Today, farm animals are raised under industrial conditions. Farms are larger than ever, and as a result, individual care for animals is rare or nonexistent. Due to intensive breeding and lack of mobility, many diseases have become commonplace. The animals’ living environment offers little to no enrichment, and they are unable to live a life that is typical for their species.
According to the dominant view in our society, the purpose of animals is to provide utility for humans in the form of money, food or other benefits. Animals, then, are seen predominantly as a means of production and not as beings with intrinsic value. Compared to their potential lifespans, animals’ lives are cut short at the slaughterhouse. Each year billions – thousands of millions – of animals are slaughtered across the world; in Finland alone, more than 80 million 1.
Just like humans, other animals, too, have the ability to feel pain and pleasure. Many people have started to question the exploitation and killing of animals purely for the sake of culinary habits.
The rearing of pigs
In nature, pigs would behave much like their close relatives, the wild boar. In our current animal production, however, species-typical behaviors are made impossible for pigs.
Pigs raised for meat are kept in group pens with less than one square meter of space per each one-hundred-kilogram pig 2. Cramped conditions and near complete or complete lack of enrichment cause stress as well as behaviors such as biting each other’s tails. In some countries, pigs’ tails are amputated to prevent biting, but this is prohibited in Finland. Additional stress is caused by noise and the smell of urine and feces. Ammonia vapor can damage pigs’ lungs.
In most piggeries, sows are kept in narrow pens that prevent turning around during farrowing and insemination. At other times, according to Finnish law, pigs must be kept in group pens. Because sows farrow on average 2.3 times a year, they spend around half of each year unable to turn around. Piglets are taken to the slaughterhouse at the age of 4.5 to 6 months. Male pigs are castrated to prevent unpleasant flavor in their meat caused by male hormones. The procedure is done without general or local anesthesia and is therefore extremely painful for the piglets. In most European countries, during the weaning stage, piglets are kept in small cages stacked on top of each other. When it comes to meat imported to Finland, it is hard to trace what kind of conditions the animals were kept in.
In Finland, approximately two million pigs are slaughtered each year 3.
Broiler farming
Broilers are chickens that are reared for their meat. Broiler production uses intensively bred chicken hybrids that grow quickly and become extremely bulky. The birds are reared in groups of tens of thousands in large, windowless halls4 and are slaughtered around the age of five weeks. On average, each farm has around 40 000 birds 5. Per each square meter, there are around 20 birds, depending on their age and size. The lights are kept on for 18 to 23 hours a day to make the broilers eat as much as possible. Their muscle mass has been bred to grow so quickly that their legs cannot support their body weight. This is why many broilers suffer from chronic leg pains and bone fractures. Many broilers also die of starvation and heart attacks.
In Finland, around 77 million broilers are slaughtered each year6, and the number is growing due to increasing demand.
Egg-laying chickens
In Finland, there are approximately four million chickens in egg production. Most eggs are produced in so-called furnished or enriched colony cage systems 7. An enriched cage must contain a perch, a nest for laying eggs, and an area for scratching and pecking. The “nest” is usually an area of the cage separated by a plastic flap that has no materials for nest-making. The area for scratching and pecking might be a small piece of doormat. The amount of space per animal is equivalent to one piece of A4 paper. Due to immobility, the bones of the chickens are fragile, which is why many suffer bone fractures both in the cage and during handling and transport.
So-called free-range eggs are produced in barn systems. The chickens are kept indoors all year round. There is one square meter of space per nine chickens 8. These cramped conditions lead to some of the chickens pecking their inmates. The large numbers of animals prevent the chickens’ natural tendency for forming flocks with clear hierarchies and individuals recognizing each other.
Egg-laying chickens are slaughtered around the age of 18 months. Chickens removed from egg production have no further use in the food industry and are usually killed by gassing in a carbon dioxide container that has been brought to the farm. The carcasses end up as fodder for animals on fur farms. Male chicks born in egg production are killed soon after hatching by gassing or in a shredder, because keeping them alive is not profitable.
Dairy production
Dairy production is inextricably tied to meat production, because most beef produced in Finland comes from dairy farms. Cows are slaughtered at around five years of age, even though their natural lifespan is around 20 years.
Like humans, cows produce milk for their offspring. For milk production to be continuous, cows must give birth every year. Cows are usually impregnated by artificial insemination. In nature, cows would nurse their calf for almost a year, but in dairy production, humans want the milk for themselves. This is why the calf is separated from its mother usually almost immediately after birth.
