A Hands-On Method to Stop the Mistreatment of Livestock 1

A Hands-On Method to Stop the Mistreatment of Livestock

Michelle Smith
Estrella Mountain Community College
English 102
Mrs. Petty





A Hands-On Method to Stop the Mistreatment of Livestock 2
A Hands-On Method to Stop the Mistreatment of Livestock
Violence can be aimlessly directed towards any living organism, and unfortunately the
most silent victims are the ones that cannot speak a language known to man: animals. There are
an abundance of misinformed and oblivious consumers in the American society in regards to the
abuse that happens behind the scenes of a food factory, especially the violence against chickens.
When poultry becomes non-compliant, factory workers take the opportunity to torture them to
get the desired reaction. Not only does this kind of behavior harm the animals, but it also creates
a bigger risk of unsanitary conditions; moreover, this means that there is a higher chance of
contaminated meat being sent out to be eaten by the public. More citizens need to be informed of
the torture that is inflicted on chickens on a daily basis before the issue becomes an even larger
crisis. The abuse of chickens is common within the food industry, so regulations should be set
for both the factory owner and his or her workers by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA) to provide the chickens with guaranteed safety.
Nearly every animal that is put through a food company is mistreated, but some of the
most abused animals are chickens. Because the few laws that have been enacted only protect
cattle and pigs, chickens are subject to many forms of ill-treatment. There is no punishment for
the people who harm these animals because there are no laws that stop the abuse. Over the years,
the abuse of chickens has increased and due to an increase of Genetically Modified Food (GMO)
injections, their space is rapidly diminishing as they grow (Volpe, 2005). GMO is a chemical
that makes animals grow faster and larger than natural, which allows factories to make the most
profit in a shorter amount of time. There have not been many updates since Voples article was
written in 2005, so this means that chickens are still exposed to cruelty. In order to help keep
poultry from abuse before they are slaughtered, there needs to be more reform of the process of
A Hands-On Method to Stop the Mistreatment of Livestock 3
slaughter. One method that has yet to be practiced is inserting PETA workers to look over the
workers to impose the regulations
Ideas have been put into motion that insist that it is the solution to the animal abuse
problem; however, most of those actions have proven to be failures. There have been a few laws
that have been created to safeguard some animals, but Chickens are excluded from the federal
Humane Slaughter Act, which requires stunning prior to slaughter ... (Volpe, 2005).
Unfortunately, this means that factory workers can use any means necessary to get the chickens
to fall in line for slaughter, even if that means that abusive methods are taken. Evidently, the
measures already taken to protect livestock have left out other animals that are deemed less
important. To create a proper, abuse-free system, the laws need to recognize all animals that are
packaged for the public. Chicken mistreatment is an ongoing problem that needs to be addressed,
and the laws from the past have neglected to include poultry. Having PETA come in to rescue
these animals from abuse will prove victorious over any of the other failed solutions because this
would mean that there are live observers to catch the perpetrators. The reason why the other
regulations have failed is because there was not a physical being there to force these food
corporations to abide by the rules; with PETA in the building, there will not be any opportunities
to cut corners.
The only way to enforce the regulations that are placed upon the food industries is by
taking a hands-on approach and sending people from PETA in to observe all interactions with
the chickens. Companies have been fighting to keep the vision of the public away from their live
produce, which makes their actions more conspicuous. Owners are aware of their lax rules and
how loosely they discipline their workers, but they play oblivious to the questions that concerned
animal rights activists ask. Considering that there are already those who want to capture the
A Hands-On Method to Stop the Mistreatment of Livestock 4
factory workers who abuse animals, it would be convenient to use them to report back to the
organization PETA. Workers who abuse the animals will be dismissed from work, so factory
owners will not necessarily be adding and additional amount of people to their payroll; this
leaves little room for owners to complain or refuse the PETA employees. PETA workers will
simply come in and act like a part of the normal routine. He or she will walk around the building
and inspect the actions of the factory workers as a manager would; and, if necessary, they will
report back to PETA if they see any misconduct. They will both be able to stop the abuse in
progress as well as relieve the worker of his or her position to guarantee that such behaviors will
