Feed on
Posts
Comments

Each year in America, more than 9 billion chickens and turkeys are killed for food (over one million every hour!).

On Thursday, November 2, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Charles Bronson (who is up for re-election on November 7) will attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony opening Gold Kist’s new 180,000-square-foot poultry slaughterhouse and processing facility in Live Oak (east of Tallahassee).

A company press release proclaimed that a part of the plant will process chickens that are “antibiotic-free and raised on an all-vegetable diet.” This meat will be sold by Publix stores under the GreenWise label. Although the popularity of organic foods is definitely positive, USDA Organic standards offer only a small improvement in the lives of chickens raised for meat.

Like other chickens raised for meat, the “all-natural” chickens raised for Gold Kist’s Live Oak plant are most likely crowded by the thousands into huge, industrial-size warehouses. The ends of their sensitive beaks are cut off without anesthesia. As a result of being bred to gain weight quickly, they suffer from the same leg disorders and other physical ailments as other chickens raised for meat. After a short six weeks of life, Gold Kist’s chickens are crammed into crates, driven to the Live Oak slaughterhouse where they will be hung by their feet from metal shackles and sent through an electrified water bath that may stun them, but does not make the birds insensible to pain. The chicken’s throats will be cut by a mechanical blade that inevitably misses some birds who move on to the next step- a feather-removal tank of boiling water- while still alive.

The best way to help end this immense suffering is to go vegetarian (vegan!). Contact ARFF for help in making the transition to a healthy and humane diet.

Comments RSS

Leave a Reply