Non-profit animal rights organization Animal Outlook (formerly Compassion Over Killing) has released horrifying undercover footage detailing the typical life of 9 billion young chickens slaughtered in the United States each year.

Every day, thousands of chicks are born at industrial hatcheries, ripped away from their mothers and roughly jostled onto conveyor belts by machines at just a few hours old. They spend their entire lives confined to overcrowded and dirty enclosures. These cramped, hazardous conditions — which are even characteristic of  “free-range” and “organic” factory farms — cause painful suffering for the birds, who are subjected to a “rapid growth” process that forces them to grow unnaturally fast. By the time chickens are “ready” for slaughter, at the tender age of just five to seven weeks, many are too overweight to walk or stand up.

Some chicks don’t survive the cruel road to slaughter, becoming painfully tangled or crushed in machinery or starving to death. Those deemed “unprofitable,” including sick and injured chickens, are brutally killed.

This shocking footage also offers an eye-opening look into how industrial farms mislead consumers with labels, driving home the point that there is truly no such thing as humane factory farming.

“It’s uncomfortable to think about this reality, but chickens are still babies when slaughtered,” said Animal Outlook President Erica Meier. “They’re only about 45 days old. And the miserable process from hatchery to our plates is painful, barbaric, and completely unnecessary. We can take a stand against this cruelty by refusing to put our money in the pockets of Big Ag and instead shift our support to compassionate vegan foods.”

 

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