Ensuring animal rights has been a long-lasting goal for animal activists. In the United States, animal rights stir up a large amount of controversy, and several laws have been put into place to help such causes. Despite the effort to help animals, there is still much more that needs to be done, specifically in slaughterhouses.

Many reforms have been made in recent years to help and cause less stress for these animals when mass producing meat. Specifically, Temple Grandin famously brought attention to the cruel way animals are treated in slaughterhouses and devised a system to produce meat without causing unnecessary distress towards the animal. Grandin’s work has since been used in slaughterhouses and has sparked talk of humane slaughter, where animals are killed painlessly.

Despite Grandin’s work, humane methods are barely used. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ article (aspca.org) entitled, “Farm Animal Welfare,” factory farms are the source of over 99% of farm animals handled within the United States, in which a large quantity of animals are raised for profit, and they neglect the animals’ wellbeing. Sophomore Kaylin Tephly stated, “I feel like these slaughterhouses treat animals more like products than living beings.” The process to turn livestock into food is inhumane and unethical.

The animals in factory farms are treated poorly and live in awful conditions prior to the slaughter. Industries restrain thousands of animals into tightly packed facilities. Most animals are not given any access to outdoors, natural light, and fresh air. Sophomore Elena Grajales commented, “It’s unnatural for animals to be restricted to such small spaces and not be allowed to go outside. It’s really sad because they do not get to live normal and healthy lives.” Additionally, animals are given unhealthy food to maximize weight gain or egg and milk production, which deprives the animal of proper nutrition.

The crowded cluster of stressed and dirty animals can additionally cause the spread of disease. To avoid this and keep the livestock healthy, animals in factory farms are given antibiotics in large quantities. Since antibiotics are used so often in animals, they can often reduce the efficiency antibiotics have on human patients. Antibiotic resistance is a fast-growing issue, and much of the problem is coming from abusing it on animals.

Sadly, few laws are protecting animals in slaughterhouses. According to the August 6 Factory Farming Awareness Coalition article (ffacoalition.org) entitled, “Isn’t That Illegal?”, while all states have laws to protect animals, many states have Common Farming Exemptions, or CFEs, which legalizes practices commonly done on factory farms. This allows industries to continue to practice inhumane methodologies against animals without repercussions.

Sophomore Julie Lampert, who has been a vegetarian for four years now, stated, “I decided to become a vegetarian because I felt unjustified in eating meat from an animal that was treated inhumanely.” Factory farming and inhumane slaughterhouses are issues that should be addressed immediately. Higher standards should be put in place for the food we eat and the treatment of animals.” Steps like these can be very significant in trying to achieve more ethical treatment of animals.