Chickens: Amusing Pets, or Mistreated Animals?
First, let’s start with the human’s point of view. We’ll call this person Sue. Sue’s grandparents are coming to visit. She wants to bake a lemon cake for them. Sue is an excellent cook, but she is worried. “What if it doesn’t taste good?” She wonders. She quickly adds the eggs and samples the batter. Mmmm, so good. After spreading the batter on the pan, Sue scrapes around the mixing bowl to get the extra batter. Delicious.
The side effects come later.
Sue is now suffering uncontrollable vomiting and dehydration. Her panicked parents rush her to the hospital. But wait, what is the story?
Eggs. That’s what.
Every year, 42,000 americans are infected with the salmonella parasite, which comes from eating raw eggs. Notice, that I said Americans. Why no others? Because America will do anything to produce more eggs. You see, most countries have laws about chicken raising; that they must have space to run around, and lay their eggs in a clean place. America doesn’t have this law. Instead, egg producers discovered that they could produce four times the eggs by packing each chicken in a1x1 foot box. They are fed too much, and grow abnormally overweight without opportunity for exercise. They have no room to lay their eggs cleanly. It is a terrible environment for any living thing. After laying eggs 10 or 15 times, these hens will die from a great variety of health problems.
So, think about this the next time you sneak a bite of raw batter from the next batch of cookies.
First, let’s start with the human’s point of view. We’ll call this person Sue. Sue’s grandparents are coming to visit. She wants to bake a lemon cake for them. Sue is an excellent cook, but she is worried. “What if it doesn’t taste good?” She wonders. She quickly adds the eggs and samples the batter. Mmmm, so good. After spreading the batter on the pan, Sue scrapes around the mixing bowl to get the extra batter. Delicious.
The side effects come later.
Sue is now suffering uncontrollable vomiting and dehydration. Her panicked parents rush her to the hospital. But wait, what is the story?
Eggs. That’s what.
Every year, 42,000 americans are infected with the salmonella parasite, which comes from eating raw eggs. Notice, that I said Americans. Why no others? Because America will do anything to produce more eggs. You see, most countries have laws about chicken raising; that they must have space to run around, and lay their eggs in a clean place. America doesn’t have this law. Instead, egg producers discovered that they could produce four times the eggs by packing each chicken in a1x1 foot box. They are fed too much, and grow abnormally overweight without opportunity for exercise. They have no room to lay their eggs cleanly. It is a terrible environment for any living thing. After laying eggs 10 or 15 times, these hens will die from a great variety of health problems.
So, think about this the next time you sneak a bite of raw batter from the next batch of cookies.
Learn more about the intelligence of chickens here.
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