Farm animal welfare

In terms of sheer numbers, farm animal welfare is the biggest animal welfare problem in the world today.

Billions of farm animals are reared behind the closed doors of factory farms. Frequently confined in the name of efficiency to cages and stalls, they are forced to grow super-fast, and pushed to their physical limits in the quest for more meat, milk or eggs. At the end of their short lives there is no guarantee of a humane death.

In factory farms, animals are crammed together in conditions that prohibit natural behaviour – they cannot eat, exercise or form relationships as they are meant to. Many animals are raised in windowless barns and never experience sunshine. The poor conditions often cause animals to become seriously ill. Antibiotics are used to keep them alive long enough to produce food, and to promote growth from birth until slaughter.

Chickens

Chickens on an intensive egg farm
© WSPA/Hector Delgado

Each year, over 44 billion chickens are reared for meat worldwide. They are crammed together in barren, dimly-lit sheds, where they grow at accelerated rates, often suffering from lameness and heart attacks because their legs and hearts cannot cope with their oversized bodies.

Three-quarters of the world's 4,700 million egg-laying hens are confined in battery cages, where they have almost no room to turn around or stretch their wings. They are not able to nest, perch, scratch or behave naturally.

Pigs

Around 20 million pigs are slaughtered in Canada each year. Sows raised in industrial animal farms are crammed into narrow, metal barred "sow stalls" where they are unable to turn around. They will remain like this for pregnancy after pregnancy - in short, for most of their lives.

Pigs raised for their meat are kept in crowded, filthy pens with no environmental enrichment or stimulation. This often leads to psychological disturbance and behaviour such as tail-biting and ear-chewing. To prevent this, piglets' tails are docked and their teeth clipped - without anaesthetic.

Cows

Chained calf at a dairy in Mexico
© WSPA

Over 3 million cattle are slaughtered every year in Canada. Cows raised for beef are routinely castrated and dehorned without anaesthetic. They are sent to overcrowded feedlots to be fattened in grassless, manure-laden enclosures. Dairy cows have been selectively bred to produce huge amounts of milk, which put great strain on the cow's metabolism. They may suffer from hunger, digestive disorders, mastitis and lameness. Exhausted, dairy cows are often sent to slaughter after just 3-4 years.

Male dairy calves are separated from their mothers at birth, to be raised for veal. Most are housed individually in “veal crates”, which are so narrow that the animal is soon unable to turn around. This enforced lack of exercise is designed to keep the meat tender. In 2009, 241,822 veal calves were slaughtered in Canada. Governments around the world are phasing out veal stalls, including the EU and many US states. However, Canada has not yet made any move to follow suit.

Foie Gras

Approximately half a million ducks are slaughtered for foie gras (“fatty liver”) every year in Canada. Foie gras is produced by force-feeding the birds through a pipe that is pushed down their throats. The confined birds are fed up to a third of their body weight in food each day, causing their livers to expand to 10 times their normal size. The birds suffer from the immense stress and injuries from force-feeding and intensive confinement. The production of foie gras has already been banned in several countries.

Read the BC SPCA’s report “The Scientific Case Against Foie Gras” >>

It doesn't have to be like this

WSPA is campaigning for sustainable farming systems that are kinder to animals and the environment, and benefit human health and rural communities.

You can take action too.

Use your wallet to make change. Help end factory farming by eating better, safer and kinder.

Help educate Canadians about farm animal welfare by spreading the word about the issues involved with factory farming.

Visit www.ChooseCageFree.ca to get involved with our campaign to promote cage-free eggs.

Support WSPA with a donation and help put an end to factory farming.