farm animals not so different
Author:
Bruce Passmore
Publication:
EarthSave Canada's March/April 2006 newsletter Earthsaver
Publication Date:
March 6, 2006
For many people, companion animals are an essential part of daily life. They are a friend, a confidante, a pick-me-up, or even a sounding board when thinking out loud. They cuddle with us, make us smile on blue days, and listen patiently to our daily troubles, while seldom asking for more in return than food, water and shelter, and maybe a little belly-rub or a playful run now and again. We depend on them. We treat them like one of the family. We care about them.
Morally speaking, it is our duty. We must provide them good quality food, clean water, adequate shelter and sufficient exercise. We cannot leave them unattended for long periods of time. We must provide veterinary care when needed. Really, this is all common sense. This is how all animals under human care should be treated.
But then, why aren’t they? About 660 million farm animals in Canada are kept in the most deplorable conditions imaginable. They are crammed together in spaces so small they can barely move. Most are kept in either constant darkness or continuous artificial light, never seeing the sun. Veterinarians only visit if the mortality rate drastically exceeds the normal one to three percent. The list of cruelties goes on and on. (For more information on the care and treatment of farm animals, visit www.humanefood.ca.)
Why do we treat farm animals so differently from companion animals?
Because we eat them?
The answer depends mostly on your cultural background. Some cultures do eat dogs and cats. Even guinea pigs, rodents and other common North American pets make it on to some people’s tables. Interestingly, many people find North American foods like rabbit, duck, or deer (venison) abhorrent. Even cows, one of the most commonly eaten animals in Canada, are not typically eaten by Hindus because cows are viewed as sacred.
Some would argue that the difference lies in the fact that animals raised for food are farmed, that they are raised specifically for the purpose of being eaten. But cats, dogs, guinea pigs and many other common companion animals are farmed for food in other countries. Does this change their value?
The point is, the line begins to blur when you take a step back and see that animals you viewed as pets are eaten, and ones you viewed as food are pets or sacred to someone else, whether they are farmed or not.
Because they are less intelligent?
Surprisingly, many animals seen as “lower in intelligence” such as chickens, sheep, cows and pigs actually score the same or higher than some primates. Studies on pigs at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom have shown that pigs actually learn most tasks faster than dogs and can even complete some complex actions that dogs are never able to learn. They can even be house trained.
Chickens, often viewed as the least intelligent of all farm animals, are also much more complex than most people think. In one study, hens quickly learned to navigate a complex maze which required them to peck at specific points exactly three times in order to open doors. In another study, hens learned to choose the correct feeding bowl from watching other hens on TV. As well, besides learned behaviours, chickens do have incredible innate abilities. Hens have very good memories and can individually recognize more than 100 other identical looking hens. They also have incredible vocal capabilities with different sounds for alarm, happiness, egg laying, fear and a host of other situations.
When you compare these aspects of farm animals to companion animals, it becomes much harder to suggest that they are less intelligent.
Because they don’t have emotions?
Like any animal, farm animals have a complex set of emotions ranging from happiness to despair, enjoyment to anger. They aggressively take care of their young and become stressed when one of them is missing or injured. Similar to humans, sheep will actively search out missing or lost members of their family. When they can’t find the individual, they bleat in distress and other members of the heard come and comfort them. This behaviour is also seen in cows and pigs.
An amazing story…
But did you know that farm animals would even go out of their way to save humans? A young pig in the UK was being taken for a walk by her caregiver. During the walk, the voice of small boy was heard screaming for help in a nearby river. Immediately, the pig pulled free from her guardian, leash trailing, and dove into the river. She swam out to the boy and continued to circle him until he grabbed the leash. The boy’s weight pulled both him and the pig underwater, and the crowd on shore gasped in horror. But sure enough, a few seconds later, both their heads popped above the surface as the little pig swam furiously towards shore towing the boy behind her. Exhausted, the boy and the pig made it safely to shore where waiting onlookers wept with joy.
And to think, this little pig was slated for the slaughterhouse.
These are just a few of the lesser-known facts about farm animals. There are literally hundreds of examples of incredible and complex behaviours that these animals share with our beloved companion animals. When you look at these behaviours, it begins to make our distinctions between them seem more and more arbitrary. Biologically speaking, an animal is an animal is an animal.
So why do we treat them differently? It is a question worth asking ourselves next time we go shopping.
