Flu the Coop

Have you been following the avian flu stories? The word pandemic is now included in almost every story I've encountered on the subject. The CBC site has the current stories and tips on what you can do. Watch out for those migratory birds! Time to drug those chickens to prevent avian flu from occurring. One tip even suggested that you thoroughly cook your eggs just to be safe. All of this (mis)information and yes I'll point my finger at the media, as it is often done in our society, because they stir up trouble, aim for the drama and cause panic.

Now you know where I'm coming from and you know that I have one thing for you to consider...factory farming. Has anyone (outside of PETA of course) questioned the methods of chicken farming that occurs these days. Is no one concerned about the root of the problem, factory farming? If media questions factory farming then you're taking on big business and raise the question of ethics etc. Journalists really shouldn't stir the pot like that should they?

A little background on my own discovery about how a chicken "farm" really functioned. When I was 15 I was in a greasy spoon with a friend and ordered chicken (looking back I can't even imagine me ever eating another animal). He was veg and handed me a pamphlet that described the life that a chicken, such as the one I had just ordered, might have lived. That moment changed my life. The more I read the more reasons I had for myself to be veg.

So what does this have to do with avian flu? As I suggest above, what we need to question is how animals are raised. Chickens (after a brutal debeaking process) are sent to farms where they are housed by the thousands in tiny cages so that they can't go at each other (more than 50 chickens in an open environment upsets the natural pecking order of the birds). Usually a few chickens are housed in each cage. Eventually they lose their feathers from rubbing up against the metal caging and many can't walk or they hobble because their feet are messed up from being trapped in a cage. Deaths are high and it is not uncommon for a dead bird to remain in a cage for days before being removed. They often have open sores and live their entire lives out in this environment. Does such an environment not seem problematic to you? Does this not seem like a breeding ground for disease?

Next time you see a news item on avian flu, keep track and notice if the method of factory farming is ever brought into question. Let me know when you find something because I really want to cheer and congratulate that reporter.

By the way if you need a good book reference check out Erik Marcus' "Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating" (McBooks Press 1998). Click on my PETA link as well if you want to see their on going campaigns on this issue.

peace
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