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I really don't want to believe this because it is beyond horrific, but given corporate greed and lack of concern for animals and all the underground footage of awful animal abuse in the meat industry (and their continued efforts to criminalize whistle blowers) I guess it is very likely. And we pretend to be civilized.
I know you have been posting on CD for a long time and are an avid animal lover. So I'm sure you want to learn the truth. After all, unless we know the truth we cant act. The US animal ag industry is absolutely amazing at keeping this information away from the public. I consider myself an active learner who goes out of my way to learn about the working of this world. Even so I didn't not find this information until my 30's.
I have also been an animal lover like you for years. I used to think that practices such as the yulin meat festival in China was the worst type of mass torture of animals present in our planet at the moment. That was very naive of me. Now I know that the one force that causes the most amount of suffering to the animals of our world is factory animal farming and ocean fishing. Therefore, I have focused all my monetary resources on ending this type of barbaric practice across the world.
I encourage you to read the other link I posted regarding the legal practices allowed in the US. As for the slaughterhouses, here is an article that summarizes the subject very well and will leave no doubt in your mind that this is 100% standard practice. After reading this you will know that what I stated in my other post is not just "rantings of an anonymous online poster." I purposely don't post links from pro animal websites so you know that the information being presented is non-biased and objective. Disclaimer: The article is extremely depressing (from the Washington post):
I know you have been posting on CD for a long time and are an avid animal lover. So I'm sure you want to learn the truth. After all, unless we know the truth we cant act. The US animal ag industry is absolutely amazing at keeping this information away from the public. I consider myself an active learner who goes out of my way to learn about the working of this world. Even so I didn't not find this information until my 30's.
Oh, I completely agree. But it's just inconceivable that this horror goes on in the US every day and that the perpetrators are allowed to keep it hidden from the public, many of whom would care a lot and demand change. It is very easy to adopt a head-in-the-sand attitude instead of face what really goes on within these industries, and I have been guilty of that myself. I just cannot imagine that anyone with even a shred of compassion would support this or not care.
Oh, I completely agree. But it's just inconceivable that this horror goes on in the US every day and that the perpetrators are allowed to keep it hidden from the public, many of whom would care a lot and demand change. It is very easy to adopt a head-in-the-sand attitude instead of face what really goes on within these industries, and I have been guilty of that myself. I just cannot imagine that anyone with even a shred of compassion would support this or not care.
Sadly people like you are in the minority. And I thank you for caring. Hopefully as time goes on more and more people will start to actively object to this industry with their wallets. Most people could care less. Even when they read things like the following (this is from the Washington post article I linked above):
Quote:
It takes 25 minutes to turn a live steer into steak at the modern slaughterhouse where Ramon Moreno works. For 20 years, his post was "second-legger," a job that entails cutting hocks off carcasses as they whirl past at a rate of 309 an hour.
The cattle were supposed to be dead before they got to Moreno. But too often they weren't.
"They blink. They make noises," he said softly. "The head moves, the eyes are wide and looking around."
Still Moreno would cut.On bad days, he says, dozens of animals reached his station clearly alive and conscious. Some would survive as far as the tail cutter, the belly ripper, the hide puller. "They die," said Moreno, "piece by piece."
Sadly people like you are in the minority. And I thank you for caring. Hopefully as time goes on more and more people will start to actively object to this industry with their wallets. Most people could care less. Even when they read things like the following (this is from the Washington post article I linked above):
Why are you posting this horrible information? I agree with you that many modern practices in the meat industry are cruel, but to change doesn't it have to start with legislation?
We should focus on this story and the calves from Fair Oaks Farm.
So, I believe that I have a very good BS detector. I've done PR work for quite a few companies and seem to have a talent both for finding other people's BS and cleaning it up or putting out my own. I'm a BSer. Believe me when I tell you that his video is not heartfelt. It's appropriate but it's not heartfelt and I stopped watching after 30 seconds. His long pauses are contrived and ill-placed. You don't start your video that way unless you want to convey that emotion to someone very early on. If he really felt such emotion to pause in an effort to fight off a greater sense of emotion, it comes later. It doesn't begin the moment you begin filming.
I've been doing this way too long. Believe me, what he did was appropriate. I'm even glad he released the video, but it's absolute B.S. He cares that he risks losing his job and the sustainability of his business. It's all about $$.
MMMMM. I have to consider myself fortunate in that I have never been exposed first hand to an outfit that treats its animals with cruelty. All the spreads I helped handle cattle and sometimes sheep on were clean and by the numbers. From the jump as soon as I was old enough to sit a saddle and handle a rope the part I disliked the most was branding time. But folks have gone to freeze branding now so it's nothing like the old days anymore.
