|
?:reviewBody
|
-
It is an undeniable fact that much of the food we consume is animal meat. But even though most of us are familiar with the types of animals we typically eat — cow, pigs, chickens, fish — comparatively few consumers have much familiarity with the processes involved in animal food production: where those animals come from, how they're raised, what they're fed, the conditions under which they live, how they're slaughtered, etc. Animal rights activists often post pictures and videos online to try to call public attention to some food animals who live and die in appallingly inhumane conditions, but an item about the housing of calves raised for veal production, however well-intentioned, is woefully inaccurate: What's pictured here are not crates in which calves are imprisoned within an hour of their birth, condemned to spend their entire lifespans stuffed into little boxes that don't even provide them enough room to turn around in order to keep their meat tender before they're marched off to slaughter after only six weeks. (Veal calves are typically raised for 16 weeks, not six.) This photograph actually shows calf hutches that are used to house calves being raised for dairy (not veal) purposes, and those hutches provide plenty of room for calves to turn around and as well as attached runs so that the calves can spend time outdoors: As a post on the Heim Dairy Farm's blog explained, dairy farmers house calves in hutches for the first eight weeks of their lives for several reasons, including to protect the calves from illness, shelter them from weather, and better monitor their development: Similarly, Dairy Carrie explained that housing of newborn dairy calves in hutches is undertaken for their own health and physical protection: Although the calf hutches come in different sizes, as can be seen here they typically provide plenty of space for a young calf (or even two calves) to move about and turn around comfortably: The hutches also include runs that provide calves access to the outdoors and additional living space: And they provide calves shelter against the elements and temperature extremes: None of this is to say that the lives of dairy cows are ideal ones, that dairy cows are never mistreated, or that calves raised for veal purposes don't sometimes endure cruel and inhumane living conditions (including being kept in virtually immobile confinement in veal crates for their entire 16-week long lives). But the cause of animal welfare is poorly served by the propagation of misinformation such as the inaccurate and misleading photograph/text pairing seen here.
(en)
|
![[This page as RDF]](http://data.gesis.org/claimskg/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}