The first one is about a standard hatchery.
The second about cage-free eggs. Which you will immediately see it is not at all better. I’ve heard this before and generally look for local free range eggs in any case, but after viewing these I will be sure to never ever buy cage-free again.
I cried throughout these whole videos. And I mean bawled. So if you can’t handle it just don’t watch them.
The final video shows a story of compassion, but it too had me crying.
In the event that you dont have a heart, then if nothing else think about the quality of food a stressed out sick chicken is going to provide.
Arianna,
with you all the way…EXCEPT…the reality is that eating organic and really and truly a whole food diet is a LUXURY not everyone can afford.
THIS too HAS TO CHANGE.
In my opinion it should be considered a human right to be able to eat healthy food. Right now it is only an option for the elite…and frankly with my husbands job at risk I may soon be unable to continue doing it myself.
Val,
do you raise your own meat? or do you eat meat??
oh, & Arianna I’m 100% w/you – unfortunately the coyotes have picked off our poultry one by one… Maybe reinforce the chicken coop & try again in the spring!
Eek – can’t watch the videos, G, why put myself through it?!?
Which leads me to the next topic I need to blog about – the holistic alternative-med dr wants me to go back to Armour Thyroid… I didn’t speak up in the office but I may drop an email just to gauge his reply – anyway, I have a true ethical/moral dilemma about even indirectly supporting the factory-farming complex by purchasing dessicated pig thyroid.
Part of me insists on logic – those poor swine are dead anyway; no one slaughters a hog just to harvest its thyroid… But if only I could find a humane alternative: can you see it now? I strike a deal w/a backyard producer to show up at the butchering, wrap those bloody lil’ glands in aluminum foil (wait a minute! NO ALUMINUM it’s toxic! – no plastic either; I need a special SS container), store ’em in my freezer…
ha, if anyone had any doubts about my sanity BEFORE!
That reminds me! I live in a rural area, and a lot of my neighbors sell organic, free range eggs, where I can see exactly how the chickens live. Or, maybe I’ll get a few hens myself! That is the best!
Ari
I think that American disregard for the quality of food is astonishing. Apparently, it is not uncommon for people to go to fast food chains, to get several meals per week. This seems strange to me, as I virtually never go to any food chain to get my food. If I’m desperate, I’ll go to Subway.
I believe in humane treatment of all animals. However, like many, I am not a vegetarian.
I’m immensely concerned with food quality. For example, the nutrient value of corn that is raised in actual soil, is very much higher, than corn that is on clay, the clay having no nutrients, and then nutrients (fertilizer) is glommed on the corn. The fertilizer is usually made from petroleum products. So, the corn grows but has no nutritional value because there is basically no soil.
The quality of the food from inhumanely treated animals, who get all kinds of growth supplements, is not the same as the quality of food that comes from organic crops, and humanly treated animals. So, it’s not just about animal rights, it’s also about what the value of your food is, whether it is plant or animal.
The quality of a burger from McDonald’s out right scares the crap out of me, and I’d rather go into a convenience store and get some other type of food, if I’m getting that hungry. You can also carry food with you.
I remember when we got some E coli outbreaks at Jack in the Box more than a decade ago. They were talking about irradiating meat! Irradiating meat and cooking it longer removes the risk of death, but the source of the E. coli, feces, would STILL be in the meat!!??
How about not having complete filth and feces in a processing plant and even back to the farm!
The joke back then was “Jack in the Box, we cook sh** out of our meat”.
Do we want filthy meat, that is cooked longer, or do we want to have humanely raised beef, humanely killed, and in a plant that is not filled with filth? Should the greatest worry of a processing plant be how many carcasses they can get finished in one day, or about how clean the processing plant should be?
The whole peanut butter thing, is all about rodents and all kinds of filth at a peanut company. Why do we need the cheapest peanut butter available? Wouldn’t you want to pay, even a great deal more, and have your peanuts processed without rodent parts and God knows what else?
In the case of peanuts, your very life depends upon how you answer that question. People have died because either they, or their institution decided on having the lowest priced peanut butter they could find.
IMHO, Americans should be far, far more concerned with the quality of their food, how their food is processed, and what is going on behind the scenes. I believe a lot of illness, and certainly obesity is based upon the low quality of food that Americans eat.
When Americans decide to do an investigation, they will see that their agenda, which is having whole foods, is the same agenda as animal rights, and organic farming.
Best,
Ari
it is indeed….we can pull it off legally according to that document…would still have to make sure locally….thanks very much.
This link might be helpful to you:
http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/chickenlaws.html
I do get them from a store but they’re from local farms…sometimes I’m able to get them directly from people I know with chickens…that’s always nice.
