Bioindustry: It is a monster that we are all preserving
If you look at the definition of violence according to the police office instruction, that is “exerting coercive force with more than little significance on people or things”. In my opinion, that is exactly what we do with animals in the factory industry. We burn off tails, we grind teeth, we dehorn, we breed them, and we kill them at a very early age. When it comes to pets or wild animals, we would be much more likely to speak of animal cruelty. But for livestock farming, most mammals on Earth, we make an exception.”
Among the beasts
In the book, Jeroen [Siebelink, co-author] and I find out who is responsible for animal suffering. Is it the farmer? Is it the transporters? Is the slaughterhouse responsible? Is it the supermarket? The process is thus cut to pieces: many people only do one action with an animal. Everyone participates a little bit and no one really feels responsible.
“For me, it's: everyone who contributes to this. And that's what you do with your consumption, as far as I'm concerned, that's the biggest crime. It is a monster that we all support.”
Pigs that get power shocks, ducks that are used as football and chickens that are crammed into crates until broken bones. These are all examples of daily animal abuse by farmers. When emptying the stable, panic always broke out among the animals. Like there were predators in their cage. Especially with chickens, we really had to shout to still hear each other. It was as if the volume was turned off again when we were done catching. Very unreal.”
But not only in the factory industry, but also at a three-star chicken farm, the chickens are treated in the same way. Three-star chickens, difference? They have a little more space. Are they a little less bald. In the slaughterhouse, they were all the same anyway. They were all in that stressful situation.
