Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Chapter 12
The title of Chapter 12, "Slaughter" is very fitting. The process in which chickens are killed on Joel's farm seem like animal cruelty to me but I guess all anyone cares about is how quickly and efficiently chickens can be harvested. The fact that they are manhandled to the slaughter line and allowed to bleed out seems like a fairly horrible way to go to me. "Daniel explained that you wanted to sever only the artery, not the head, so that the heart would continue to beat and pump out the blood." I think that this very graphic quote makes it fairly evident that the animal's suffering is taking a back seat to killing the animal as quickly and efficiently as possible. I think that the USDA should regulate animal processing and require all farmers to process livestock in official facilities because on farm processing seems fairly secretive and can't be thoroughly inspected to find forms of animal abuse and cruelty. I also found it very interesting how towards the end of the chapter Joel defends the way in which chickens are killed by referring to the Bible. Maybe it makes him feel better about what he's doing or how he's doing it?
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I completely agree with your opinion and I liked how you thought of possible solutions to the problem. I think that not a lot of people look at how there meat got on their plate and if they had the kill the animal themselves, the slaughtering method would be much different. Overall your paragraph was strong and supported your opinion very clearly.
ReplyDeleteI actually disagree; how can an open air abattoir be more secretive than a commercial processing plant that doesn't allow visitors to view the kill floor? And do you think that the commercial facility, which will likely be even more focused on efficiency, will be more humane than Joel's farm?
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