40 billion every year!
Dear friends,
We can always learn something new. Learning is the best way to keep our minds abreast of where everything from what we put in our mouths, to what we wear and what we use come from.
Two years ago, I blogged about how scientists discovered that chickens are capable of empathy… yet, today, it still remains that chickens are the most mistreated animals in the meat industry. Every year, approximately 40 billion chickens are raised and slaughtered globally. Out of the 40, 9 billion are raised and slaughtered in the United States… and 99% of the 9 billion chickens are raised in windowless houses forbidden to the public eye.
You may feel more distressed to know that a normal chicken’s lifespan is 5-10 years… whereas those bred to be killed for food live for only 6 weeks. SIX WEEKS.
Although many people are aware of the constant sufferings that pigs and dairy cows have to go through, it is quite surprising that many people are not exposed to the sufferings that chickens have to go through… Their eyes suffer from ammonia burns, they live their whole lives in semi-darkness, within their own manure, have less than a square foot of space to move and have multiple body defects due to accelerated growth and genetics…
I hope that by sharing this article, people will think deeper and find some kindness within their own good self to choose compassion over attachment to their taste buds…
Compassionate dining is one of easiest ways that we can be directly involved in eliminating the suffering of animals…
Please share this with all of your friends… as when awareness of the sufferings of poultry animals increase, people will opt for a more sensible way to supplement their diet. Always remember, when the demand stops… so will the suffering of these animals.
Tsem Rinpoche
Chickens – Out of Sight, Out of Mind?
If looking only at press releases, investigations, and Facebook posts, you could easily come away thinking the main animals abused by modern agribusiness are pigs and (mostly) dairy cows / calves.
But statistically speaking, nearly every factory-farmed land animal is a bird.
So why do advocates seem to ignore chickens, relatively speaking, even going so far as to publicize studies that actually promote eating chickens (“A high intake of red meat may increase the risk of lung cancer by about 35%, while a high intake of poultry decreases the risk by about 10%.”)? There are many factors, including a natural affinity for mammals and the relative clarity of the health and environmental problems of red meat. Furthermore, it is easy — almost irresistible — to grasp onto anything and everything that seems to be disparaging to animal products; it is certainly easier to do that then think strategically about our advocacy such that we actually prevent as much suffering as possible.
Related to this is basic human nature — we’re generally outraged and focused on what is currently in front of us. This article — Why We Haven’t Seen Inside a Broiler Chicken Factory Farm in a Decade [http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/01/why-we-havent-seen-inside-a-broiler-chicken-factory-farm-in-a-decade/#.UUYgKNGSC1k] — goes into why the brutality chickens endure gets so little coverage.
Given all this, if we really care about helping animals rather than praising veganism, we must be constantly aware of the full consequences of what we say and what we promote.
Source: http://whyveganoutreach.blogspot.com/2013/02/chickens-out-of-sight-out-of-mind.html
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Thank you for the sharing, this article has given awareness on the sufferings of chickens or any other poultry animals. This meat industry is the sole reason for some vegetarian to practice a meat-free lifestyle. This helps them to reduce the risk of chronic ailments,hypertension and obesity.
The most important thing for a vegetarian is to ensure they are getting enough nutrients that rich in variety of vegetables, fruits and whole grains. I will share this article with my family and friends so that they will be aware of cruelty against poultry animals like chicken.
https://bit.ly/3foohLh
Billions of chickens are raised to lay eggs or for their meat, chickens in factory farming operations suffer needless cruelty and death. Chickens are one of the most abused animals on the earth. They are raised, and killed for the sole purpose of serving human beings’ diets. Every year, about 40 billion chickens are raised and slaughtered globally. It’s a huge figure, one could imagine that. If we all can gave up those foods and replaced them with plant-based substitutes, will be wonderful ending the suffering of millions of chickens .
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
It is shocking that 40 billion chickens are raised and slaughtered globally every year. All of them were raised in a small, dark and unhealthy place and there after been killed in a cruel-some manner. And all these done just to satisfy our taste bud. If we want to help the animals and reduce their suffering, we should stop eating meat. Their existence is not to serve human.
40 billion and growing! Chicken remains the animal most slaughtered for the sake of human consumption. Their plight of suffering and poor breeding ground were hard to make it to headlines because of the size of the industry! Many people choose to continue being someone who refuse to see the truth that these birds suffered tremendously so that people can put cheap chicken in their mouth, every single day! Please, be a vegetarian today, stop being the cause of suffering for these harmless brings.
The number is huge …..40 billion of chickens killed each year for foods on our table. Alarming to date its is 50 billion in 2015 ,and I am sure the number has since increased.
