Animal Cruelty -- In the Foods We Eat?

BigCasino

BigCasino

Member
Let me preface this by saying I have been a life long carnivor, and intend to stay so, but after coming across some information about the cruel treatment of some of my favorite food sources I feel obligated to bring it to the attention of my friends here.

As body builders, powerlifters, and athletes in general most of us here are accustomed to snacking down on steaks, chicken breasts, wings, drum sticks, fish, lobster, what have you. I gotta confess, nothing livens up my taste buds like a nice juicey steak. Plus, it's all high-protein nutrient rich food, it tastes damn good and it helps us with our strength and physique goals.

Earlier this evening I was doing some google searching for a body of mine, since we were debating whether or not lobsters "scream" when being boiled. As you might guess, this eventually led me to PETA. Now I know PETA and their animal abuse claims are nothing new, and for a long time I wrote them off as extremists. The thing that caught my eye though was a section on KFC, and subsequently Tyson chicken. I've got three 10lbs bags of Tyson chicken breasts in my freezer and I happen to like KFC, so this peaked my interest. What I read and saw next really upset me. I'm going to post the links to these findings below, and you can read about it / watch for yourselves if you like, but suffice it to say these animals are senselessy and brutally tortured and mutilated, often out of lazyness and even more disturbingly the enjoyment of the "workers". It really made me question that if these people could do these horrible things to chickens, what would they do to dogs, cats, ..... people?

Here is a link to the page with the different undercover investigations they conducted, certain ones have video footage you can view. A note about the optional clips, I am not by any means a "soft" person, and I've seen a lot more human violence and death than I would liked to have seen, but for some reason nothing gets to me like animal abuse and clips like this really hit me hard, so if you are sensitive about this type of stuff too you might want to just read the reports.

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Again, I love meat, I have no intention of becoming a vegetarian, but damnit I love animals and this **** really bothers me. I'm not trying to preach to anyone, but I think before I was kind of putting my head in the sand on the issue. I figured these animals were "processed" in factories, but I had not idea they were tortured for fun. Back in grade school I remember hearing horror stories about McDonald's food, but that was a long time ago I never really thought I was indirectly supporting that type of abuse.

I guess my point was to just start up a discussion about it and see what you guys and gals feel. PETA has a lot of good suggestions for how we can make the chicken's deaths much more humane with peaceful nitrogen gasings. There is no reason why we should have to give up our meat, so why the hell won't companies implement these kinder methods? $$$$ right?
 
i never eat at KFC, but I have seen the vid clips and it is disturbing.
 
I’ve seen these videos as well. I actually gave up eating meat for a year once because of stuff like this. That didn’t work because I also like to workout and those didn’t combine too well. I wouldn’t eat at KFC for many other reasons as well :)
 
Rivet said:
I’ve seen these videos as well. I actually gave up eating meat for a year once because of stuff like this. That didn’t work because I also like to workout and those didn’t combine too well. I wouldn’t eat at KFC for many other reasons as well :)
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I know, it's like what are we supposed to do! We're not going to get freaky huge off of eating salads! Still, I guess the thing that really bothers me is that there are relatively pain-free ways to handle this, such as the nitrogen gasing methods backed by numerous researchers and scientists, and such a method would actually be cheaper too for the companies themselves, yet they refuse to do anything about it.

I was just using KFC and chicken as an example, I'm sure other food establishments and slaughterhouses are equally guilty.
 
I saw this awhile back also and wasn't really surprised that this was going on. Don't get me wrong, it's extremely f-ed up what these people are doing. But do you really expect more from the trash that works in those plants?

Not all, but most people that work in those plants are not well educated and are of the lower class/wage earners of society. They're the same caliber of people who work at the KFC, McDonalds, Burger Kings etc... Most are rude, don't give a rat's ass about you and don't have any real life aspirations.

Those companies should come down hard on management because they're obviously not doing their jobs of supervising those idiots.
 
BigCasino said:
I was just using KFC and chicken as an example, I'm sure other food establishments and slaughterhouses are equally guilty.
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KFC is easy to avoid since its so damn greasy. I didnt even like that place as a kid.
 
Its terrible. I'll always eat meat, but I love animals and the creatures that we use for food should be treated humanely. I saw a PETA video about a pork processing plant once and it nearly made me throw up, the way they were treating those animals.

Its sad because many farm animals, like pigs and cows, are actually pretty intelligent so thinking of them being treated like that is heartbreaking.

BV
 
BigVrunga said:
Its terrible. I'll always eat meat, but I love animals and the creatures that we use for food should be treated humanely. I saw a PETA video about a pork processing plant once and it nearly made me throw up, the way they were treating those animals.

