Species justice and harm to animals - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 110

production facilities confining many thousands. Over the
same period, the number of farms or ranches with beef
cattle fell from 4 million to less than 1 million, even as the
number of cattle in the United States rose from 77 million
to 95 million…In 1950, 50,000 farms produced 630 million
meat chickens. That's an average of 12,630 birds per farm.
By 2005, the United States had 20,000 fewer farms, but
the average number of birds per farm had risen to nearly
300,000, for an astonishing total of 8.7 billion meat chickens.
(Baur, 2008: 10-11)
Intensive farming carries with it a wide range of potential harms to the
animals themselves as well as to humans who eat them. For example,
slaughterhouse conditions in the meat industry (cows, pigs, chickens,
sheep) are appalling and animal suffering is endemic to the whole
enterprise. Moreover, the process is so toxic that the product is not
unusually riddled with dangerous bacteria and contaminants guaranteed
to make the meat-eater sick (see Eisnitz, 2007; Baur, 2008). Animal
suffering is ingrained in the mass production of animals for food and
is evident in poor living conditions, terrible transportation situations
(as seen in the live export trade), cruel slaughterhouse techniques
and conditions, and overall disregard and disrespect of so-called food
animals.
The lack of intrinsic value of farmed food animals is indicated as
well in the fact that, for instance, some six million farmed animals,
mostly chickens, lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina's path. While the
media latched on to heart-tugging stories about companion animals
and struggling children, the plight of the lesser valued creatures was
largely ignored.
It was difficult to get the attention of state agricultural
authorities or corporate managers for the chickens' plight.
The birds' value to the industry is very low, and our society
in general doesn't value them much higher. In any case, the
chickens in the hurricane zone were property and, like some
of the homes and possessions lost to Katrina, they were
insured. This meant the corporate owners could collect
on their damaged or destroyed 'goods'. (Baur, 2008: 169)
Value lies in profit-making, not in intrinsic worth when it comes to food
animals. As long as the money comes in, the value is realised - regardless
of the health and welfare of the animals generating the income.