Billions of these chickens died in sheds wretchedly and painfully every year. These chickens are deprived of everything that makes life worth living. They grabbed by their frail legs, and shoved in crates and taken off to slaughter and a great number suffered broken bones during this process.
Chickens are capable of empathy as proven by scientist years ago. If we have seen the sufferings and pain they gone through before been slaughter ,you will never have them on our plates. Be a compassionate dinners will help less been slaughtered as foods. Choose to be on vegetarian or meatless. Hope people will opt for being vegetarian.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing and I have shared with my friends so as they too aware of the sufferings of chickens or any other poultry animals.
This is a cruel facts that we murdered another sentient beings just to satisfy ourself. 40 Billion a year! Approximately about Millions chickens are slaughtered everyday!
Without Dharma, we have involved in non-stop killing. Chickens are not our food. They have thoughts and are another sentient beings just like us. Recently, i have found some interested facts on Chickens.
1） Chicken have full genome sequenced tested.
No livestock is reared in greater numbers than chickens, and none has been studied in greater detailed. In 2004, chickens became the first bird to have their full genome sequenced, uncorking a deluge of scientific inquiry into their physiology, as well as their social behaviors and even their psychological dimensions.
2) Chicken are smarter than a kid!
Scientists have determined that they are smarter than toddlers and exhibit learning and communication behaviors on par with primates
3) chickens have a language of their own.
Experts say that in addition to saying “cluck,” chickens “pok,” “brawk,” and “squawk.” And from these basic syllables, chickens are capable of at least 30 different calls, ranging from “hey, I found a bunch of grasshoppers” to “see you later, I’m going to lay an egg” to “come over here, you sexy rooster!” Other calls are a response to stress, which vary between those that warn of a raptor circling above and predators that attack from the ground, like foxes. Hens start talking to their chicks in soft tones while they are still in the egg—if you listen close you can hear them peeping back from inside the shell.
4）Chicken have feelings!
British researcher Jo Edgar, who determined that hens, at least, experience empathy. He designed an experiment that simulated chick stress and found that the mother hens behaved as if they themselves were experiencing the pain—a classic sign of empathy. Chickens are also known to display mourning behavior when another chicken in the flock dies, and they will show signs of depression if they are removed from the flock and placed in solitary quarters.
5) Chicken have Dream!
We don’t know exactly, but we do know they dream. Along with humans and other mammals, chickens (all birds, really) have an REM phase of sleep, a period of “rapid eye movement” that signifies dreaming. We’d like to presume that most of their dreams are filled with imagery and emotions from their daily lives, just as ours are, perhaps punctuated by occasional dreams that stem from chick-hood trauma or aspirations of flying like an eagle (chickens can only fly for a few seconds at a time). Chickens have another phase of sleep that humans lack, however, called USWS (unihemispheric slow-wave sleep), in which one half of the brain is resting, while the other half is awake. This is why chickens can be seen sleeping with one eye open and one eye closed, an evolutionary adaptation that allows them to keep watch for predators while they doze.
6) What Makes a Rooster Sexy?
There are a few criteria, as it turns out. Size and strength are important, as the more powerful roosters have a higher rank in the pecking order, and are thus able to provide more food for their harem of hens. The size and color of a cock’s comb—the fleshy red appendage on a male chicken’s head—is also a factor, as are the wattles, the dangling red flesh beneath their chins. Bigger and redder is better in both instances. Food, wattles, and a cock’s comb all come into play during the mating dance, which is called “tidbitting,” where the rooster repeatedly picks up and drops morsels of food on the ground in a dramatic way, while bouncing those fleshy protuberances around as much as possible. Still, hens are notoriously promiscuous, typically mating with several roosters at a time. They have the unique ability to eject the sperm of inferior roosters after copulation, however, ensuring that their genes will be coupled only with the most studly cock around.
7) How Smart Are Chickens
Recent research has shown that chickens can distinguish between more than 100 faces of their own species and of humans, so they know who you are and will remember you if you treat them badly. They’ve demonstrated complex problem-solving skills and have super-sensory powers, such as telescopic eyesight (like birds of prey) and nearly 360-degree vision (like owls). Chickens are the closest living relatives of the Tyrannosaurus rex (researchers determined this in 2007 by testing proteins from a particularly well-preserved T-rex leg bone)
link: http://modernfarmer.com/2016/03/chicken-facts/
Hope many people are conscious on what are they eating. And stop eating meat!
Thank you Rinpoche for giving us knowledge to free ourself from bad karma.
