with farm groups.
The Winnipeg Humane Society Certified
A first for Canada, meat carrying The Winnipeg Humane Society Label is
now available in Winnipeg.
Click here for more information
Factory farming
Factory farms that use intensive confinement systems deny animals many
of their most basic behavioural and physical needs. Either through confinement
in
cages or overcrowding in feedlots and pens, the animals aren't able
to interact socially in a normal manner. These unnatural conditions often
lead
to aggression
amongst the animals, as well as boredom, frustration and stress.
The livestock industry often claims that these animals would not reproduce
so well if they were stressed. However, we can look at puppy and kitty
mills to see that this logic isn't true.
Drugs and hormones are routinely fed to these animals to combat the potential for disease outbreak, which is a much higher risk with so many animals so closely confined. These drugs are also given to speed up the animals' growth.
Pigs
90 percent of pigs in Manitoba are raised on factory farms, crowded
into pens with no straw for rooting in or nesting.
- Sows, the females
used for breeding, are individually confined in gestation crates and
then farrowing
crates so small that they can't even turn around. They must carry
out all of their life functions (eating, sleeping, urinating, defecating,
giving
birth to their young and nursing their young) in this one small area.
- The weanling pigs are living in pens on slatted or concrete floors above
pits containing their own urine and feces, breathing the fumes
of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide that rise from their waste.
Chickens
- Laying hens used to produce eggs live in battery cages - at least
three and as many as eight per cage.
- Each bird has a living
space only the size of an average mouse pad (approx. 64 sq. inches)
- Battery hens are never able to spread their wings, stretch
or preen their feathers.
- Battery hens are never able to "dust" on the ground or perch, as chickens naturally want to do.
What you can do!
- Educate yourself and your friends about how farm animals
are raised.
- Ask for humanely raised meat at your local grocery
store.
- Consider decreasing the amount of meat you eat.
E-mail Bill at billm@humanesociety.mb.ca for more information.
Visit www.hogwatchmanitoba.org, www.humanefood.ca and www.factoryfarm.org for
more information on these topics and other farm animal
issues.
