PETA: Catholic Monastery is 'Hell on Earth for Chickens'
Posted February 21, 2007
From a PETA Press Release:
INVESTIGATION INSIDE MONASTERY REVEALS HELLISH CONDITIONS IN CHICKEN FACTORY FARM
Monks Abuse, Neglect, and Intensively Confine 38,000 Hens in Egg Factory, PETA says
Charleston, S.C. — A PETA undercover investigation of an egg factory owned and operated by the Mepkin Abbey outside Charleston, S.C., has revealed shocking cruelty to chickens. Tens of thousands of hens at the monastery are painfully debeaked, crammed into tiny cages, and periodically starved. PETA released its findings—which include video footage and photos—on its Web site PETA.org this morning.
PETA believes the Abbey’s practices violate the Catholic Catechism, Biblical principles, and the teachings of the Pope. When asked about the rights of animals in a 2002 interview, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger—now Pope Benedict XVI—said, “Animals, too, are God’s creatures … Certainly, a sort of industrial use of creatures, so that … hens live so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds, this degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible.”
“The Mepkin Abbey egg factory is hell on Earth for chickens,” says PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich, a devout Roman Catholic... "We’re asking the monastery to stop causing birds to suffer for money’s sake and to switch to making marmalade, bread, beer, or some other product that does not cause animals such unmitigated misery.”
In a statement posted on-line, the Abbey defended its practices, noting that it follows the recommendations of The Scientific Advisory Committee for Animal Welfare--which the Abbey describes as "an independent committee, comprised of USDA officials, academicians, scientists and humane association members."
"It has always been Mepkin Abbey's purpose to provide the healthiest environment for our chickens, to treat them as one of God's precious creatures and to offer to consumers the best possible product for their health and enjoyment. That is precisely why we moved to the cage arrangement over 30 years ago, and why we have continued with it to the present. Cages provide hens protection from predators, soil-borne diseases, and diseases that are caused from walking in litter or waste," Abbey officials said in the statement. "We stand by our product and by the commitment we make to our customers as stated on the inner cover of our egg carton."
Comments
Peta would also have a problem with grandma "wringing" their necks out also. Of course I come from the days when it was politically correct to spank a child also.
Okay, folks, I'm going to have to come to PETA's defense here.
Peach, I grew up on a farm where chickens' necks were regularly wrung, too, and the difference between that type of farm and the ones PETA doesn't like are that our chickens (and I'm sure your grandmothers') were what would be called free range chickens today, that is, they roamed around and lived pretty good lives until Judgment Day.
The types of farms that PETA protests would sicken the stomach of anyone who went there, with chickens caged up so that they can scarcely move during their lives, shot full of hormones and antibiotics so that they grow fast, and are packed in so tightly that, as Chris says, their beaks must be removed else they would peck each other to death.
Chris calls this "standard procedure;" I might call it something else. But let's not sugarcoat it. I suspect PETA would take neck wringing over factory farming any day of the week, as would I.
Chris says that people couldn't afford to eat if PETA had its way, which he describes as moving agriculture back to the 1850s. Well, first, people ate in the 1850s and afforded it. Second, most true cost cutting in modern agriculture is in the farming of wheat, grains, and vegetables, not in animal husbandry. So, I doubt that the cost would be that much greater. I haven't looked lately, but how much more expensive are free range chickens today than factory farmed ones? Obviously the price difference is not so great that people don't buy the free range ones.
I don't have the percentages in front of me, but according to Michael Pollan of the New York Times (his recent article in the magazine section on food) we spend a tiny portion of our income on food per capita, compared to most of the rest of the world.
Most people who talk about the ethics of food sourcing would argue that killing your own is one of the better ways to go--at least then you know the origins of your food. The next best is getting meat from a farmer you know near where you live.
One would think that a religious group raising animals for food would take these issues into account and be a little more thoughtful about their actions, and that does make this story especially disgusting.
I used to be a Federal-State Supervisor with USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service-Poultry Programs. I can tell you that the Abbey is following standard procedures. What the call staving...is called molting its basically a fast. While debeaking may sound cruel...so does circumcision. Debeaking saves lives cause the birds would peck each other to death. Peta has an agenda to do away with farming that is anything larger than we had in 1850's. Problem is most of us couldn't afford to eat. This is no lie...I don't work for USDA anymore and could tell you if it was so. Peta hates USDA, Corporate America, Can more be done to improve conditions for some animals in Corporate Agriculture sure. But the truth is Peta would boycott Grandma chasing the chickens with an axe if they saw it.