Factory Farming
Competition, antibiotic use, and economies of scale have pushed animal exploitation industries to continually intensify the way they breed, raise, and confine animals. A review of the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture report indicates that 98.74% of farmed animals in the United States are raised in CAFOs.
Factory Farming
Competition, antibiotic use, and economies of scale have pushed animal exploitation industries to continually intensify the way they breed, raise, and confine animals. A review of the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture report indicates that 98.74% of farmed animals in the United States are raised in CAFOs.
CAFOs, commonly known as ‘factory farms’, are Confined Animal Feeding Operations and are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, based on their environmental impact. Animal exploitation facilities are automatically considered CAFOs if they confine:
1,000 or more cows exploited for flesh
700 or more cows exploited for breast milk
2,500 or more pigs over 55 pounds exploited for flesh
10,000 or more pigs under 55 pounds exploited for flesh
55,000 or more turkeys exploited for flesh
125,000 or more chickens exploited for flesh
30,000 or more chickens exploited for eggs
Facilities may be designated as a CAFO if they are found to be a ‘significant contributor of pollutants’.
The scale at which animals are exploited is monumental. The violation of justice spans beyond the suffering of individual animals and wreaks havoc on the global ecosystem.
The United States ‘animal agriculture’ sector accounts for 18% of ‘carbon-dioxide equivalent’ greenhouse gas emissions.
Global animal product demand drives up to 91% [CM1] of rainforest deforestation.
Global world hunger can be solved by diverting animal and feed farming to produce calories for humans.
The reach of suffering caused by animal agriculture and intensified animal exploitation is insurmountably vast. In the name of justice, factory farming and all forms of speciesism must end.
Open Rescue
Open rescue is the direct action of rescuing animals from factory farms, slaughterhouses, and other facilities that abuse animals. Activists nonviolently enter into places of violence, expose the cruelty taking place, rescue suffering animals, document their living conditions, and share their stories with the world.
Four principle goals of Open Rescue:
- To rescue animals from places of violence
- To train and support others in doing the same
- To document the violence inherent to animal exploitation
- To tell the stories of those who were saved
Open rescue allows us to disarm fraudulent marketing that supports these corporations and industries with the power of truth. We have seen with our own eyes what happens behind closed doors, and it is far from humane. Despite providing extensive evidence of animal cruelty to authorities for years, the govenrment refuses to respond; therefore we are left with no other choice but to respond and take action ourselves.
Open rescue takes the liberation of animals directly into our own hands, and, by going in with our faces proudly uncovered, we dare the industry to try our actions in the court of public opinion. It creates viral stories that mobilize people to anti-speciesist sentiment throughout the country. And it inspires strong action from activists all over the world.
Humane Washing
and the
#HumaneLie:
Humane washing is a marketing ploy aimed at consumers who purchase animal products and are willing to pay a premium for products that they perceive as more ethical.
Humane Washing
and the
#HumaneLie:
Humane washing is a marketing ploy aimed at consumers who purchase animal products and are willing to pay a premium for products that they perceive as more ethical.
Humane (Adjective): Having or showing compassion or benevolence.
Marketing (Noun): The business process of identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customers’ needs and wants.
Example of humane washing:
Farmer John’s is a slaughterhouse in Los Angeles where truck after truck arrives hourly, crowded with pigs that are confused, covered in their own feces, shaking with fear, and desperate for food and water. Inside, over 7,000 pigs are brutally and violently killed every day. However, the outside of the Farmer John’s facility delivers a drastically different message — a colorful mural spans the walls of this massive facility, depicting pigs in a picturesque farm setting, running happily on a grass field. This allows the customer to buy into the idea that these pigs lived good lives, or even willingly accept their premature deaths. This is a stark contrast from the factory farm conditions these pigs have actually been raised in and the unnecessary misery and violence they will go through before their bodies end up neatly packaged on a grocery store shelf.
With a growing body of socially conscious consumers, people want to feel good about the food choices they’re making. In the example above, the consumer may be persuaded to believe that their choice to buy ‘meat’ from Farmer John’s doesn’t cause significant harm. But what they fail to learn is that the pigs whose bodies they are buying have suffered greatly and been killed violently. In reality, exploiting others is fundamentally in opposition to being humane or being benevolent.
Humane (Adjective): Having or showing compassion or benevolence.
Marketing (Noun): The business process of identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customers’ needs and wants.
Example of humane washing:
Farmer John’s is a slaughterhouse in Los Angeles where truck after truck arrives hourly, crowded with pigs that are confused, covered in their own feces, shaking with fear, and desperate for food and water. Inside, over 7,000 pigs are brutally and violently killed every day. However, the outside of the Farmer John’s facility delivers a drastically different message — a colorful mural spans the walls of this massive facility, depicting pigs in a picturesque farm setting, running happily on a grass field. This allows the customer to buy into the idea that these pigs lived good lives, or even willingly accept their premature deaths. This is a stark contrast from the factory farm conditions these pigs have actually been raised in and the unnecessary misery and violence they will go through before their bodies end up neatly packaged on a grocery store shelf.
With a growing body of socially conscious consumers, people want to feel good about the food choices they’re making. In the example above, the consumer may be persuaded to believe that their choice to buy ‘meat’ from Farmer John’s doesn’t cause significant harm. But what they fail to learn is that the pigs whose bodies they are buying have suffered greatly and been killed violently. In reality, exploiting others is fundamentally in opposition to being humane or being benevolent.
Additional examples of labels meant to humane wash people include but are not limited to: ‘humane’, ‘free-range’, ‘grass-fed’, ‘sustainable’, ‘organic’, and ‘natural’. In reality, there is not one federal animal welfare law that protects the interest of animals during their life on factory farms.
Additional examples of labels meant to humane wash people include but are not limited to: ‘humane’, ‘free-range’, ‘grass-fed’, ‘sustainable’, ‘organic’, and ‘natural’. In reality, there is not one federal animal welfare law that protects the interest of animals during their life on factory farms.
Direct Action Everywhere has blown the whistle on multiple companies who falsely market their products as humane. This includes Diestel Turkey Ranch and Petaluma Poultry, who both supply to Whole Foods and Jimbo’s.
DxE takes a simple stance — ALL animal exploitation is wrong. Those who care about animals must take the fully adequate step of removing animals from their consumption and use entirely, not opting for products claiming to be more ‘humane.’ This marketing is meaningless; there is no humane way to exploit or kill an animal that doesn’t want to die.
Direct Action Everywhere has blown the whistle on multiple companies who falsely market their products as humane. This includes Diestel Turkey Ranch and Petaluma Poultry, who both supply to Whole Foods and Jimbo’s.
DxE takes a simple stance — ALL animal exploitation is wrong. Those who care about animals must take the fully adequate step of removing animals from their consumption and use entirely, not opting for products claiming to be more ‘humane.’ This marketing is meaningless; there is no humane way to exploit or kill an animal that doesn’t want to die.
