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?
A: It depends ... will the brain-dead chickens taste better?
They would have to electrically stimulate the muscles, otherwise there would be no meat to eat.
Ethical? We kill animals and eat them. That’s the way the world works. Chickens kill worms, insects and other living organisms to feed themselves just as we do. Chickens even kill and eat each other if one of them gets injured and shows blood.
An eight-month old rooster stands on some grass May 22, 2002 at the Hebrew University in Rehovot. Israeli scientists at the Agriculture department of the university have genetically engineered bare-skinned chickens as part of a research project to develop succulent, low fat poultry that is environmentally friendly. The naked chicken, as the bird has been dubbed, would also save poultry farmers large amounts of money on ventilation to prevent their chickens from overheating. REUTERS/Havakuk Levison
There’s an Old Testament admonition not to use meat cut from a living animal for food, so yes there is a level of depravity involved in doing this, for Jews and Christians at least.
Modern factory farming is already disturbing enough, clipping their beaks because raising them so thoroughly packed into a space causes them to go berserk.
Treat them mercifully, at least give them a halfway decent existence for the short time they’re on this earth; it’s not as if they aren’t already giving their lives to sustain us.
Surgically altering their brains so they are presumably unaware that their feet have been amputated, theyr’e immobilized and have a feeding tube shoved down their throat does not strike me as merciful, it strikes me as vile.
And, before anybody goes off, no, I’m not vegetarian. I grew up around farm animals, and any decent farmer will care for his livestock, treating them well. That their ultimate fate was the dinner table mattered not, don’t be cruel to them.
“rendering them effectively brain-dead.”
The morons who propose things like this obviously know nothing about chickens. No chicken has a thought in its head worth considering. Anyone with the slightest bit of concern for the welfare of chickens that are raised to be consumed is brain-dead themselves.
Democrats and RINOs farm brain-dead semi-humans all the time.
Only in a Godless world, gone mad, can this sort of thing make any sense at all.
This is beyond crazy and evil.
It would be worse for us (and my dogs) wouldn’t it? The chickens would move around even less and tube feeding them nutrients????
We just spent a tidy sum today taking our pup for an emergency vet visit. Turned out she had pancreatitis.
I cook her food and use chicken thigh/leg quarters and now I will be using breasts—her fat intake needs to be 6%-8%.
She has heart problems and needed a low salt diet—it was cheaper to cook her food than to buy the processed ones like Blue Buffalo yada.
I have also noticed since the late 80’s, buying fried chicken at the chains— there is much more yucky fat that needs to be picked through.
I think this idea is brain-dead. I don’t even see it as more humane.
Obama supports this research. . . he needs more brain-dead voters !! (evil grin)
a chicken-wing ping
I don’t want a world where only human beings and soybeans are alive.
All lives are precious, including those of the animals we are raising for food—and they should be treated humanely.
If commercially available food and food in the grocery store ends up coming from The Island Of Dr. Moreau, I won’t be buying it, I’ll patonize local farmers or grow it myself. This is just as repulsive as those so-called “hamburgers” made from human waste by Japanese scientists.
Thank you.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_big_is_the_full_grown_chickens_brain
Similar to supporters of a politician we talk about here frequently.
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?
there are state university systems that have been doing it for years with their students.
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