I’m sure we’ve all seen read about horrible scenes involving animal cruelty in farming. Things like ineffective stunning, animal having their limbs crushed or suffocating chicks in bags.
Are they representative of the industry or accidents/isolated instances of negligence that get blown out of proportion?
You know, if someone makes their living with animals it’s very unlikely that they will want the animals to be suffocated or crushed. It’s like breaking your tools. Further, (I grew up on a farm) in my experience most farmers do what they do out of a love for the land and the work. However, the scenes you mention usually come from factory farms, where the work is being done by minimum wagers who only do one task over and over, and unfortunately this doesn’t lead to caring about one’s job or the animals. So I guess you ought to think of farming as more than one thing. And since there are fewer small farms these days I suppose the instances of negligence and accident are more frequent. But since all of those will also cut into profit I think even the big factory farms have a vested interest in avoiding them (to say nothing of the negative press they create).
To avoid a long, rambling response, I’ll just say this- It happens from time to time, and it is not the norm. It’s ridiculous to treat livestock poorly when your livelihood depends on being able to sell those animals. Packers have a system that docks producers for sick or hurt animals, and rewards producers for above average product.
Have you not heard of pet owners who mistreat their pets? It makes the news as it is not common.
Mind you, the life of a factory chicken is hardly that of a pampered family pet. But they are kept warm, well fed, etc. Animals who are well cared for give better yields.
So, mostly isolated.