We’re trying to figure out if we can get chickens in our yard…some of our neighbors have them but we think it’s probably against city ordinances…
Gianna,
You said you will not eat cage-free eggs. Do you eat any eggs? What type do you eat? Where do you get them? I used to purchase eggs from a friend of mine who went to my church…so I know hers were raised humanely. She couldn’t get certified as “organic” because of several reasons. It was kinda a hobby for her. She lived out in the country.
But now days…I don’t know where I would get my eggs. Do you get yours at a store?
Cruelty is a feeling that can’t be scientifically measured. Can it?
Is that why psychiatry is so bad?
It’s really a dilemma for those of us whose bodies don’t function without animal protein — I was soooooo sick all the time when I was a vegetarian, despite being fanatically careful about balancing proteins.
I hate the thought of animals as an industry, and of consuming the suffering of an innocent creature. It’s hard to avoid, though.
That’s awful about your husband’s job — so sorry to hear.
Gianna,
You hit the nail on the head
egg-axtly.
thank you for posting.
I didn’t read it as an attack on me at all Nissa, no worries.
I do think that for a lot of us with psychiatric diagnosis hypoglycemia can be a major issue and the best way to keep stable blood sugar is to eat meat…
there are other nutritional reasons for animal protein too…
but yeah, our grocery bill is very high and it just struck me now I should be very very afraid..
my husband is about to lose his job.
Gianna – I should have mentioned that – I 100% agree with you. My issue is really not with meat eating, its with the meat that we are supplied. Meaning, if we raised our meat on a farm, as they are supposed to live, and slaughtered them to eat – awesome. My issue is that these animals are being raised and killed so inhumanely and providing meat that is plump with fillers and antibiotics.
I am a vegetarian for this exact reason. I can’t raise my own meat and I can’t afford to have other people do it, so I’ve abstained. I believe there’s merit to the idea that we evolved to eat meat, though I haven’t decided entirely what I believe.
So I’m not attacking the carnivorous! 😀
Hi Gianna,
By the way, thank you for your nice comment last week. I follow your blog as a fellow bipolar, one who has refused treatment with drugs and struggles through finding a healthy balance between manic and depressed. Anyway, your kindness was appreciated.
Anyway, I am a vegetarian, and I detest most of PETA’s practices because they are just too extreme – and I think that extreme tends to rile up the base, but deter the prospective audience. I’m of the thought that they do more harm than good for our cause. Marian – “Meet your Meet” is a good watch though, as an introduction. I’m always amazed at how few people want to know where their food comes from. They want nothing to do with what happens to it before it hits their plate. that’s inconceivable to me. Regardless, I am extremely, EXTREMELY pro-animal rights, and often tell friends who are milling removing meat from their diet to ditch chicken first – because they are treated the worst of all the animals.
And you bring up a serious thought – if our food is stressed, sick and mutated in life, why the hell would we imagine it being a source of healthy nutrition in death!
I don’t ever force people in to conversations about their eating habits, but I do think that people who eat meat and animal products should know and understand how those animals are being treated, fed and the things being pumped in to their systems – and if they are OK with all of those things, they can accept it and that’s enough for me. But the whole “I don’t know what happens and I don’t want to know” thing just really, really irritates me.
Sorry to launch out on this! But I’m really happy to see you bringing up such an important issue. Thanks!
well, I’m actually an avid, though conflicted, meat eater who does her best to eat humanely grown animals. Personally I am not mentally healthy if I don’t eat meat. I am much more stable when I eat dense protein and unfortunately that needs to include meat for me.
I believe we evolved to eat meat. Some cultures don’t eat it and evolved with less meat in their diets and some individuals may do fine. And individuals certainly vary enough in their nutritional needs that I imagine it’s possible to be healthy while avoiding most animal products regardless of ethnicity.
If I could raise my own animals and kill them myself that would be the ideal…but, alas, it will never happen. Luckily around here there are some wonderful small farms that cater to people who want humanely raised animals.
My biggest concern is most of these places still use slaughter houses with less than ideal methods.
and yeah, PETA does go over the top in my opinion as well.
I came across a PETA-doc some time ago, “Meet Your Meat”. Certainly not for the squeamish either. Luckily, we have rather strict rules for organic farming in this country/Europe, so it’s not only fruit and veggies I buy only organic, but also dairy produce, and the few eggs I need once in a while, for pizza.
Gianna,
This is very disturbing…..
Farmers and ranchers should be humane to their animals…this is inexusable…
As a person who used to raise/traing homing (racing) pigeons as a high school kid, I got very close to my birds, and found it easy to take care of them….
Birds require some very basic care, and of course freedom to get sun, and movement….
This is just crazy,
Duane