When you think of a farm, the first thing that most likely comes to mind is a red barn with chickens and turkeys roaming around the barn in search for insects to eat, some pigs taking mud baths, and cattle grazing freely. Today farmers have greatly distanced themselves from the traditional farming practices. When you hear of a farm, think again, they are “animal concentration camps” (Jim Hightower) not farms. Within these animal concentration camps cattle, chicken, turkeys, and pigs are some of species that are born solely to suffer through brutal abuses and later become our food, “parts of their tails, toes, genitals, ears and beaks are cut off without painkillers” (Gene Baur).
Thumping is a practice that is widely used in the U.S. to slam sick animals onto the concrete such as chicken, turkeys, and piglets until they are dead. Farmers claim is that, “this practice is the most humane way to euthanizing unusable pigs” (Ari Solomon). If thumping is so humane according to the farmers, then how come dogs and cats are not slammed onto concrete instead of putting them to sleep? The answer is that our “society cuddles and coddles certain animals while relegating others to the monstrosities of slaughterhouses”(Ari Solomon).
There is an obvious discrimination of species, just because one specie is much more cuddly than another doesn’t mean that they have to go through a brutal death. Most Americans love their meat, eggs, and milk; there is already a strong embedded culture of meat, egg, milk consumption in the U.S I think its to extreme to say “lets shy away from these products” because realistically we cannot make millions of Americans give up their meat diet. I believe the middle ground to this dilemma is with the technology today; the animals at the animal concentration camps should have a quick, effective, painless, ethical, death rather than making our food undergo severe stress.
“The Non-Human Genocide,” The Screeching Kettle, December 6, 2012
HYPERLINK “http://screechingkettle.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-uns-definition-of-genocide-is.html” http://screechingkettle.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-uns-definition-of-genocide-is.html
Ari Solomon, “This Little Piggy Got Slammed Against Concrete,” Huffington Post, December 26, 2012.
HYPERLINK “http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-solomon/this-little-piggy-got-sla_b_2294769.html” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-solomon/this-little-piggy-got-sla_b_2294769.html
Gene Baur, “Farm Animal ER: Factory Farming Hurts Everyone,” Huffington Post, May 7, 2012.
HYPERLINK “http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gene-baur/farm-sanctuary-new-york_b_1491428.html#slide=more224728” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gene-baur/farm-sanctuary-new-york_b_1491428.html#slide=more224728
Jim Hightower, Factory Farms Are Animal Concentration Camps,” Truth-Out, November 12, 2012.
HYPERLINK “http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12700-why-the-chicken-crossed-the-road” http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12700-why-the-chicken-crossed-the-road
Student Researcher: Eduardo Vasquez (Sonoma State University)
Faculty Evaluator: Daniel Malpica (Sonoma State University).