Its sad because many farm animals, like pigs and cows, are actually pretty intelligent so thinking of them being treated like that is heartbreaking.

BV
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I read this post as soon as I got home in my new leather colarless/racer jacket :sad:
 
Aparently you guys don't this, but KFC does not raise nor slaughter their own chickens. They buy chicken meat in bulk from general suppliers. KFC then breads and fries it. PETA knows it, but they like to play on people's ignorance. So they lie. That's what extremists do.

You have 2 options when eating chicken: 1) buy regular chicken that's been shot with anti-biotics and GH 2) buy free range.

You might think, hey free range is great, sure it costs more but it's free of all those nasty anti-biotics! People who eat free range chicken have 8 times more chance of contracting a new strain of E. Coli (the same one found on the spinach recently) and 10 times the chance of contracting similarly deadly new strain of salmonella. Both of these strains are capable of surviving the cooking process.

So what to do? Go vegetarian? Vegetarians make up less than 14% of the population but account for over 80% of all cases of osteoperosis.


Chickens are food. Cows are food. Lobsters are food (btw lobsters don't have pain sensors so the screaming thing is a load of malarchy, the sound is not screaming). Fish is food.

Stop caring about how your food is treated. Do you care what someone does to a plant? No? Then stop caring about how your meat is treated before it's nice and ready for cooking.
 
It depends what you consider cruelty to animals. I grew up fron the age of 5 running a trap line of my own. I trapped, killed and skinned animals for their fur and meat.

I also have worked on animal farms where animals are bred and raised simply to provide food for those unwilling or with no stomach to see an animal killed and then to eat it. I think most people would be better off to AT LEAST once in their lives, if they were to actually kill their own food and THEN decide if they are should be a meat eater or not.


CROWLER
 
CROWLER said:
It depends what you consider cruelty to animals. I grew up fron the age of 5 running a trap line of my own. I trapped, killed and skinned animals for their fur and meat.

I also have worked on animal farms where animals are bred and raised simply to provide food for those unwilling or with no stomach to see an animal killed and then to eat it. I think most people would be better off to AT LEAST once in their lives, if they were to actually kill their own food and THEN decide if they are should be a meat eater or not.


CROWLER
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Furthest I'll go is fishing. Not because I disagree with hunting but because for one I don't have the patience. Sure fishing takes a while, but you can just hang out and drink beer while you do it. It's pretty relaxing. Hunting requires too mcuh waiting while still paying attention.

Oh and I have no desire to gut an animal. Way to much work that I'd likely screw up.
 
I know one thing, we were given teeth to chew meat not salads. I do not like to see animals abused or treated cruely, but like said above they are food, nothing more.

A deer is a beautiful, graceful animal, but I have zero problem sitting in a tree stand and putting a 12 gauge slug in their head when they walk past my tree stand. I then have no problem sticking a knife in them and opening them up to gut them. They are on this planet for a reason. Humans are on top of the food chain, it is just designed that way.
 
Nullifidian said:
You might think, hey free range is great, sure it costs more but it's free of all those nasty anti-biotics! People who eat free range chicken have 8 times more chance of contracting a new strain of E. Coli...


Stop caring about how your food is treated. Do you care what someone does to a plant? No? Then stop caring about how your meat is treated before it's nice and ready for cooking.
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And free range etc chicken costs so much more. What I like telling vegans is that plants have pain sensors and well. It has been tested when they monitored a plant and pricked it that it was indeed feeling pain. They just dont run and scream :)
 
There is no real definition of "free range" either. It could be a 5'x5' square of grass that 10K chickens have access to. All depends on the operation.

I really hate to think the animals I eat have been abused, but I know it happens. That chicken thing happend right here in West Virginia. I guess I choose to ignore it.
 
I like how they create a synthetic daylight making the days and nights shorter, thereby screwing with the chickens menstruel cycle and forcing it produce more eggs. Yay.
 
