Time to crack down on chicken abuse
WASHINGTON – Few feathers fly when scientists announce new discoveries regarding the intelligence of animals and how our underestimation of their mental faculties couldn't be more outdated.Unfortunately, even with our newfound respect for avian intelligence, we have yet to translate that recognition of animal cognition into the most elemental legal protections for the bird we use most intensively for commercial purposes: the domesticated chicken.
With nearly 9 billion raised for food each year in the US, chickens are the most numerous birds on the face of the planet. And they're undoubtedly the most abused.
Chickens are virtually always raised in industrial confinement operations, and the birds are treated at slaughterhouses as if their suffering hardly mattered.
While terms like "bird-brained" have become part of our lexicon, it now seems that being compared to birds should be considered a compliment.
Source: csmonitor.com
8 June 2005
1 minute read
