Each year, more than 55 billion cows, pigs, chickens, and other innocent, sentient animals are caged, crowded, deprived, drugged, mutilated, and manhandled in the world's factory farms and slaughterhouses. In the US alone, 10 billion land animals are abused and slaughtered every year.

Take the World Farm Animals Day QUIZ about farmed animals here.

Animal Slaughter

Animals are transported to slaughter in crowded trucks with no food, water, or protection against weather extremes. Many die in transit. Sick and injured animals, called "downers," are dragged with chains to the killing floor

According to a 10-year investigation based on interviews with slaughterhouse workers and USDA inspectors, many animals actually survive the slaughter process. Many -- alive and conscious -- are skinned, dismembered, gutted, scalded, and drowned in their own blood.

Regardless of the treatment animals face during their short lives, they will invariably face these slaughter conditions. Their lives will be cut short, and they will face a cruel death. Cows, who can live up to 25 years naturally, are killed after only 14-16 months when they are raised for beef, while broiler chickens are allowed a mere 5-7 weeks of life.

Factory Farms

The vast majority of animals raised for food are raised on factory farms, where animals are confined in high density lots without adequate sunlight, room to move around, or prevention of disease and infection.

Chickens and turkeys are crowded into large, dimly lit sheds that hold as many as 30,000 birds. Each bird gets less than a square foot of space. Because they are bred to gain weight quickly, many birds are crippled by their own weight and unable to walk.

Laying hens are crammed into wire-mesh "battery cages", typically housing 5-7 birds in a space the size of a folded newspaper. The cages cut their feet and tear at their feathers. They are frequently starved for up to 14 days to boost egg production, a process known as forced molting. Upon hatching, male chicks are placed in garbage bags, where they suffocate slowly or are crushed under the weight of their brothers.

"Veal" calves are torn from their mothers at birth, chained by the neck for 16 weeks in tiny, filthy wooden crates, and force-fed an anemia-inducing liquid formula. They are deprived of their natural diet--including water, roughage, and iron--as well as exercise, fresh air, sunshine, and their mother's love.

Meanwhile, dairy cows suffer horribly as they are pumped full of growth hormones and perpetually impregnated for their milk. When their production slumps, they are slaughtered.

Breeding sows are kept pregnant for three years in metal "gestation crates," enclosures so small the sows cannot even turn around. Their piglets are torn away after only two weeks so the sows can again be impregnated.

This is only a sample of the abuses animals face every day. Additional details and documentation are provided under internet resources.

What About "Humane Farming"?

The multi-billion dollar food industry is capitalizing on consumer concern with confusing and often deceptive labels. Most labels are not subject to verification or enforcement by any agency. These labels typically only cover how animals are raised. They do NOT change how animals are transported or slaughtered.

The fact is that there is no such thing as "humane farming". Many labels, such as "cage-free", are not regulated by any governing body or nonprofit/NGO, and other labels, such as "hormone-free", "natural" and "grass fed" do not address the way the animals are treated, the amount of space they are given, or their access to the outdoors.

Even if an animal is raised under so-called "humane" circumstances, he or she will suffer a miserable death, living a life much shorter than nature intended

What's the solution?

Attempts to improve the conditions that farmed animals endure only address a portion of the problem. An animal born, raised and killed for profit and for taste is an animal that is abused, regardless of how much space he or she is given to walk in.

The only way to end the atrocities that result from meat, eggs, and dairy is to stop subsidizing them at the market checkout counter. Click here to request a free Vegan Starter Guide today.