This is MADNESS!!! We are killing nearly about 6 times of our human existence on this earth. Why do we have to kill some many lives/animals mainly for our consumption. Why don’t we try to eat more vegetables instead of eating more animals. Vegetables are healthy too, you know! And do you also know that being vegetarian or vegan will not only make you become healthier, it will also make you feel more energetic and etc.
Killing the chickens is so unnecessary and cruel. Imagine if we cut down the amount of chickens we consume daily, how many lives are spared just through this small act. It doesn’t take your life to stop eating meat, these chickens are innocent and humans have made their life meaningless, they are brought to the world and the next second they know is that they are to be slaughtered and turned into someone else’s food. Do you think they deserve a better life? A life where they can all live freely and die peacefully and naturally.
chickens do not deserve to be brutally murdered everyday and 40 billion every year! i, as a vegetarian, think that it is so selfish that people eat them for taste then ends up as waste the next day! please be vegetarian. thank you for sharing Rinpoche
i HATE how animals are slaughtered and so brutally murdered slowly while the people are laughing at them. it is so sad haw selfish the humans have become, please become vegetarian and help. thank you for sharing Rinpoche
What a shocking statistic!!! 40 billions?????
Chicken alone already 40 billion, if we add in sea food, cow, pig, the number may be more than the population of human in the earth.
Human create the bad karma, and the karma will be back to human too.
That is why i choose to be a vegetarian.
Thanks Rinpoche for the sharing
40 billion chickens to be slaughtered in every year and this number keep raised up. Human indirectly kill so many chickens. If chicken is no more in this world one day, what you can eat? Please give a chance for yourself and also other animals, be vegetarian and sure you can get a healthy body.
我现在终于明白，为什么常常被劝说茹素，原来我们每天的间接杀业是如此恐怖。愿被杀害的鸡只离苦得乐。
This is just sad. I cant believe how many lives are taken away during this period of time. This is one of the reasons why i dislike the world at the moment, everyone just eats animals, they dont care about how that animal got onto their plates, people need to know.
oh my god, 40 billion every year! i am glad i am a vegetarian so that can save a few lives, have compassion for them, just sacrifice your taste buds for lives. become vegetarian and be an animal lover to save countless lives in the future.
我们常说“眼不看为净”，我想在畜养鸡只作为人类每天的食物方面，这看法可能不适合也自欺欺人。
没有看见不等于没有发生。经常我门选择不去了解多一点，特别是跟我们息息相关的事，那不是因为我们无知，而是因为我们自私，不愿意面对这样的事实，因为我们担心知道了，就不能一直装作不知道，然后若无其事地生活下去；所以，我们就选择蒙蔽自己，阻止自己去多一点了解或知道一些应该知道的血淋淋的事实。
知道了，当下会难受，需要自己去做抉择，然而，无论如何都比让自己一直当个鸵鸟来得光明正大，来得自在舒坦。
今天，就认真了解我们身边发生的事包括这些为人类口欲而痛苦的鸡只，然后做一个决定。
Every year, approximately 40 billion chickens are raised and slaughtered globally. That’s too much of life to sacrifice in a year. Really hope the world would stop killing. _/\_
Best Regards : Eric kksiow
It is really mind blowing of how many chickens sacrificed for fulfilling our taste buds.. and not only sacrificing their life, eating meat is also not healthy to our health.
Chicken has life too, by torturing them before killing them is the worse thing to do, imagine if we were in their living condition, how would we feel? Many of us definitely understood the condition, but due to our desire and attachment to nice food, we have blinded our eyes and ignored the situation.
Consuming meat not only affecting our health, it is also speeding up the destruction of the world, we are exhausting the resources by feeding them then slaughter them for food. The amount of food we use to feed them, it enable us to eat for many more meals, reduce eating meat from today onward, we can save so many more lives by just doing so.
When I think back how many chickens I have eaten and killed… I am scared out of my wits. And all those fishes we ate and pointed out ignorantly to be slaughtered indirectly! I am so ashamed and wished I had knew Dharma earlier.
But I rejoice in the fact that I am vegetarian now. I am glad Rinpoche shove those videos of slaughtered animals in our faces and told us the truth. I am glad to know I can make that choice, that change and still be happy eating without the causing pain and harm to another living being. And I hope there will come a time, perhaps in the distant future when such disgusting slaughtering businesses will be banned. It is so much nicer to open my fridge and see no blood. It is nice to know what I put in my mouth is not someone else’s flesh that died from torture, pain, depression, cruelty, suffering. And in each day I take on this vegetarian vow… may one life be liberated or at least the cause for more vegetarians be created. I dedicate my 5 years of being a vegetarian to my Guru’s long life and good health!
