The Meat Grinder

In 2013, more than 989.6 million farmed animals were slaughtered for meat in the UK, according to official figures. Of these, 2.6 million were cattle, 10.3 million pigs, 14.5 million sheep, 17.5 million turkeys and nearly 945 million chickens. Based on the percentages of animals that do not make it to slaughter, quoted in the farming trade press, Animal Aid estimates that each year some 250,000 cattle, 750,000 pigs, 750,000 turkeys, 2.5 million sheep, 38 million chickens and 600,000 rabbits, ducks, and geese die before they are slaughtered for human consumption.

In total, Animal Aid estimates around 43 million farmed animals die each year before they can be slaughtered, their deaths caused by disease, exposure, starvation, fires, floods, road crashes and neglect.

Andrew Tyler, Animal Aid’s director suggested that all consumers had an interest in animal welfare.

“Many of the problems outlined in our report result from the commodification of farmed animals. With producers and retailers intent on maximising their profits and reducing their costs”

“Whether people are meat eaters or vegetarians, it will surely be of concern to them that millions of farmed animals perish every year as a result of fires, floods, road collisions, disease and neglect,” Tyler said.

The Organic Milk Cooperative estimates that there are approximately 31,000 unwanted organic bull calves born each year, which are shot on farm. What are the numbers of the calves slaughtered in the ‘conventional’ dairy herd?

Some four million newborn lambs - about one in five of the total - die every year within a few days of birth, mostly from disease, exposure, or malnutrition. (Henderson, Lamb Survival, Farming Press). And about a million adult breeding animals (out of about 15 million) also die in the fields annually. A Ruthin, Denbighshire vet, M.W. Allen, quoted in The Times January 6, 2000, speaks volumes about the modern British sheep industry (the 'small furry creature' referred to at the end of the impassioned statement is the fox).

"There are few more pitiful sights on a night call into the hills in January than a small lamb caught in the headlights, hunched up against sleet in a field with no shelter in sight. I find it perverse that, when every year millions of lamb deaths are due to the mind boggling absurdity of lambing in the worst time of year (December to February), to poor hygiene and overstocking in sheds, and to ewes not producing enough good-quality colostrum because they are in poor condition, so much vitriol should be expended in the direction of this small furry creature [the fox]."

Profit above people, profit above animals, profit above the environment. That’s capitalism, folks.