Calves reared for milk production are kept alive. They are raised on milk substitute and end up as dairy cows in a continuous cycle of pregnancy by the age of 18 to 24 months. Due to selective breeding, cows’ udders are so heavy that they need to wear supportive vests. Other common issues include injuries caused by cows stepping on their teats, leg and joint issues as well as hoof diseases 9. Male calves (also called bull calves) are slaughtered around the age of 1 to 2 years. Some male calves are kept as stud bulls.
Half of cow barns in Finland are tie stall barns where cows are tied by their neck to their stalls and are only able to take one step forward or back. However, cows in these types of barns must be let outside on 60 days each summer. The rest of cow barns are free stall barns where the cows have more freedom of movement but usually never get to go outside. Part of both dairy cattle and beef cattle are kept indoors all year round.
There are around 860 000 bovines in Finland 10. Approximately 180 000 bovines raised purely for their meat are slaughtered in Finland each year 11. Beef cattle farming uses both male calves of dairy cow breeds as well as beef cattle breeds.
Animal transportation
In Finland, the slaughter of animals has been centralized to just a few slaughterhouses. Because of this, the animals’ journey to the slaughterhouse may take several hours.
Being transported is stressful for animals, and some even die during transport due to thirst, heat or getting trampled. Fights are also common when animals that are unfamiliar to each other are placed in the same transport truck or slaughterhouse. During loading and unloading of the trucks, the animals are often hit, kicked and shocked with electric cattle prods.
Slaughter of farm animals
Slaughterhouses are usually massive. Time pressures, cramped conditions, and rough handling are routine for both the waiting and the slaughtering stage. Additional stress is caused by the noise of machines, the smell of blood and intestines, the screams of other animals, as well as fights.
In European countries, animals must be stunned before they are killed by cutting the carotid artery and draining the blood. One common method is electric current, which, according to current scientific knowledge, causes pain in the animal before it loses consciousness. Carbon dioxide is also commonly used. Pigs are given an electric shock through electrodes placed on their temples. Bovines are stunned by shooting them with stun guns. However, the slaughterhouse workers are not always able to shoot the bovines in the right place, meaning they may not actually lose consciousness. Other mistakes can also occur at the slaughtering stage.
The slaughter of poultry is especially factory-like in Finland. In most slaughterhouses, the birds are first gassed with carbon dioxide inside transport crates and then hanged by their legs on metal hooks attached to a conveyer belt. The conveyer belt moves the birds along, and their throats are slit. Finally, a hot water scalder plucks, skins and washes the birds. Another method is to stun the birds after attaching them to the hooks using an electrified water basin.
In most Western countries, the law requires that animals are stunned before being slaughtered, but in many countries, exceptions are made on religious grounds. According to the Jewish faith, meat must be kosher, and in the Islamic faith, halal. In both cases, this means killing the animal by draining the blood while the animal is still conscious. In Finnish kosher and halal slaughter, the animal is stunned at the start of the blood draining. However, meat slaughtered using traditional kosher and halal methods can be imported to Finland.
Production of organic dairy and eggs
In certified organic animal farming, animals’ species-typical behavioral needs have been taken into account slightly better than in so-called conventional farming. In organic cow barns, cows are not forced to give birth while tied to their stall; instead, there is a separate pen for giving birth. The animals must have outdoor access in the summer, unlike cows in conventional free stall barns.
Even setting aside the fundamental ethical problem of exploiting animals, organic farming, too, has issues that negatively impact the animals’ wellbeing. Cows are mainly kept in free stall barns, but small farms can get a permit of exception allowing them to keep cows tied by their necks to their stalls. Male calves usually face the same fate as in conventional farming: they are killed when they are less than two years old. The dairy cows are not allowed to grow old, either.
On organic farms, the calf is usually separated from its mother slightly later than in conventional farming. However, this can be even more painful for the calf and mother, who have time to form a stronger attachment than if they were separated immediately. In nature, the mother would wean her calf at around the age of 11 months.
Organically farmed chickens are kept in facilities with one square meter of space per six chickens. In conventional chicken barns, there are nine chickens per square meter12. The chickens have a “nest”, but usually no nest-making materials, which are important for chickens. However, chickens must have outdoor access in the summer, unlike in conventional farming.
Store-bought organic eggs usually come from large farms housing thousands of chickens. In large barns, chickens cannot recognize their inmates, which leads to fighting. Egg-laying chickens are slaughtered when their ability to lay eggs slows down, typically around the age of 18 months. The fate of male chicks is the same as in conventional farming: they are killed immediately after hatching.
