The Difficult Reality of Factory Farming

When you think of Australia, you think: beach, sun, surf and of course the barbecue.

Eating beef is part of the Australian culture and in Meat and Livestock Australia’s latest advertising campaign their message to the public is, ‘You’re better on beef’:

Australia is one of the world’s biggest exporters of beef however with the release of the ABC Four Corners report on the live exporting of cattle to overseas slaughterhouses, the problem of animal cruelty within these production facilities exploded onto screens and into mainstream media.

The shock, disgust and horror that this report provoked points to a key issue in beef (as well as pork and poultry) production sites: how much we don’t know about how we get our meat.

For the Four Corners report, journalists were able to gain access to one of the slaughterhouses but for many other journalists, factory farms are tightly regulated to keep them out. One major inhibiting factor of reporting on animal cruelty in these industries are ‘ag-gag’ laws. These are designed to stop journalists, animal welfare activists, whistle-blowers and undercover reporters from capturing and recording what happens inside agricultural facilities.

In America, the state of Iowa passed an ‘ag-gag’ law that makes it illegal for journalists or investigative reporters to work in a factory farm to ultimately prevent undercover videos of animal cruelty surfacing. What this does is  prevent further public knowledge of the often terrible living conditions of the animals. Though these laws are more prominent in America, Australia is looking to introduce them, as Katrina Hodgkinson, the New South Wales Minister for Primary Industries considers animal activists who illegally obtain footage of animal cruelty as vandals and criminals.

But despite the exposure of the abuse that journalists and activists present, why does it continue to happen?

One idea is what Animal Studies academic Melissa Boyde calls an “open secret.” Despite us knowing that these cows were severely abused before their slaughter, many of us ignore or choose not to take on the challenge that comes with this knowledge. Sure there are those who commented about their disgust and perhaps signed petitions to stop live exporting. Further still, there are the vegetarians and vegans who may have chosen that lifestyle specifically for that reason. But for the majority, we would rather be indifferent or turn a blind eye than to be burdened with the responsibility of solving such a huge issue.

But despite how much we may not want to know, the point is that we should know in order to better facilitate the lives of the animals who give us sustenance.

I mean, yes there might be a high demand for meat and yes these animals are going to be die eventually but I think it is completely unnecessary for them to be horribly treated in the time that they are alive. I love eating meat and surely in this technological age we should be able to develop safer conditions for the animals. They have feelings too!