CHICKENS
The Chicken ProblemAn investigation into Australia’s largest chicken meat producers that supplies major retail outlets has revealed routine and shocking animal abuse. Every year in Australia 435 million chickens suffer brutal and incredibly short lives inside factory farms. Consumers are being misled by the terms 'cage free' and 'free to roam'.
Impacts of the IssueChicken farming is happening all over Australia. Chickens may be useful to us but in some places they have a bad life for themselves. The good impacts of free range chicken farming are that the chickens meat and eggs is used as food for us, and also it is put in to other foods for animals such as dogs.
The bad impacts of free range chicken farming are that: - The chickens spend their lives crammed into massive, windowless sheds that typically hold as many as 40,000 birds each. Since the chickens are crowded into groups of thousands, the chickens get frustrated and peck each other causing injuries and deaths. - Also some chickens get fed too much causing them not able to lift their weight off the ground to walk/run. The chickens end up dying a slow and painful death. - Chickens are killed at just 6 weeks old. Due to selective breeding, at slaughter, baby chicks have the body weight of adult birds. - The rapid growth often causes crippling and fatal health problems such as heart failures, etc. ResponsesA majority of people aren't trying to make significant changes to fix the conditions and treatments of the meat chickens. The people of big businesses are more concerned about the money than the actual health of the chickens, but these people should start looking into where the meat is originally coming from. The meat they buy are actually coming from places of poor health, and many of the chickens there have diseases such as Salmonella, which could effect the quality of the meat these companies sell. The government doesn't make any rules regarding chicken farms because of the power of the bigger companies, they are only looking for the approval of the people they have power over instead of the well-being of animals. There are some organisations that are speaking out and trying to make a difference and are slowly informing people of the issues that animals can't speak out for themselves. Despite the lack of knowledge of the general public, we are slowly being educated towards a brighter chicken future!
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StakeholdersThe meat chicken industry is mainly controlled by larger companies. These corporations are only focused on the profit that they make for their businesses. They do not care about the welfare of the animals. The farmers that grow the chickens are bound in by contracts to the larger corporations. They are only paid a small amount of money and must grow the chickens in barn houses as this is the cheapest way.
The government isn't worried about making laws to protect the chickens. This is because they are focused on getting votes. More people in the country will be pleased if there are no regulations on chickens rather then if there are. This is because more of the population is a part of larger companies than protecting animal rights. Most of the general public isn't aware of what is happening to the chickens and so therefore cannot make a change. They are slowly being informed so that they can choose to buy products that ensure chickens are treated properly. Because consumer choice is what will make the companies listen. LucySometimes chickens, just like other animals, can have Salmonella bacteria. These bacteria are usually present in the intestinal tract and occasionally, during the processing procedure; carcases can be contaminated with these bacteria. Chicken is only safe to eat when it is cooked through to the end point.
Case study- In 2005, a young girl was left severely brain damaged from Salmonella poisoning after eating a KFC chicken twister in Australia. She was only seven years old at the time and is now in a wheel chair and unable to speak. The bad thing was that KFC denied it was responsible, challenging the family's claim during a four-week trial. $8 million dollars had been given to the family. The following video shows baby birds suffering from heart disease, lameness, thirst, starvation and trampling inside a shed packed with over 40,000 birds. |