Organically farmed animals are transported and slaughtered using the exact same methods and in the same slaughterhouses as all other farm animals.
Organic farming, too, is about viewing animals as property and seeking financial gains: animals are kept for some utility and killed when they are no longer useful. In the end, organic farming is no better for animals than conventional farming. It is also worth noting that the eggs and dairy used by stores, restaurants and school or workplace cafeterias are usually not organic. In practice, it is usually easier to find a vegan option than an organic animal-based one.
Fishing
In Finland, billions of fish are killed each year. According to studies, fish feel pain in a similar way to mammals. Fish may even feel pain more intensely than humans, and they have very sensitive skin13. Depending on the fishing method, fish can die in many different ways, for example by suffocating. Tuna fish are often placed in an ice-cold water tank where they freeze to death – if they have not already been crushed to death or suffocated during net fishing. There is also small-scale fishing with fishing rods – in this case, the fishhook causes pain, but the killing itself happens relatively quickly.
The world’s oceans have been largely overfished, and several fish species are on the brink of extinction. Many other species that depend on fish for sustenance, such as whales and seals, are also endangered. Drift nets kill dolphins, seabirds, turtles and commercially unviable species of fish. Drift nets also damage the seabed so severely that the flora and fauna can never fully recover. Animals also die from nets and fishhooks that have been left adrift.
Part of the world’s fish yields are produced by farming fish in tanks. Fish farming is a major cause of eutrophication of water systems. Fish farming also uses antibiotics whose effects on nature are still unknown. A major portion of the world’s fish yields are used as fodder for other animals.
Production of fur and leather
There is no essential difference between leather and fur. Fur animals are usually raised purely for their fur. The ethical problems of leather may be harder to perceive because leather has a reputation as being a side product of the meat industry.
The combined monetary value of the different parts of an animal determines how financially viable the animal is to farm. Most profits from livestock come from meat, but the hide is by far the second-most valuable part of the carcass. For instance, the hide makes up around 10% of the monetary value of a bovine carcass.
Most leather products come from livestock that have lived their lives in the factory-like conditions of intensive farming. Meat, dairy, and leather production are therefore all part of the same industry. Many of the world’s biggest meat producers further refine their animals’ hides in their own leather factories. The leather industry is linked to dairy production in many ways. For instance, the soft hide of young calves is in high demand. Cows must give birth every year to produce milk. Calves are often slaughtered when they are only a couple of months old. Some calf hides also come from unborn calves. The calf is either aborted for its leather or killed when the mother is slaughtered.
The leather industry uses both factory-farmed animals and wild animals. In addition to bovines, leather can come from pigs, horses, sheep, goats, reindeer, bison, mouflon, kangaroos, dogs, snakes, camels, ostriches or alligators. The leather of eels, frogs, zebras, boars, deer, elephants, tigers, sharks, dolphins, seals and walruses is also sometimes used. For instance, kangaroo hides are used in athletic footwear.
Leather production pollutes the environment. Animal farming causes environmental issues, as does the manufacturing of leather goods. Many harmful chemicals are used to soak, shape, dye, and treat leather. Most leather goods in the world are treated with chrome. This treatment releases many toxic substances into the environment, such as lead, zinc, formaldehyde, dyes, and other cyanide-based compounds 14. As a major consumer of energy, the leather industry is in the same class as the aluminum, paper, steel, cement, and oil industries.
In theory, leather products are biodegradable, but the main function of tanning agents is to stabilize collagen strands to prevent their biological degradation. Faux leather products are not always a more environmentally friendly option, but new eco-friendly leather alternatives are continually being developed. In the US, for instance, shoes made from recycled plastic bottles and car tires are available. Shoes can also be made from plant fibers.
Sheep farming and wool production
Sheep are mostly farmed for their wool, but wool production is strongly linked with meat production and slaughter.
In countries like Finland, sheep farms are relatively small. However, only a few percent of wool garments sold in Finland are mad from Finnish wool 15. The world’s largest wool producer is Australia. Australian sheep farms usually house thousands of sheep. The mortality rate of sheep is high: every year in Australia, approximately 15 million lambs die under the age of two days 16, which results mainly from overly large numbers of sheep and unqualified animal attendants.
Most sheep farmed in Australia are merino sheep. The skin of merino sheep has been selectively bred to be more wrinkled than usual so that they produce as much wool as possible. Many parasites thrive under the skin folds, which is why the sheep are bathed in basins of insecticide. Another common procedure is mulesing, which means cutting off some of the skin around the anus without anesthetic. This leaves a painful, bloody wound that takes weeks to heal. The pain from the wound makes moving around difficult.
