Chapter 3
Down on the Factory Farm ...
or what happened to your dinner when it was still an animal
Formosthumanbeings,especiallythoseinmodernurbanand
suburbancommunities,themostdirectformofcontactwith
nonhumananimalsisatmealtime:weeatthem.Thissimple
factisthekeytoourattitudestootheranimals,andalsothe
key to what each one of us cando about changing these
attitudes.Theuseandabuse ofanimalsraisedforfoodfar
exceeds,insheernumbersofanimalsaffected,anyotherkind
ofmistreatment.Over 100 millioncows,pigs,andsheepare
raisedandslaughteredintheUnitedStatesaloneeachyear;
and for poultry the figure is a staggering 5 billion. (That
means that about eight thousand birds—mostly
chickens—willhavebeenslaughteredinthetimeittakesyou
toreadthispage.)Itishere,onourdinnertableandinour
neighborhood supermarket or butcher’s shop, that we are
broughtintodirecttouchwiththemostextensiveexploitation
of other species that has ever existed.
Ingeneral,weareignorantoftheabuseoflivingcreatures
thatliesbehindthefoodweeat.Buyingfoodinastore or
restaurantistheculminationofalongprocess,ofwhichall
buttheendproductisdelicatelyscreenedfromoureyes.We
buyourmeatandpoultryinneatplasticpackages.Ithardly
bleeds.Thereisnoreasonto associatethispackage witha
living,breathing,walking,sufferinganimal.Theverywords
weuseconcealitsorigins:weeatbeef,notbull,steer,orcow,
andpork,notpig—althoughforsomereasonweseemtofind