CROWLER said:
I AT LEAST once in their lives, if they were to actually kill their own food and THEN decide if they are should be a meat eater or not.
CROWLER
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Glad I got that test out of the way early in life :)
 
The unethical treatment of animals in the food industry is ubiquitous. As much as some would like to change that, their efforts are in vain and absolutely futile. Its analogous to the prison-prisoner relationship, except much worse. I am of the opinion that if carnivorous animals could eat humans, in a fashion similar to how we eat them, they would. Any they would 'celebrate' it just as we do. (ie: Hey Jimmy, check out the size of this cut. “Ohh yea, she'll Q-up real nice!)
 
goes4ever said:
A deer is a beautiful, graceful animal, but I have zero problem sitting in a tree stand and putting a 12 gauge slug in their head when they walk past my tree stand. I then have no problem sticking a knife in them and opening them up to gut them. They are on this planet for a reason. Humans are on top of the food chain, it is just designed that way.
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Right, we are at the top of the food chain, and have been enjoying that benefit for some time now. Again, I don't have any problems with anyone hunting or eating animals. That's not the point of this thread. I'm not saying its wrong to kill animals, or it's wrong to eat animals, I'm saying that it is wrong to torture them for sadistic pleasure.

I don't know know if you guys read some of those reports, but there is a definte difference between shooting a bird with the intention to kill and eat it, versus shoving a dry ice bomb or firecrack up a birds ass for twisted entertainment derived from that animals suffering. Seriously, what the ****, that's not what God gave us these animals for. Even if you don't believe in God, as moral intelligent beings you should see something wrong with such abuse.
 
Nullifidian said:
Aparently you guys don't this, but KFC does not raise nor slaughter their own chickens. They buy chicken meat in bulk from general suppliers. KFC then breads and fries it. PETA knows it, but they like to play on people's ignorance. So they lie. That's what extremists do.
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Although I will give you that I didn't perhaps state it clearly enough, I did mention in my first post my understanding of this rather important detail. Specifically I mentioned Tyson, who KFC has continually granted their #1 supplier award to. Tyson however does not only cater to KFC, as they have their own line of poultry / meat products I am sure many of you are familiar with. Again, I noted that I happen to have 30lbs of Tyson chicken in my freezer and have enjoyed their products for a long time. I believe the dilemma with KFC is that there have been numerous undercover investigations into how Tyson runs their factors and treats their animals, all of which have revealed horrible cases of abuse and sadistic behavior, and yet despite this KFC refuses to do anything about it. I agree that PETA are extremists though, which is why I have stayed away from them in the past, but in certain cases, such as this one, the evidence is overwhelming there, and from sources other than just PETA.

Nullifidian said:
Lobsters are food (btw lobsters don't have pain sensors so the screaming thing is a load of malarchy, the sound is not screaming). Fish is food.
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Lobster is delicious, and you are right fish are food. That being said you need to go take a marine biology class because lobsters have a rather impressive sensor array and are quite capable of feeling extreme pain. Am I saying we shouldn't eat / cook them? Not at all. As for the screaming, you're right on that, it's a myth, the sound mistaken for screams is actually oxygen leaving their inner cavities as they are boiled.

Nullifidian said:
Stop caring about how your food is treated. Do you care what someone does to a plant? No? Then stop caring about how your meat is treated before it's nice and ready for cooking.
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Now that's a charming attitude to have. Ah yes, comparing a plant to a farm animal, sterling example! Are you sure you weren't an ostrich in another life, because you seem to be quite adept at burying you head in the sand in indifference. This isn't a debate about whether eating meat is morally right or wrong, and I sure as **** am not preaching vegetarianism, it's about our resposibility as intelligent moral beings to not cause our "prey" any more harm or suffering than is necessary in preparing them for consumption.

No innocent creature deserves to be tortured for enjoyment / entertainment, whether it be a human or a chicken.
 
this and many more things is the reason i was a vegetarian from the age of 15-18 ....

there's also a reason i stopped


and for the guy that mentioned the workers in the plants ... do you REALLY think its up to them how the animals are cared for? you think they get to decide whether 12 chickens are kept in one cage or not? ... stop blaming "the lower classes" for the cruelty that ensues .. is the mega corporations that own the facilities that dictate their policies
 
glenihan said:
and for the guy that mentioned the workers in the plants ... do you REALLY think its up to them how the animals are cared for? you think they get to decide whether 12 chickens are kept in one cage or not? ... stop blaming "the lower classes" for the cruelty that ensues .. is the mega corporations that own the facilities that dictate their policies
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We're talking about 2 different things here. You're talking about the living conditions of the animlas, which I agree, is totally unacceptable and the corporations need to correct that.

I was talking about how the workers treat some of the animals (torturing, cutting off heads, wing, legs etc...for the hell of it).

Yeah I may of been wrong to blame the lower class for this because I know some hard working lower class people. But these same people have morals and values and wouldn't do sick **** like this for entertainment. Didn't mean for it to sound like all lower class people are like that.

My point was that it is the corporations resposibility to monitor their employees so this doesn't happen because they obviously can't be trusted to behave themselves.
 
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