Each species of animal is farmed for different uses, but they all go through excruciating pain and suffering for human consumption. Among the most poorly treated animals are chickens and turkeys. In factory farms, these animals don't get to run free, they aren't even exposed to sunlight; they are crammed into tiny rooms by the millions and are forced to live in their own waste as well as the corpses of other birds. Many of these birds die from lack of nutrition because they grow so large from the antibiotics that are injected into them that their legs crumble under their weight, disabling them from walking to get food. Many workers in farms abuse chickens and turkeys that are sick. They beat the birds with metal poles and toss them aside while they are still conscious and suffering. When the birds are dangling helplessly on the chain system, many don't die and are burned alive in the feather removal buckets ([GoVeg] "[PeTA] Video").
Cattle are treated extremely poorly; probably equal to the horrific treatment of the chickens and turkeys. These docile animals are castrated, de-horned, and branded with a scalding, red-hot piece of metal, all without painkillers. The United States does not have laws requiring the treatment of infected and wounded animals; so many animals enter the slaughterhouses with infectious diseases and open wounds. These animals are considered healthy and safe to slaughter and send out to supermarkets. Once at the slaughterhouse, workers again torture these animals without the use of painkillers. Cattle have their throats slit open, and sometimes are "skinned and dismembered" alive ([GoVeg] "[PeTA] Video").
Dairy cows (females), have to withstand even more treacherous conditions than the regular slaughter cows (males). These innocent creatures are injected with hormones to increase their production of milk and then have milking machines hooked up to their udders. The machines can hurt and cause damage to the cow. When the female dairy cow is no longer able to produce milk, she is sold to slaughterhouses to be killed and made into lunch and dinner for the overconsumption in America.([GoVeg] "[PeTA] Video").
Pigs and piglets are raised from birth in a factory in a single stall in a factory farm where they live and grow up. From day one of their life in these farms, baby piglets have their ears and tails chopped up. They are castrated at birth without any painkillers. The screams that these animals produce is filled with such suffering and anguish. As soon as the piglets begin developing, they are monitored for proper growth; the pigs that don't grow fast enough have their heads slammed into the ground. Those pigs that will not survive to the slaughter process are shot in the head with a bolt gun so the companies that raise them don't have to waste their money keeping them alive. At least the ones that are killed by the gun are put out of their misery quickly and in a less painful way. Like cows, chickens, and turkeys, pigs also go through the throat slitting process on the chain system. Those that do not get their throats slit are burned alive in hair removal tanks ([GoVeg] "[PeTA] Video").
GoVeg "Peta Video." PeTA. 21 Apr. 2008. PeTA. 4 May 2008