The sheep also undergo other procedures without pain relief. Among other things, the castration of lambs, tail amputations and sanding teeth are common practices in Australia and in other countries with widescale sheep farming.
Many of the world’s sheep still live on pastures, but the situation is changing. In the UK and Australia, sheep farming has started to resemble the factory farming of many other animal species. For sheep to be utilized as efficiently as possible, lambs are only allowed to suckle their mothers’ milk for a limited time, after which they are separated from their mother, kept indoors and fed milk substitute.
In nature, sheep would only grow as much wool as is necessary based on weather conditions. However, this is not the case in sheep farming, where sheep have been selectively bred to produce as much wool as possible. Wool can make up as much as half of a sheep’s body weight. As a result, many sheep die of heatstroke. Large numbers of sheep also freeze to death every year after being sheared. The pace of shearing is very fast, and sheep may be injured during shearing. In Australia, for instance, there have been reported cases of the shearer accidentally cutting off half of a sheep’s face or flaying off its genitals, with the injuries not being treated in any way.
A portion of wool in the UK is so-called “leather wool” that is sheared from the hides of slaughtered sheep and lambs. The financial utility of sheep in wool production usually ceases at the age of around four years, after which they are slaughtered. In addition to wool, sheep are also farmed for meat and sheepskins. For many sheep from Australia or New Zealand, the trip to the slaughterhouse means several weeks’ transportation on a ship.17 During transport, many sheep die of hunger, thirst, cold, heat or salmonella. Some suffocate to death.
In addition to sheep wool, the textile industry also uses the wool of many other species, such as angora rabbits, angora goats, Kashmir goats, camels, and llamas. There are many ethical issues related to the farming of these species; for example, angora rabbits are kept in small cages, and Kashmir goats are forced to live their life tied between two poles so that their hair can be pulled out regularly and easily.
Production of down
It is estimated that 50% to 80% of the world’s down comes from geese and ducks that are plucked alive 18. The birds are plucked every eight weeks, usually three to five times before being slaughtered. During plucking, the birds are lifted to hang by their heads, and their legs are tied together. The birds are conscious during the whole procedure, and they scream in pain and try to free themselves. The fast pace of workers also hurts the birds. Plucking birds alive is common especially in Hungary, Poland and China 19. China is by far the world’s biggest producer of down.
Producing one down-filled duvet requires the down of 75 geese. Some of the birds are force-fed during the last few weeks of their life so that their liver expands unnaturally quickly to produce foie gras.
Soft and fluffy down can only be acquired from waterfowl, which means that the easily flattened down of chickens is not used in the production of clothes or pillows. In Finland, the down or feathers of slaughtered chickens is not collected. Decorative feathers usually come from chickens slaughtered in Asia, where chickens are raised in very factory-like and unnatural conditions.
Down can also come from wild birds, such as eiders. Eider down is usually collected from nests after the nesting season, which does not harm the birds. If the down is collected earlier, the eggs may be damaged. Wild birds are also hunted for their plumes and feathers.
Honey production
Bees are killed in the production of honey. At the end of the summer, the beekeeper collects the honey – the food the bees have gathered for the winter – and the bees naturally try to prevent this, many of them dying in the process. The honey is replaced with a solution made from water and cane sugar or beet sugar. Cane sugar is imported to Finland from countries such as South America.
Honeybees were brought to Finland specifically for beekeeping. The restrictions on using pesticides are tighter near apiaries, which means that nearby flora and fauna may benefit from beekeeping. The bees’ value as pollinators is also considerable. Beekeeping, therefore, has benefits for humans as well as other animals and the environment; the only potential sufferers are the bees themselves.
In other countries, beekeepers usually sever the queen bee’s wings so that it cannot escape the hive. In Finland, the queen’s wings are usually not clipped. The reason why the queen might want to leave is that in nature, the old queen leaves with young bees to establish a new hive. Beekeepers in Finland usually divide a hive like this in half.
In addition to honey, bee products include beeswax, propolis, pollen, royal jelly and bee venom.
Silk production
Large numbers of animals are killed in silk production. The larva of the silk moth spins a chrysalis, inside which it undergoes a metamorphosis into an adult butterfly. Humans use this silk thread as a raw material. The silk threads get severed when the butterfly exits the chrysalis. To prevent this, humans kill the larvae while they are still inside. This allows for the collection of longer silk threads. The most common killing methods include heating in the sun or in an oven, suffocation or boiling with steam.
To produce one kilogram of silk, around 6 600 larvae must be killed 20.