No words...again

Just read a very interesting article in The Independent. Undercover filming has revealed that hens, who no longer lay enough eggs, are suffocated with carbon dioxide to supply meat for supermarkets. This practice includes free-range and organic birds. The birds filmed were in distress, gasping for air and trying to escape. It was filmed at a RSPCA assured abbatoir. The floor of the gas chamber was littered with dead birds who had jumped out of the crates trying to escape. This is apparently standard practice.
About 35 million "spent" hens are killed each year for their meat and they are "processed" at a rate of 10500 per hour.

 

It's really good to know that we have really good humane farming practices in this country, not.
The high standards that everyone keeps banging on about that we should not give up.

 

Another reason for me not living there. I predominately eat chicken.

 

Why I am a vegetarian. Human beings are the cruellest of animals.

 

There is lots of things going on behind the scenes,
Once picking up a load of Organic grain, it was treated with some chemicle to kill off the bugs, the chemicle turn out to be not on the organic list but can use with bad loads, but the thing with this grain was the paper work said it was treated with CO2 which is ok but dock staff could smell a bad smell, well the staff refused to load and unload the grain till it was checked, man come's out, test, and found out it was treated with a very strong chemicle and the staff should be in breathing masks/suits (not putting up the name of chem because we may start to be spyed on by a big people)

We do have high standrads if people stick to it but not all do, what standrads are on paper doesn't mean it is carryed through, the red tractor means nowt in todays world
MP's don't lie!!!!!!!! but there are some good one's and some bad one's

 

I haven't read the article but it does sound as if the headline should perrhaps have mentioned the word Holocaust.
Whilst most mammals can be stunned before the "final solution", the likes of chickens and other fowl are treated differently.
Time the RSPCA stopped putting their "assured" label on these abbatoirs as the above example simply proves they either fail to investigate what really goes on or they are complicit. It's happening everywhere and all the time. As @Jiffy says the Red Tractor is also simply a con in many instances.
Having said all that, no govt. is ever likely to bring the subject of slaughter methods to the forefront ( unless it's war/defence related ) and so these inhumane methods will continue. People protest about all kinds of issues but you rarely hear of demos outside abbatoirs and the like. Lack of knowledge or a "just don't care" attitude ?

 

I'm a little surprised that people are surprised. Take out what people feel about the method a momentb, it's been the way they have been killed for a long time.

This is taken from the rspca website Animal Slaughter - Methods Used | RSPCA - RSPCA - rspca.org.uk.

"Slaughtering/killing poultry
Two main methods are used to slaughter/kill poultry.

1. Gas killing
The majority of poultry (chickens, laying hens and turkeys) in the UK are killed using gas. There are a number of different gas-killing systems and different gas mixtures may be used, such as carbon dioxide, or an inert gas such as argon, or a mix of the two. Birds remain in their transport crates and are placed into a gas system, where they're exposed to mixtures of air and gas until dead.

This method avoids the need to handle and 'shackle' conscious birds, so has some welfare advantages. UK law states that animals must be killed, not just stunned, using this method.

2. Electrical stunning
Birds are hung upside down by their legs on metal shackles along a moving conveyor belt. They move along the production line to a water bath that stuns them. When the bird's head touches the water, an electrical circuit between the water bath and shackle is completed, and this stuns the bird.

The conveyor belt then moves the birds to a mechanical neck cutter, which cuts the major blood vessels in the neck. Shackling conscious birds causes stress and pain."

I'm not a meat eater myself but my guess is that most meat eaters don't have any clue as to what animals go through, I would also suggest most don't care or want to know.

 

I think it’s basically a head-in-the-sand situation for most people @Philippa @Thevictorian. It’s one of the reasons why I’ve been vegan for 40 years.

 

So how are they killed in Portugal?

 

When you see the amount of chicken eaten these days it has to be factory produced, it's just not possible to rear and kill that many birds in a humane way.
I was under the impression most meat these days in this country is Halal and not actually stunned before killing, also they do pray while the animals die which obviously makes every thing alright.
I've seen lots of ethnic shops stating their meat is Halal.

 

I fear you are right @Bluejayway. I'ts so easy to ignore the issue when you are not directly involved.
Whilst veganism isn't for everyone, one person I always had a great deal of admiration for was a vet. surgeon I worked alongside at the PDSA over 50 years ago. A true vegan even down to no leather clothing or furniture.
May I ask what prompted you to become vegan ? It's always interesting to learn the different approaches to certain lifestle choices.

 

To be honest, I don't know and don't want to.

It is a wonder I eat t it at all. When small living on Long Island, we had an "Aunt" who lived on a farm and I watched the "Uncle" catch a chicken, swing it across a tree stump and wack its head off then it ran headless until the "Aunt" caught it, gutted and plucked it in the kitchen. I almost still remember the vile smell.

 

Some where with in the food chain there will be people cutting corners, Yes, it's nice to know things are done right, but as the end user of the food you won't know if any one has bent/broken any rules/laws with that food, the only way would be not to eat anything, but you can't!!
I've seen bent/broken rules/laws but in the end if you report it will anything be done!!!!

 

I was always sympathetic to animals from the moment I realised what it was I was eating. Probably at the age of 5 or so. But I was a very obedient child and so I ate what I was given until I left home and went veggie first of all. Then I discovered the awful, awful lives that dairy cows and poultry lived and went vegan. I also don’t wear or buy leather, wool or silk. I know it’s not for everybody but I can’t understand how people can know what goes on and not be bothered by it basically.