We’ve known the horrific conditions animals endure when raised in factory farms. One could only hope we have all seen some footage that shows chickens, cows, or pigs crammed into tiny spaces so filled that the animals cannot turn around or lay down. One thing we haven’t seen until now are the cesspools created by factory farming.
Mark Devries, director of the documentary Speciesism, the Movie, explores the cultural belief that “our species is more important than the rest.” His exposure of factory farming as “one of the greatest evils in our history” should give us pause. After all, animal cruelty laws are widely upheld when it comes to the treatment of cats, dogs, and horses. For some reason they don’t apply to factory raised animals.
Factory farms are tucked away and hidden from prying eyes. In his film, Mark crawls through bushes, flies over factory farms, and even uses a drone to videotape the landscape. In a clip (see video below) his drone reveals a cesspool the size of three football fields. The cesspool is simply a giant trench filled to the brim with pig feces and urine. The metal buildings beside the cesspool hold pigs crammed nose to tail. Waste is flushed under each building to the cesspools and then sprayed into the air.
Now here’s the interesting part. The animal waste is not pumped into a treatment facility. It is not pumped into a septic tank. It is not treated in any way. It is sprayed into the air.
From there, where does it go? While giant factory farms make an effort to hide away in rural settings, they still have neighbors. Their practice of spraying waste into the air causes it to drift onto their neighbors’ property. The odor alone is unimaginable. At times, it rain animal feces onto the neighbors’ yards and houses. Asthma rates, especially for children, are high. Runoff from factory farms contaminates waterways and groundwater.
Animals raised under these conditions are highly susceptible to disease. Initial reports regarding the Swine flu epidemic identified patient zero as a child who lived near a factory farm, but these reports were quickly squashed.
Short Clip of the Drone Footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayGJ1YSfDXs
Check out Mark Devries film, Speciesism, the Movie
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