Farm Animal Abuse in Food Production

by: Nate H, Justin R

We were wondering, are there any restrictions on abuse of farm animals in food production? We chose this because, we were just wondering if anyone was doing anything about farm animal abuse. We found information by researching facts on topics related to this topic. We then wrote it in a word document and put it into this summary.  We wanted to learn more about government policies and laws regarding farm animal abuse because it is such a serious topic, especially in a state with a lot of farm animal production. So, we hope you can learn more about farm animal abuse in the next few paragraphs. Farm animals are getting abused because the big companies don't see them as animals, but as money.

In our researches, we found that there are not a ton of actual laws about farm animal abuse in most of the states in our country. Most of the states have one law in section 951.02, this law states that neglect of a domesticated animal can result in a Class A Misdemeanor. Breaking this law results in almost 1 year in jail and a fine no larger than $3000. That is the maximum penalty for neglecting or beating a domesticated animal if the case is really bad. Just beating an animal may result in a Class I Forfeiture. The maximum fine for a Class I Forfeiture is $25. That doesn't seem like much for beating a food production animal, even if it's just a small amount of beatings. There is also another law called the, Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. This act requires the U.S. Government to purchase animal products only from entities that do not keep animals in gestation crates, veal crates, or battery charges. (Info. from library of congress website) 

There are several groups that are trying to stop animal abuse, farm animal abuse and neglect. Even though there are groups trying to stop several types animal abuse, they really don't seem to be doing anything. The ASPCA or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty for Animals, is one of  the groups that focuses on the topics of abuse on pets. The ASPCA doesn't really help with farm animal abuse though. PETA is a non-profit organization with hundreds of workers and over two million followers. This group started in 1980 because of a case about monkeys being abused in laboratories while being tested. Since that case, PETA now focuses on more farm animal or any domesticated animal types of abuse. A new group just started this year, focuses on domesticated animals and pets. This group is funded by the government and generous donations. The group is called Animal Rights Party of the USA. So, this is just another group that will hopefully stop the fight against animal cruelty. (Info. form ASPCA, Animal Rights Party-USA and PETA home websites)

The other topic involving animal abuse that we researched was, why are the big companies buying meat from farm animals that were abused? The main reason big companies are just buying beaten farm animals is because it is cheaper. But, some people wonder, why is that any cheaper than a farm animal that wasn't beat. Well our research shows that the bigger meat packing companies that slaughter the animals got the cows for example, from farms that fed them corn and gave them growth hormones. Growth hormones make the food production animal grow over two times as fast and that means more animals can be raised and sold to meat packing companies quicker. Money is all that matters to big companies and their employees. If people would just care about their animals, a little more money would be spent, and no one would be angry. Except for the bigger companies because they want to use growth hormones and grow more and more food production animals, for more and more money. So, it's just a big battle between the big companies and animal rights activists. This will go on forever as long as there is animals to eat. (Info. from food inc. video and notes)

With all the evidence given above (and the graph below), we hope the public can learn from this report in many ways. Also, we hope this helps show how farm animals are abused because the big meat packing and slaughter houses don't see them as animals but as money.

                                                                                    (3% was other uncommon types of abuse)                    

                                                                                              (Info. from answers.com) 

                                                             (This graph involves domsticated and other food production animals) 

"Bill Text - 111th Congress (2009-2010)." THOMAS (Library of Congress). Web. 14 Mar. 2011. <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.4733:>.

"H.R. 4733 [111th]: Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act (GovTrack.us)." GovTrack.us: Tracking the U.S. Congress. Web. 15 Mar. 2011. <http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-4733>.

15, |. March. "Ohio Animal Abuse Demonstrates Need for Farm Animal Protection Laws." Tonic News. Web. 15 Mar. 2011. <http://blog.tonic.com/ohio-animal-abuse-demonstrates-need-for-farm-animal-protection-laws/>.