FACTORY FARMING IS:

Cruelty on a massive scale. Nearly 50 billion animals are raised for food. From the moment they are born they are caged, crowded, deprived, drugged, mutilated and manhandled in factory farms around the world.

	Breeding Sows are kept pregnant and immobile in tiny stalls (crates) which are no bigger than their bodies. The floors are concrete and metal slats. The sows have to eat, sleep and excrete in this severe confinement while they are pregnant. They are confined in a farrowing crate to give birth. This is a fraction bigger than the stall. Two to three weeks after they have given birth their piglets are taken away from them. The mothers are then impregnated for another cycle of misery.
	Laying hens are crammed into wire cages inside huge dimly lit sheds reeking of ammonia. Each hen has an area equivalent to the size of an A4 sheet of paper to live in. The wire cuts into their feet and their feathers are abraded off which leaves their skin exposed to further abrasion. The tips of their beaks are sliced off to reduce damage from stress-induced aggression. The pain can last for weeks. In a process known as enforced moulting, the hens may be starved for up to two weeks to shock their bodies into another egg-laying cycle. Males are suffocated at birth in plastic bags, crushed or gassed to death.
	Meat chickens are selectively bred so that their body weight grows rapidly. Unfortunately for the birds their legs often can’t support their unnaturally large bodies so they suffer bone deformities, fractures, hip dislocations and diseases. These birds often die of thirst or starvation as they are unable to get to water or food containers. The chickens are very crowded, with up to 23 chickens per square metre in large dusty sheds.
	Dairy cows have been selectively bred to produce ever-larger quantities of milk. This often results in painful udder ligament damage, mastitis and lameness. Cows are usually separated from their calves after just 2 to 5 days, used for milking then impregnated again. Many cows are exhausted after two or three pregnancies and are then slaughtered. The unwanted male calves are transported to the abattoir, often remaining unfed for up to 48 hours. It is also common practice to induce the birth of the calf a month early to regulate milk production.
	Fish in fish farms (factory farms) are crammed into round mesh pens. About 40,000 Atlantic Salmon are usually kept in each pen. Feed is normally withheld for one to two days prior to transfer and loading. Research has shown that fish are as susceptible to pain, stress and trauma as mammals, birds and amphibians. They are social creatures with the ability to learn quickly and to pass on skills and information to each other. Fish in enclosures commonly exhibit abnormal repetitive behaviours.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Never buy factory farmed products
• Spread the word about factory farming
• Download our petition against factory farming, fill it with signatures and return it to us
• Join and/or donate to AACT (see Paymate link on home page).
• Write to the federal and state ministers for primary industry stating your concern