It is sad that so many billions of chicken are killed yearly for human consumptions. The chickens are raised up in cooped up cages with hardly room to move around and most of the chickens are diseased. Humans must be educated on the sufferings the chickens had to go through to satisfy our taste buds. If the demand is not there then the supply will be reduced and less will suffer. I am glad I have stopped eating chicken for a few years and have encouraged a few friends to go meatless too.
I recently find it very amusing a thought that came up mind. Chicken Fastfood chains are promoting their meals by luring children using a cute chic mascot/toy. If the kids were to think a bit deeper, the toy that they are playing with are actually the animal they are eating. Do you think the kids will continue eating their chicken meal?
Anyway, it was just a thought.
Yes, the meat industry is very cruel on the way they kill the animals. No matter what you say, there is no humane way of killing. The animal does suffer. The animal does feel the pain. If you love animals, please refrain from eating meat. Compassionate dining is the way to go in this new era!
40 billion is a lot! Can’t believe so many lives have been killed throughout the years to be made into food. We have made their lives so miserable, the purpose of breeding is just to kill them and eat them. This is just so wrong..I hope more people will become vegetarian and
stop hurting the animals.
Thank You for sharing Rinpoche.
Love, beatrix.
It is without a doubt that chickens can feel distress, anxiety and pain. In a number of experiments it is proven that hens show clear signs of anxiety when their chicks are in distress. In fact it is only logical that all species are capable of empathy so it becomes natural for mothers to care for their young. And seeing how a hen cares for her chicks it is not surprising. It is no less a mother caring for her children.
That being the case I cannot imagine the anguish that so many chickens feel daily in their short lives living under inhumane conditions. If we abhor the cruelty that Hitler inflicted on the Jews then imagine the holocaust conditions that chickens undergo daily. And the reason for their suffering is simple – human beings call for it to satisfy their lust for flesh. Amongst all animals bred and slaughtered for food, chickens must undergo one of the worst conditions from beginning to end. And to think that so many are slaughtered each year, it is quite frightening to imagine the negative karma generated collectively by all those who participate one way or another in this industry of death.
The terrible and filthy conditions we impose on the chickens find its way back to humans as disease:
http://worldtruth.tv/urinary-tract-infections-linked-to-contaminated-chicken-2/
40 billion chickens every year is absolutely disturbing, especially the fact that the number is 5x larger than the total world population alone. Having being breed to be killed and eaten is really sad and disgusting. Imagining the first day that you were born and finding out that you were brought into this world to be eaten is something one should ponder on. Especially the fact when people always tried to find out what is the meaning of life. When practicing to be compassionate i think we should relay that not only to humans but all living beings. I hope the world continues to be aware of this and agree to becoming a vegetarian.
这个数目也太惊人了，当人类的欲望不断的增加时，食人，相信是可能的。真的觉得很悲哀。我们人类每次怪天为什么那么多天灾人祸，可是我们不也制造“天灾鸡祸”给这些可怜的鸡吗？
I can’t believe 40 billion chickens are killed in a year, 40billion chickens that are killed in a year divided by 365 days equals to 109589041 chickens are killed in a day and the chickens only lives for 6 weeks, that is just insane. I just hope that no more animal will be killed for anything.
It is amazing how many intelligent life forms are massacred to fill the unworthy stomachs of humans. Those who joyfully partake of the carcasses of these beings that are capable of empathy are no different from the wild beasts and barbarians. Go vegetarian as there is not only health benefits but also spiritual benefits.
40 billion is a large number, and this shows how much humans rely on chickens as their main meat source.
While I have yet to be a vegetarian, but reading this article makes me more aware about the sufferings of chickens. This makes me feel how unfortunate it is to take rebirth as chicken, it is almost like a death sentence and the journey to this is worse than the end.
I have once touched on this topic with my neighbour and found that it is almost impossible for me to go on with my conversation with her on this topic without running into argument. How to try to give the message to people when they believe that ‘chickens are raised to be eaten?’
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article and raise our awareness on the sufferings of these chickens.
It is interesting to note that just recently I had a conversation with a friend about the topic of food we put on our plates.
Being vegetarian myself for some time now and my friend an avid meat eater, the conversation soon turned into a heated but healthy debate. One of the topics was poultry farming.
He insisted that there was nothing wrong with poultry bred for consumption as it was for our (well, his) survival and that they were humanely killed… I countered by saying, firstly, we do not have to eat poultry (in this example) to survive and secondly, that if he actually knew how they were treated and then killed he would not think it ok to eat poultry from a poultry farm…
Anyway, it ended rather well I must say as I actually planted some doubt in his mind. It really goes to show that ignorance is truly bliss… but in this case ignorance kills!