Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton, PhD Professor & Director Center for Food Animal Wellbeing

February 7, 2012 - There is no room for animal abuse in today’s production environment.  For those that claim profit is the sole reason for raising food animals, I would like to point out that poor animal handling is a direct drain on the bottom line.  In other words, it costs the farmer money to abuse his animals.  Increasing regulation and costs of feed make it necessary to be especially careful with the animals.  In spite of this videos that show horrible scenes continue to appear.

It should also be noted that many aspects of healthy, normal behavior in a wide variety of animals is not pretty.  I have recently visited a number of large scale modern farms and have noted instances where perfectly normal behavior could be photographed and made to appear as something undesirable.  For instance when a young chicken is beginning to develop feathers and still has down covering most of its body, it is not pretty.  In fact, it is rather sad looking.  A single photo of one of these little creatures can be used as a sign of neglect.  If that little bird has indulged in dust bathing just before the photo was taken, it could appear to be injured or filthy when in reality, it just has the result of its bath clinging to its feathers and down.   Another example is birds undergoing molt.  Molting appears as a loss of feathers which is a normal part of their life cycle.  Molting results in a regrowth of feathers and a rejuvenation of the reproductive systems.  Chickens, turkeys and robins all look bad when they are in molt.  A free range chicken that has been attacked by a hawk is an awful site. 

Animals, regardless, of species or habitat get injured from time to time.  Modern farmers take all sorts of precautions to insure that their animals are not exposed to sharp edges or broken wires, but accidents still happen.  Chickens and turkeys are sometimes aggressive and they can cut each other with their sharp toe nails or beaks.  If this occurrence is excessive, something is wrong, but it is, nevertheless, normal behavior.

When there is an undercover video released, it sometimes appears that all of the activity is to deny knowledge and assign blame.  This is not representative of the actions inside the companies.  In every case that I have been aware of, the company took harsh action and did a thorough investigation to ensure that all guilty parties were properly handled and that the opportunity for future occurrences was minimized.

I have no tolerance for animal abuse and find many of the actions depicted in these videos to be horrible and repugnant.  At the same time, I respect the work of the American farmer and the companies that support them in producing safe, high quality food using good animal care and handling practices.  There are two reasons, it is the best way to make money and it is simply the right thing to do.