Earthlings

as they did in an entire year in 1930. 300 00:32:24,785 --> 00:32:29,329 The largest broiler companies in the world now slaughter more than 301 00:32:29,330 --> 00:32:32,850 8.5 million birds in a single week. 302 00:32:43,515 --> 00:32:45,218 DEBEAKING 303 00:32:49,007 --> 00:32:53,423 Debeaking prevents feather-pecking and cannibalism in frustrated chickens, 304 00:32:53,424 --> 00:33:02,144 caused by over-crowding in single areas, where they are unable to establish a social order. 305 00:33:06,596 --> 00:33:11,675 Today, done with infant chicks, the procedure is carried out very quickly, 306 00:33:11,676 --> 00:33:14,076 about 15 birds a minute. 307 00:33:14,121 --> 00:33:20,089 Such haste means the temperature and sharpness of the blade varies, resulting in 308 00:33:20,090 --> 00:33:24,450 sloppy cutting and serious injury to the bird. 309 00:33:24,451 --> 00:33:26,051 LIVING CONDITIONS 310 00:33:26,661 --> 00:33:31,343 As for their living conditions, anywhere from sixty to ninety thousand birds can be 311 00:33:31,344 --> 00:33:34,944 crowded together in a single building. 312 00:33:45,729 --> 00:33:51,602 The suffering for these animals is unrelenting. It is a way of life. 313 00:33:51,603 --> 00:33:57,923 Although their beaks are severed, they attempt to peck each other. 314 00:34:01,951 --> 00:34:09,951 For hens, they live in a laying warehouse, crammed inside so-called "battery cages". 315 00:34:10,518 --> 00:34:12,802 BATTERY CAGES 316 00:34:13,846 --> 00:34:21,286 Many lose their feathers and develop sores from rubbing against the wire cage. 317 00:34:23,430 --> 00:34:28,042 Crowding prevents them from spreading their wings, and the hens cannot 318 00:34:28,043 --> 00:34:31,643 even fulfill minimal natural instincts. 319 00:34:32,231 --> 00:34:33,942 TRANSPORTATION 320 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:39,680 During transportation, all animals suffer, and many die. 321 00:34:41,251 --> 00:34:45,045 And they suffocate when other animals pile on top of them 322 00:34:45,046 --> 00:34:48,406 in overcrowded, poorly loaded cages. 323 00:34:50,389 --> 00:34:52,597 SLAUGHTER 324 00:34:56,124 --> 00:35:03,530 "THE HANG PEN" MOOREFIELD, WEST VIRGINIA 325 00:35:30,709 --> 00:35:35,755 Chickens and turkeys are slaughtered in numerous ways. 326 00:35:35,756 --> 00:35:41,436 Some may be clubbed to death or have their heads cut off. 327 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:58,200 But most are brought through the assembly lines of factory farms. 328 00:36:01,072 --> 00:36:06,748 Dangled upside down on a conveyor belt, their throats are slit, 329 00:36:06,749 --> 00:36:10,349 and they are left to bleed to death. 330 00:36:17,739 --> 00:36:21,708 Others may be placed head-first in tubes to restrict their movement 331 00:36:21,709 --> 00:36:24,909 while they slowly bleed to death. 332 00:36:27,323 --> 00:36:34,573 Surely, if slaughterhouses had glass walls, would not all of us be vegetarians? 333 00:36:34,574 --> 00:36:37,023 But slaughterhouses do not have glass walls. 334 00:36:37,024 --> 00:36:41,674 The architecture of slaughter is opaque, designed in the interest of denial, 335 00:36:41,675 --> 00:36:46,899 to insure that we will not see even if we wanted to look. And who wants to look? 336 00:36:46,900 --> 00:36:58,031 "Go mother fucker! Don't fuckin' stop". 337 00:36:58,032 --> 00:37:08,049 "Let's go, let's go!!! Come on, bitch!" 338 00:37:16,805 --> 00:37:20,123 It was Emerson who observed, more than a hundred years ago, 339 00:37:20,124 --> 00:37:25,652 "You have dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in 340 00:37:25,653 --> 00:37:30,693 the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity". 341 00:38:15,635 --> 00:38:17,786 SEA FOOD 342 00:38:21,575 --> 00:38:26,236 And for those who think eating seafood is "healthier" than land animals, 343 00:38:26,237 --> 00:38:30,554 just remember how much irretrievable waste and contaminated sediments 344 00:38:30,555 --> 00:38:33,195 are dumped into our oceans. 345 00:38:33,606 --> 00:38:38,899 In the past ... oil ... nuclear ... and chemical industries have done little for the 346 00:38:38,900 --> 00:38:41,475 protection of marine environments ... 347 00:38:41,476 --> 00:38:48,103 ... and dumping on or under the seabed has always proved a convenient place 348 00:38:48,104 --> 00:38:51,304 to dispose of inconvenient wastes. 349 00:38:56,807 --> 00:38:59,208 COMMERCIAL FISHING 350 00:39:02,460 --> 00:39:08,217 Today's commercial fishers intensify this situation on massive scales. 351 00:39:08,218 --> 00:39:11,082 They use vast factory trawlers the size of 352 00:39:11,083 --> 00:39:18,043 football fields and advanced electronic equipment to track and catch fish. 353 00:39:20,078 --> 00:39:26,997 Huge nets stretch across the ocean, swallowing up everything in their path.