Factory Farmers: America's Very Own Bullies Essay

Our nation’s industrial farming has become more than just feeding people; it has become a way for the food industry to make more money as human population continues to grow. Jonathan Safran Foer in his book Eating Animals, illustrates the effects factory farming has had on animals meant for human consumption. Furthermore, Foer asks many questions to the reader on what will it take for us to change our ways before we say enough is enough. The questions individuals need to be asking themselves are: how do we deal with the problem of factory farming, and what can people do to help solve these issues? Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, also illustrates the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry as well as Bernard Rollin and Robert Desch in their article “Farm Factories”, both demonstrate what is wrong today with factory farming. Foer gives such examples of employees who work in slaughterhouses giving accounts of what goes on in the kill floors, and stories of employees who have witnessed thousands and thousands of cows going through the slaughter process alive (Animals 231). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, both address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only how people eat, but also the negative effects our climate endures as a result of factory farming as illustrated by Anna Lappe in “The Climate Crisis at the End

Factory Farming is an increasing industry in the United States. These large farms, which evidently appear to be more like slaughterhouses than the typical farms a person can imagine are located throughout the United States. These factory farms contain animals ranging from chickens, sheep, goats, cows, turkeys, and pigs, they also contain dairy products. The conditions for the animals and the employees of these factory farms are inhumane and vile. Life behind the walls of the factory farm is both unsanitary for the animals and the employees. Employees are forced to endure long hours and poor treatment. Animals in these conditions withstand living in cages and are forced to live in uninhabitable ways.

Factory farming has many flaws in the system, animal abuse is one that is usually over looked by owners of these farms. Many works while on this farm are exposed to the cruelty that the animals go through but often can do very little to change it. “Factory farms pack animals into spaces so tight that most can barely move. Many have no access to the outdoors, spending their lives on open warehouse floors, or housed in cages or pens.” (aspca) Without the room to engage in natural behaviors, animals become exposed to severe physical and mental distress. Many animals become trampled to death and never experience the proper life

Even though higher yields are met for demand and human consumption, factory farming is cruel to animals due to the fact animals are often subject to harsh living conditions, more susceptible to diseases and injuries and are treated inhumanely during the slaughtering process. Unfortunately, with an increase in human population worldwide, the strain on farmers to meet the demand increases as well. This in turn causes more animals to be subject to this cruelty.

The idea of animal rights has been around for centuries. Even decades ago, people were taking action for the welfare of animals. Marc Bekoff and Ned Hettinger share this idea all the way back in 1994 when they said that there is evidence that scientist are concerned with animal welfare by acknowledge that they use the guidelines in place to protect animals during research, in order to have their work published (Bekoff 219). Guidelines are the basis for the moral and ethical treatment of animals. Each person may have his or her own standard, but having a standard among the entire population ensures the welfare of the animals. Unfortunately, these standards are not at a level to where the animals are being protected. Many animals in captivity are treated in ways that would shock the average person. Orcas for example, are starved until they do the desired task (Cowperthwaite). This form of operant condition can lead to success, but often leads to resentment and hostility towards the trainers.

Seems rhetorical, but the fact is animals live through this everyday, without even given the choice. As humans, we establish our authority among all living beings, but for what reasons? Are humans better than all other species? Or is it true that we should hold a precedence over nonhuman animals? The ultimate question then remains, should animals have as much or equal to the same rights as humans? Their are endless arguments for and against this question, and many sub arguments that go hand in hand with each side. In this paper, I will discuss the definition of what animal rights entails and expand on the history that developed it’s meaning. Furthermore, I will thoroughly discuss, reason, and explain each opinion presented by our current society as well as the positions held by previous philosophers. Lastly, I will draw a conclusion to the opinions presented by discussing my personal position on the argument of animal rights.

All of the factory farms need to be stopped and taken down. We need more family farms, family farms are the safest healthiest places food comes from. Factory farms have air pollution, water pollution, and mono cultures. Also in factory farms when it comes to the animals they give them all these antibiotics, hormones, and pesticides. Family farms do not do anything to drug the animals. Family farms take real good care of all their animals while factory farms don't care about their animals one little bit. So if family farms care more about their animals than they care about the people's health also. If the factory farms don't care about their animals then they don't care about the people's health. Keeping the animals healthy and safe means the people will be healthy and safe and will not have to worry about themselves getting sick or overweight. In Wendell Berry’s article “The Pleasures of Eating” he said “The dreamer in this dream home will perforce know nothing about the kind of quality of this food, or where it came from, or how it was produced and prepared, or what ingredients, additives, and residues it contains” Usually when people buy meats at grocery stores, they buy meat without knowing where it was made, how it was made, and how many chemicals it has. Also known as pig in a poke. The people that do this buy the meats without knowing the harmful things it can do with the human body,