not be tolerated. Not only will this help keep the chickens and turkeys safe, but it will also help
keep the packaging process orderly.
The most important aspect of having more regulations set on factory owners and workers
is that animals will not be tortured in as many food factories. One of the procedures that the
factory workers take to keep the chickens valuable is de-beaking, which is a painful process that
uses a hot knife, and cuts through this horn of sensitive tissue causing severe pain. This is
done without any anesthesia or pain killers (Volpe, 2005). If humans are given the chance to
voice their pain, then animals who will eventually be fed to the public should have the same
consideration. A procedure that causes such a vast amount of pain must be stopped, and PETA is
the kind of organization that takes swift action. The PETA workers will be paid the same amount
of any other factory worker, so that way the owners have less of a complaint about hiring new
staff members. The only true difference is that PETA workers are passionate about saving
animals, whereas with most of the factory workers, the chickens are just objects that are involved
with their job. Many other animals get attention for being mistreated, much like the cattle
involved in the Hallmark Meat Packing scandal (Fiala, 2008), but there has yet to be justice for
A Hands-On Method to Stop the Mistreatment of Livestock 5
poultry. Even before the initial physical torture, chickens are filled with chemicals that push their
bodies beyond physical limits in a bid to cope with their rapid growth (Brown, 2011).
Animals should not be tortured before they are killed to be eaten; the least that factories
can do before they slaughter is make sure that the animals are given the respect that every
organism deserves. It is entirely immoral to kick, prod, suffocate, and wound any living creature;
factories have gotten too used to treating animals as production units (Brown, 2011). Chickens
are much more than pieces of meat. They have nerve endings, and they are very capable of
feeling pain. PETA will be there to make sure that factory workers are doing their job correctly,
and they will also keep a watch over how well factory owners rebuke the workers delinquency.
Factory workers are so programmed to get their jobs done as quickly as possible that they forget
that they are handling living creatures. Because the workers are working so rushed to get the
chickens in cages so they can be sent off, broken wings and legs are a common outcome
(Brown, 2011). Careless handling will come to an end with the watchful eyes of PETA looking
over how well the works proceed with their job in fast paced conditions.
Too many people are oblivious as to where their food comes from, so their needs to be
more information disseminated to inform them about what they are eating. Chickens that are
soon to be packaged are already living in unnatural conditions, so with the help of PETA, the
chickens can have a better life before they are slaughtered. There is no way around trying to get
millions of meat produced other than by utilizing large factories, but Factory farming is
sanctioned cruelty (Brown, 2011). PETA can help push factories into letting the animals have a
limited period of time to live outside of cages. Not only will this help keep the problem of the
chickens going insane from being kept in close contact and little sunlight, but it will also make
the end product healthier to eat. In turn, the factories will make more money off of morally
A Hands-On Method to Stop the Mistreatment of Livestock 6
correct procedures of slaughtering poultry, and more people will know how their chicken got
onto their plate.
PETA can help stop the abuse of chicken that is caused by the workers in large food
corporations. Americans especially are oblivious to how terribly most livestock is treated before
they are killed. Animal abuse is one of the many reasons why some people are turning
vegetarian; sadly, the amount that remain meat eaters are willing to remain silent or unconscious
of how horrible the environment that factory chickens live in is. The more people who are aware
of this monstrous situation, the more the society can enforce the regulations set by PETA. With
the hands-on help that PETA can provide, there will be a safer and cleaner place for animals and
factory workers to cohabitate. As moral creatures, humans owe it to the chickens that are
harassed every day to solve the issue of abuse. Violence is not an appropriate measure to use
against any living creature, especially the creatures that will never be able to speak for
themselves against their oppressors.








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References
Brown, S. (2011). Do They Not Bleed? Canadian Dimension, 45(4), 23.
Fiala, J. (2008). Animal-abuse scandal triggers largest meat recall in history. DVM: The
Newsmagazine of Veterinary Medicine, 39(3), 6-8.
Vople, T. (2005). The Fast-Food Industry Contributes to the Abuse of Animals. In T. B. Collins
(Ed.), At Issue. Fast Food. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from The Fast Food
Craze: Wreaking Havoc on Our Bodies and Our Animals, 2005, Parks, AZ: Canyon
Publishing).