Published in The News Eagle (Wayne/Pike Counties, PA)
I recently spent an enjoyable mid-afternoon watching "Chicken Run" at the local movie theater. In addition to being a very funny and clever film, it also puts chickens in the spotlight as Babe did for pigs. Though the animals in this film are animated clay creations, it conveys the intelligence, feelings, and distinct personalities of these oft-maligned birds. It also conveys the point that what you may eat at breakfast, lunch, and dinner has terrifying origins. Those of us in the animal-rights movement are thrilled with what has become one of the most successful movies of the year, despite the absurd fact that the producers agreed to allow Burger King to use the opportunity to promote beef.
Although some people who claim to be vegetarians eat poultry, chickens are not vegetables. They are feeling, social animals. Chickens can live for 15 years, but hens on commercial farms are "spent," or unable to produce enough eggs to remain profitable, after one or two years. (Such was the sad fate of the one of the movie’s endearing characters.) On both free-range and factory egg farms, male chicks are considered worthless: At birth, they are dumped into trash cans to suffocate one on top of another or thrown alive into a grinder.
The chickens in "Chicken Run" live on a pre-World War II-style free-range egg farm. The movie rightly likens their circumstance to a concentration camp. Dr. Karen Davis, President of United Poultry Concerns and a foremost authority on chickens, had this to say after visiting a modern free-range egg farm in Pennsylvania, "Through the netting at the front of the long barn we saw a sea of chickens' faces looking out, as though they were smashed up against the netting. Inside, the birds were wall to wall. They were severely debeaked and their feathers were in bad condition--straggly, drab, and worn off." All that "free-range" generally means to US egg producers is that hens are uncaged, not that they spend their lives happily enjoying space, fresh air, and sunshine. Worn-out free-range hens are usually sold to slaughterhouses or to live-poultry markets where they may wind up used in religious rituals. And, since no government laws or standards regulate the use of terms like "free-range" and "free-roaming," some free-range eggs may in fact be produced by hens who spend their lives in conventional battery cages.
If Ginger et al. from "Chicken Run" existed on a modern chicken farm, they would be forced to grow too big too fast, to live in filth, and to suffer from bacterial infections, heart or lung disease, crippled legs, and more. Ninety-eight percent of "layer" hens in this country are raised in tiny, crowded "battery" cages, with not enough room to even spread their wings. Cage floors are of wire mesh, so waste falls from the upper cages onto the chickens below. Sick birds are left to suffer and die without any care. Chickens raised for meat are kept in large warehouses, housing up to 25,000 birds, and permeated by the overpowering odor of ammonia. If the ventilating machines break down, or prove inadequate, thousands of chickens suffocate in a matter of hours. Millions of dollars are spent to hide such facts from consumers.
Nothing is left to nature anymore. In addition to unnatural living conditions and debeaking (a painful mutilation involving cutting or burning off the top of the beak), this is an almost completely automated industry, though the "products" are living beings. Feeding, lighting, and temperature are controlled by machines. Forced molting, accomplished by starving the hens for up to two weeks, impairs the immune system, thereby increasing chances of salmonella infestation. Banned in the United Kingdom, the first US bill is currently pending in California to outlaw this cruel and unhealthy practice.
As to the argument that chicken is a health food, think again. In addition to the threat of food poisoning, chicken contains the same amount of cholesterol and nearly the same amount of fat as beef. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine notes, "We all need some protein, and there is more than enough in grains, beans, and vegetables. The amount of protein consumed by Americans who eat meat has elevated their risks for serious health problems. Years ago, we believed there was no such thing as protein overload, but now we know it is a major culprit in calcium loss, causing osteoporosis." The commercial chickens one buys at the supermarket lived and breathed in unhealthy excrement. The poisoned gases rising from the accumulated droppings can also penetrate egg shells. Eggs have caused food poisoning and can contribute to obesity, heart disease, and other health problems.
In addition to any health threat, please remember this. Cruelty to animals is cruelty, whether it’s an innocent puppy left to die in a dumpster with its throat slashed or an innocent chicken, strung up by its legs, moving toward the neck-cutting machine, left to bleed out until it is lowered into the scald tank, often while still alive. Think of Ginger and Edwina. Real chickens may not have teeth, but they do feel. They can love and they do suffer! It is only our perception that makes it seem otherwise.
Return to Vegetarian: For Your Health, for the
Animals, for the Planet
by Teresa D'Amico