However, there are other people who hold the opposite opinions. They considered the method of factory farming as a dangerous plunge. They would rather use traditional farming methods than factory farming. In their perspective, factory farming maximizes agribusiness profits at the expense of animal welfare, our environment and our health (www.factory-farming.com,10/10/2016). Farm animals, such as pigs and cows, are often raised in extreme confinement while bearing cruel abasements. As Jane Goodall said, farm animals could feel the emotions that a human being have. And they deserve their own right as individuals. It would be a horrible and memorable experience

Farming methods before the concept of factory farming were more safe and healthy. The animals were fed better. No antibiotics were needed for the animals, either. It also required more manual labor. This is why factory farming came to be, as people did not want to do so much manually. But, despite being less physically demanding, factory farming is bad for both the animals

Animal rights are very limited in our world today. According to an article entitled All

Factory farming sees animals as simple food products, not as living and breathing beings. “Factory farming continues to grow around the world as a low-cost way of producing animal products for human consumption. However, many of the practices associated with intensive animal farming have been criticized by public health professionals and animal welfare advocates.”(Anomaly, 2015) The animals in a factory farm are not treated with care, and are stuffed into tiny cages and pens with multiple other animals. They do not have any room to move or exercise, and live bleak and dreary lives up until the point they are reduced to simple food products. Factory farms show no respect for the

In the United States there are strict laws regarding animal rights. There is zero tolerance for animal cruelty. Animal Cruelty Laws state, if anyone harms or kills an animal without proper justification they are committing a crime and is punishable by law. The law states that no one can kill an animal until they have become a threat to the society with something such as disease, which could be harmful for the society. Animal rights are changing every day. Rich, Alex K. Wagner, Geraldine. "Animal Rights: An Overview." Points of View, January. EBSCOhost, evansville.libproxy.ivytech.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.evansville.libproxy.ivytech.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=89158049&site=eds-live.

Every living being has some rights. Animals are living beings so they have certain rights on the people living in the world. There are various types of animals found in every part of the world. People eat some of the animals. For instance, they eat goats, cows, swine, chickens etc. These are the animals that are considered favorite foods people. It is also not only about eating them; it is also about trading them legally and illegally to get the financial benefit. In fact, there are many organizations around the world that are involved in it. In addition, there are other animals too that are becoming the victim of the torture of the human beings. They include cats, dogs, elephants, etc.

Animals are not suppose to be used as food, clothing, entertainment, experimentation or any other purpose and that animals deserve consideration and what is in their best interests. Animal right is a movement that tends to protect animals from being used and abuse by humans. This includes the use of animals for anything that causes them pain and suffering, such as medical experiments, imprisonment in circuses and zoos, and fur production. Animal rights support the idea that all animals are to be treated humanely and away from pain, suffering or murder. They shouldn’t be used as food, fur or entertainment. Animal rights seek to promote treatment of living beings through legislation, protest campaigns, research public events and other techniques such as celebrity spokesman ship. Animals are also the creatures living on earth with us. If people say animals should be killed and served us as food, then why don’t we eat human? Human have the same nutrition that could be served, there’s no point to say that killing human is criminal but killing animal is legal. Animals have the right to live in condition that in benefit and satisfy their nature needs, which include freedom, enough space and environment. But people draw negative attention to animal related issue; they give out the wholly false information. For example on one website there was a picture of some sheep gathered into a holding yard and the caption said that, “this is now sheep live all the time.” They totally fail to mention the green field in the picture, with no doubt, it is where the sheep will not be returned once they have been sheared, or even killed. In today’s society, people create some organization for fighting their government toward freedom and rights. They are fortunate because they have ability to speak for themselves. How about animals? People are always taking advantages from animals by killing and entertaining, and sadly they don’t have a voice to fight against it. Some of you might say, if animals cannot be killed for food, everyone will need to become vegetarian, and getting the right amount of protein per day will be more difficult. And from the traditional Christian view, they also think that god has created animals for the use of

People in our society use our animals for all the wrong reasons. Our pets and wild life are meant to be loved and handled with care, people have always exploited animals. With the people of today’s society, some of our wildlife species could become extinct because of the fact that people hunt and kill animals for fun and sport. In the last ten years the idea that animals have rights has gained acceptance in Europe, the United States and Australia. The main arguments in this book is that people should respect the fact that animals do have rights. All animals should be treated with love, care and