STI News: Don't use chickens to confuse issue

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This message was forwarded to you from Straits Times Interactive

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Don't use chickens to confuse issue

 

 

 

I WOULD like to thank Mr Philippe Vo, who is from the food industry, for raising

awareness of the cruelty that billions of chickens face today ('Chickens suffer

more than foie gras ducks'; ST, April 19).

 

In intensive farms, chickens are crammed by the thousands into barren sheds.

They are made to grow super-fast so their weight becomes abnormal for their age.

They suffer from brittle bones or become crippled. Egg-laying hens are confined

in cages where each has floor space of an A4-sized sheet of paper. They become

so frustrated from this confinement that they peck at or even eat each other. So

parts of their beaks are cut off with a red-hot blade, causing prolonged pain.

 

And the number of chickens that suffer does exceed the number of ducks raised

for foie gras.

 

However, Mr Vo's information becomes inaccurate regarding foie gras. Most ducks

bred for it do not roam outside in small farms. That was about 30 years ago.

 

Now, the industry crams ducks together, often in small cages with only their

necks sticking out. Slaughterhouse examinations of force-fed birds have shown

frequent bone fractures. Investigations have found torn oesophaguses and burst

stomachs.

 

And Mr Vo omits the most important point of how the ducks' livers become

diseased and enlarged up to 10 times their original size. This is more than a

minor discomfort; it makes the birds severely ill.

 

A tube attached to a pneumatic pump is used to force-feed an increasing number

of birds - this has been documented extensively.

 

And what do the experts who have studied force-feeding say? The European Union

Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare has concluded that

force-feeding, as currently practised, 'is detrimental to the welfare of the

birds'.

 

Over 40 veterinarians licensed in New York State have signed a statement

supporting anti-foie gras legislation and said that 'foie gras production, by

definition, constitutes clear-cut animal cruelty'.

 

As to whether awareness of foie gras ducks' or chickens' suffering should be

raised first, whatever issue animal welfare groups undertake, there will often

be the defence by the food industry that there is a greater cruelty or injustice

elsewhere.

 

It is easier to shift attention from the issue than to do something about it.

Sometimes this is done to show that animal suffering is so widespread that we

cannot be expected to do anything about it. We can, if we avoid an

all-or-nothing attitude.

 

Farm animal welfare has become a priority and even a science in First World

economies such as those in Europe and America. Governments and industries are

acknowledging the welfare problems caused by intensive farming and are improving

conditions for the animals.

 

Unfortunately, we in Asia are starting to intensify farming methods and are

calling it 'high-tech'. There is an urgent need for us to become aware of, and

act against, the large-scale systematic abuse of animals used for food

production.

 

 

 

VADIVU GOVIND (MS)President

 

AnimalWatch

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