The Lincoln Log

Chickens are hung upside down. (Photo 1 of 2)

Slaughterhouses are filled with the shrieks of chickens enduring painful deaths. Their throats are slit, their bodies de-feathered, and are slowly being killed alive. Apathetically, the workers merely toss carcass by carcass into the shipping trucks to be processed into what we know as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

KFC buys chicken from one of the places considered to be one of the most abusive animal slaughterhouses in the world, Tyson. They do not take heed to the advice from their own animal welfare committee and have been ignoring two years of warnings from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) after PETA launched the campaign against KFC in 2003.

The workers treat the chickens cynically and sadistically, to say the least. The chickens do not suffer only being de-feathered or having their throats slit while they are alive; they also suffer from some workers spitting tobacco in their eyes, spray painting the chickens heads, and various other cruel punishments (as seen on kfccruelty.com).

KFC released earlier to the public that they have fired the employees who have unfairly treated the chickens and have hired an inspector for the “slaughterhouse”. That inspector, however, is not a government inspector. If it is not a government inspector, s/he is more likely to falsely give out information about KFC’s treatment of chickens.

Kill-

ing chickens carelessly is a terrible thing because chickens and humans share many common traits. They can feel pain, and when allowed to live freely, they build social hierarchies and form alliances. Chickens are actually very intelligent creatures who could rival even domestic dogs and cats. If we protect dogs and cats so vehemently, why are we not protecting chickens?

Tyson, the supplier, sells over 850 million chickens per year. KFC buys approximately 9 million chickens per year (in the United States). Life spans of the chickens are drastically shortened. Boiler chickens live for about 4-7 weeks, compared to 8 – 9 years on a farm where they get to live their lives fully.

When chickens are living in these drab conditions, living conditions are drastically changed. Chickens can live comfortably in groups of 90, but the slaughterhouses are filled with over 90,000 chickens. They are pumped with hormones so that they cannot walk and are restricted to tiny little coops. In those coops, they are in direct contact with their own feces and are not cleaned properly as such. If the chickens (or the eggs) are undercooked, the consumer could often get very sick.

Treatment is such slaughterhouses are inhumane and cruel. PETA is currently launching a campaign against KFC. Life for chickens is despondent, there should be action taken against it.