Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals

Singer estimates that over 100 million cows, pigs, and sheep are raised for slaughter in the United States alone, while over 5 billion poultry are killed for the dinner table. Farming as the world once knew it has long been over, replaced with “factory farming” that emphasizes efficiency and cost efficacy above all else, including the treatment of animals. 

Singer first examines the treatment of chickens in the factory farm system. Chickens are kept in impossibly tight enclosures with little light to encourage greater weight on the smallest amount of feed possible. Singer goes into how a system such as the factory farm is the antithesis to the natural environment. For example, pecking order, a determined hierarchy, is easily maintained within a flock of around ninety chickens; however, instability runs rampant when it comes to over 80,000 chickens crowded into a single shed. As a result of this and the extreme crowding, the chickens fight frequently, and both feather pecking and cannibalism can run rampant. Instead of addressing the issue by giving the chickens the necessary space required, the industry has instead introduced a roundabout practice of “debeaking.” This practice often causes serious injury and pain to the bird.