1.0 Introduction
Animal cruelty is an aspect of animal abuse. In simple words, animal cruelty refers to acts of violence and neglect against tame animals. The cruelty meted to animals in slaughterhouses in the United States is appalling. The way these animals are treated in slaughterhouses leaves much to be desired. Human beings are cruel to tame animals when they inflict physical pain on such animals. In the long run, this pain causes suffering and death. Since these animals are tame there is no justification for the kind of trauma which they are put through- they do not pose a danger to human beings. Furthermore, although these animals are often slaughtered for human consumption, the treatment of these animals in slaughterhouses is torturous and has come to the attention of animal rights groups which call for better practice. The contention is that these animals should be better handled in these slaughterhouses. The animals are definitely end up on the table for human consumption, but the slaughter process needs to be reviewed. Cruelty towards animals in slaughter houses takes many forms. In this paper these various forms of cruelty that occur in slaughterhouses will be identified and explained. Also, it is important to examine arguments both in support and against the practice. Can there be any justification for such practice?
1.1 Animal cruelty in slaughterhouses
Slaughterhouses came into being to provide hygienic processing of meat. The processes undertaken in the slaughterhouses are very cumbersome and cannot be done at home. Thus slaughterhouses serve an important function in society. However, animal cruelty in slaughterhouses has raised concern. The cruelty meted to animals in slaughterhouses is intentional. Personnel in the industry are overtly conscious of the fact that the animal is meant to end up as meat on the table. Towards this end, they are not careful in carrying out the slaughter process without causing pain and suffering to the animals. There is supposed to be a standard procedure in the slaughter of animals. However, this procedure is often neglected behind the closed doors of slaughterhouses.
Animal cruelty usually starts on the door steps of slaughterhouses. When animals are taken to slaughterhouses, they can see and hear other animals that were or are being slaughtered. In this atmosphere of tension, workers in these slaughterhouses are insensitive to the animals as they hurry to keep production lines going.
Federal law in the United States requires that animals should be stunned before they are slaughtered. The following types of stunning are used: captive bolt stunning and electrical stunning. However, this law is often broken at these slaughterhouses. Grandin writes that insufficient amperage of electrical stunners can leave animals paralyzed by they are still conscious and can feel pain. Boyd adds that it is not known whether stunning makes the animal unconscious but it is a very painful procedure (221). The animals are often alive while they are being dismembered in the slaughterhouse- they die piece by piece. In slaughterhouses where pork is processed, the pigs are dumped into hot water in order to soften their hide before skinning. Sometimes, the pigs are still alive and squeal while thrown into these tanks containing hot water. The same applies for chickens and other birds. Due to improper stunning, large numbers of chickens, turkeys and ducks are thrown into scalding tanks alive and either drown or are boiled to death.
Often animals need to be restrained before undertaking this stunning procedure. Grandin notes that some slaughterhouses use cruel methods of restraint such as hanging animals by one leg. In this process, some bones in the animal’s body are broken, leaving it in pain before it finally dies.
In many slaughterhouses in the United States, there is time constraint which is often the reason behind animal cruelty. Workers in these slaughterhouses are often under pressure to keep the production line running. The cost of stopping the assembly line in the slaughterhouse is expensive. Thus workers are warned against it. Toward this end, they do not follow steps for humane slaughter. Often animals are alive while they are skinned.
Animal cruelty in slaughterhouses is a recurring nightmare yet not much is done to stop the practice. Warrick writes about the violations at a Texas beef company where hooves were chopped off live cattle. Even when this problem was reported by inspectors, the government ignored it. Furthermore, in February 2007 an investigator at Mercy for Animals (MFA) worked undercover as an employee at one of the largest poultry slaughterhouses in the United States and found many acts of animal cruelty. The investigator found that workers at this slaughterhouse: punch live animals for fun; rip eggs out of hens and throw at workers; rip of heads of turkeys stuck in cages and let birds lie in misery. On the other hand, another investigator at a large Tyson slaughterhouse in Alabama found that: workers rip off heads of chickens that missed the throat cutting machine and; birds were mutilated from faulty throat cutting machines. In a slaughterhouse for cattle, footage portrayed extreme cruelty to the animals. The cows were trampled upon, dragged and tortured by the workers using electric nudges. Fully conscious cows were hung by their feet. One cow was alive when it reached the point where its legs were to be cut off.
1.2 Arguments in support of animal cruelty
The argument in support of animal cruelty seeks to justify the actions that are termed as cruelty. This supposed cruelty to animals is necessary not because workers enjoy doing it but in order to meet certain demands in the meat slaughtering business. These demands include: the exigencies of time, large numbers of animals, counter productivity of humane slaughter and preserving the quality of meat. As slaughterhouses grow larger, it becomes impossible to slaughter animals humanely. These slaughter houses have a large number of clients and deadlines to meet. Thus, they are unable to undertake humane slaughter of animals which is time consuming. Humane slaughter of animals is a time consuming process. Also, it is difficult to ascertain the amount to time it will take for an animal to die before the processing can start. Human slaughtering is disruptive. It takes time and wastes many productive man hours. In other words, it is counter productive. Also, humane slaughtering of animals can lead to other issues. The meat might depreciate after animals are completely dead. Processing animals while they are alive or immediately after death helps keep the meat fresh. Furthermore, the public is putting emotions way before economic gain and market forces when they talk about animal cruelty in slaughterhouses. The loss that will be incurred by humane slaughter is far too great to consider implementing the practice.
1.3 Arguments against animal cruelty
The argument against animal cruelty in slaughterhouses goes beyond compassion and morality for lower animals. Fear and tension in animals cause their bodies to produce enzymes that damage meat. In the long run, companies loose a lot of money due to this problem. Very often in the United States, meat is discarded because of this reason.
Furthermore, the treatment of animals in an important issue that needs to be addressed. With advances in research, it is proven that there is little distinction between human beings and lower animals. As animals, they have emotions and also dream. Consequently, they feel pain and suffering when they are mistreated.
There is a relationship between cruelty to animals and cruelty to human beings. People who are cruel to animals will at one point or other, do same to human beings as well. Therefore, it is important that cruelty to animals in slaughterhouses be stopped. Who knows? This cruelty might be extended to human beings one day as well.
1.4 Conclusion
Animal cruelty in slaughterhouses is an eyesore. The practice may be justified by economic considerations but it is not pleasing to see. Managers of slaughterhouses should consider the negative effects of the practice as it affects meat processing. Government should play a more active role in stemming the practice.
Works Cited
Boyd, F. “Humane Slaughter of Poultry: The Case Against the Use of Electrical Stunning Devices,” Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Ethics, 7.2 (1994): 221
Short C. & A. Van Poznak, Pain in Animals Ed. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1992
Temple Grandin, “2001 Restaurant Audits of Stunning and Handling in Federally Inspected Beef and Pork Slaughter Plants,” American Meat Institute Animal Handling and Stunning Conference, (2002) 8 March 2009 http://www.grandin.com/survey/2001.restaurant.audits.html
Warrick, Joby “Modern Meat: A Brutal Harvest, ‘They Die Piece by Piece,’” Washington Post, 10.04(2001) 8 March 2009 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A60798-2001Apr9¬Found=true
