Posted on 02/25/2012 12:37:19 PM PST by DogByte6RER
Is farming brain-dead chickens more ethical?
Architecture Student André Ford is proposing raising chickens for meat in vertical racks after severing their frontal cortexes, rendering them effectively brain-dead. It would be much, much more efficient, there's no doubt about that, but would it be any more ethical than current factory farms?
The images of the conceptual chicken racks are fairly disturbing- the chickens are suspended, completely immobile, with their feet removed. Tubes feed water and nutrients directly into the them while other tubes carry away waste. The chickens themselves, though, aren't suffering at all, since their brains have been surgically cut in half, rendering them permanently unconscious. Basically, what you're looking at aren't animals anymore: they're just pieces of meat that are being grown for consumption.
A system like this would significantly reduce the amount of space needed to farm chickens, raising productivity while cutting costs. And arguably, it's better for the chickens, too, since being factory farmed is a miserably inhumane experience. In an ideal world, chickens would roam free in the wild, and there'd be no factories at all. But this isn't how it works, and while you're perfectly free to buy only super happy free range organic chickens, demand is such that factory farms aren't likely to disappear.
The fact that this concept is a lot like The Matrix isn't lost on the artist, but in this case, the chickens don't have it nearly as good:
"The similarities are patent, although in The Matrix the dominant species were kind enough to provide the sub-species with a alternate reality, which was far better than the their 'real' post-apocalyptic world. This was a lovely gesture by 'The Machines', but the chickens in this system will not be privy to such a luxurious appendage to an already elaborate system, especially in this age of austerity."
What the chickens would experience might not be a fantasy world filled with the chicken equivalent of the woman in the red dress, but it's possible that no reality is better than the reality of a factory farm. We should be clear that this is just an art project, and as far as we know no chickens were harmed in the making of it, but it definitely raises some questions about some of the ways in which we get our food.
So, what do you think? Are brain-dead chickens in racks a more ethical way to manufacture food, or not?
I feel the same.
Thank you
That picture is insane.
We have become insane.
argh
Did you guys see last week on Drudge that they are growing pork and beef in petri dishes now?
The future is bright.....er, i mean disgusting.
The “clipping their beaks” might be one of the nastiest reality bits i have ever seen on tv.
The guys that do that 8 hours 5 days a week?
i dunno.....
We kept chickens when I was a child. From my observations chickens are some of the dumbest creatures on earth, and most of the reactions you observe tend to be ones common in animals that have learned the appearance of a human= getting fed.
“That’s not true at all. Chickens can be lovely, sweet animals and devoted pets.
What kind of brutal idiocy are you teaching our kids?”
Nothing like that PETA nonsense. I’ve kept chickens for food and eggs before- and my experience of being around them leads me to conclude that they are pretty much the least intelligent of the animals we kept around.
I view chickens as a food source, and nothing more. I am also tired of eco-geek morons like the PETA dip@#ts using bogus arguments to reduce us all to vegetarian serfs. I do have respect for some animals- and I wouldn’t do what the article suggests either, because I think it a waste of time and resources.
You probably had them crowded into soul-killing conditions, but they are soulful animals. Only the stupid, ahem, could work around them regularly and not recognize their intelligence. Here’s a bit on it:
http://www.chickenindustry.com/cfi/intelligence/
And I’d hate to see what you’d do to the mentally impaired or old-age demented among us humans.
As for chickens, I’m for raising them kindly and eating them heartily.
Nope. They roamed about inside about an acre and a half, and there were never more than about 20 of them. As far as how that relates to how I treat people, it doesn’t, since I can differentiate between chickens and people. By the way, your site links over to this site, who appear to be the people behind it:
http://www.cok.net/about/meet-cok/
Looks like a fine bunch of liberals there.
I’m with you on this. And as I just posted above, science is starting to catch on to the intelligence of chickens (and lots of other birds):
http://www.chickenindustry.com/cfi/intelligence/
Doesn’t matter the link to the source site, various scientists studying the intellect of the birds are quoted.
I could say I just hope you were a profoundly unobservant child, but you seem to have an incredible callousness of spirit into adulthood.
Again, I am sorry you are teaching our youth.
“Again, I am sorry you are teaching our youth.”
Your prerogative, sir. I am glad they have me instead of some granola-head liberal.
Thank you :)
When you can’t make a cogent argument, you can always rely on good ol’ ad hominum attacks. PETA!! PETA!!
You’re a teacher. Surely you’ve heard of modifying behavior by operant conditioning?
Open your mind and go read this site. Then come back with the “chickens are too stupid to breathe” attitude.
http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/howitrained.htm
Once again, I in no way think people shouldn’t eat poultry products. I process extra roosters and I don’t keep deformed or injured birds. However, I interact with my small flock and find their antics entertaining. Like 9 said, they can be lovely, sweet critters and they do bond in their own way with the people who bother to interact with them, instead of ASSuming they’re just dumb clucks.
>I could say I just hope you were a profoundly unobservant child, but you seem to have an incredible callousness of spirit into adulthood.<
I’m wondering if somebody didn’t get flogged by a nasty rooster when they were 6.
Ha ha!
Aieeeeeee!
After some introspection I determined that my original post was harsh and offensive. Therefore, I offer an apology for the implication or outright accusation of stupidity on the part of those concerned about the welfare of chickens. It was wrong of me to do so.
Clipping beaks a nasty thing? How about clipping the eye teeth on all the baby pigs that are born, within 12 hours? castrating all the male pigs within 3 days of birth? “milking’ all the male turkeys? Inseminating all the female turkeys by hand? Reaching into a cow to inseminate her.
Killing sick animals, either by shooting them, or if they’re small, with a hammer?
Debeaking is a trip to the beach.
Farming has a lot of unpleasant things that need to be done.
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