For most of my life I raised all my own meat animals. Hogs and steers. I never bought meat from the grocery chain in town. I did from the little family butcher shop. I knew where they got their meat from and it was all local outfits I knew well. All grass fed usually right off the range. I always witnessed the whole thing from killing time to final packaging and there was NEVER any cruelty.
There are certain rules that go with raising meat animals. They don't get pet names, you don't allow yourself to get attached or spend time petting or hand feeding etc. Livestock are NOT pets. Just a fact of life. But that doesn't mean in any way that they get abused. Far from it great care is taken to see they have clean pens, good feed, plenty of water and an absence of anything they can hurt themselves on. No loose wire or sharp edges.
That being said over time I came to believe that a horse can get cut in a wall to wall padded stall. I had to do more vet work on my horses than I ever had to with cattle. But I digress. What I saw in the OP video truly shocked and disgusted me as a livestock guy. I just can't see how any outfit that has livestock as a business would even allow treating the animals this way.
Every cattle outfit I rode with the BIG boss was right there in the saddle with us and if he saw crap like that going on woe unto the guilty party. That's if the other hand and help (like me) didn't handle it first. I'm truly interested in how this all turns out in the end.
This is why I buy my milk, eggs, and meat from local farmers at the farmer's market. They are all small, family operations and truly seem to care about the animals under their care. I am willing to pay more (and support local farmers) to know that the animals I am eating were humanly treated.
Unscientifically, I think the food is also better for you. For example, store-bought eggs always say, "vegetarian diet" but chickens aren't vegetarians. Sure they eat corn feed and such, but they also should be out scratching around in the dirt eating bugs and maybe even a small reptile or two. So by advertising "vegetarian chickens" you are basically saying, these eggs are from "undernourished chickens". I would things eggs from properly nourished chickens would be better for you. I have no proof of that though.
But really, for me it comes down to I like to know people are treating the animals well. They are raised for food, yes. But just because they are raised for food doesn't mean they should live miserable lives.
This is why I buy my milk, eggs, and meat from local farmers at the farmer's market. They are all small, family operations and truly seem to care about the animals under their care. I am willing to pay more (and support local farmers) to know that the animals I am eating were humanly treated.
Unscientifically, I think the food is also better for you. For example, store-bought eggs always say, "vegetarian diet" but chickens aren't vegetarians. Sure they eat corn feed and such, but they also should be out scratching around in the dirt eating bugs and maybe even a small reptile or two. So by advertising "vegetarian chickens" you are basically saying, these eggs are from "undernourished chickens". I would things eggs from properly nourished chickens would be better for you. I have no proof of that though.
But really, for me it comes down to I like to know people are treating the animals well. They are raised for food, yes. But just because they are raised for food doesn't mean they should live miserable lives.
LOL, I've personally seen free range chickens tear a sizable snake to pieces. Chickens I have come to think are direct ancestors of T Rex. And the eggs these chickens produced were WAY better than storebought. The yokes were richer and so were the whites.
Why are you posting this horrible information? I agree with you that many modern practices in the meat industry are cruel, but to change doesn't it have to start with legislation?
We should focus on this story and the calves from Fair Oaks Farm.
I’m actually glad to know this information. I was one of those who thought if you buy meat sold in supermarkets from smaller family farms, but that means that they were slaughtered humanely as well. I’m glad to know it does not mean that. Now I can make my choices with full knowledge. I think that’s a good thing.
This is why I buy my milk, eggs, and meat from local farmers at the farmer's market. They are all small, family operations and truly seem to care about the animals under their care. I am willing to pay more (and support local farmers) to know that the animals I am eating were humanly treated.
Unscientifically, I think the food is also better for you. For example, store-bought eggs always say, "vegetarian diet" but chickens aren't vegetarians. Sure they eat corn feed and such, but they also should be out scratching around in the dirt eating bugs and maybe even a small reptile or two. So by advertising "vegetarian chickens" you are basically saying, these eggs are from "undernourished chickens". I would things eggs from properly nourished chickens would be better for you. I have no proof of that though.
But really, for me it comes down to I like to know people are treating the animals well. They are raised for food, yes. But just because they are raised for food doesn't mean they should live miserable lives.
While I admire your thoughts on the subject, how do you know that a "local farmer" has better standards in raising their produce and animals? Do you tour their farm?
Also, a common problem found at "farmers markets" are people who buy their produce elsewhere (they do not raise it themselves) and peddle it as their own.
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I had to do more vet work on my horses than I ever had to with cattle. But I digress. What I saw in the OP video truly shocked and disgusted me as a livestock guy. I just can't see how any outfit that has livestock as a business would even allow treating the animals this way. 
