[Trigger warning: animal cruelty]

January 20, 2015 9:10 PM

Sceintists at the U.S. Meat Reasearch center in Nebraska are inflicting horrible suffering on livestock. (Single-link, NYT.) In an attempt to create animals that produce more meat for less money, technicians--most of whom do not have medical degrees--have created piglets more likely to be crushed by their mothers due to multiple births, newborn lambs left to die at a rate of up to 40 percent, and cows who were more likely to have complications during labor due to increased production of twins. Livestock are also subject to surgery and tests to increase their meat production. "Experimental surgery is being performed in some (not all) cases by untrained, unskilled and unsupervised staff [...]this has resulted in the suffering of animals and in some cases the subsequent death of animals.” With over fifty years of failure to consider the pain that animals suffer during these conditions, the center is exempt from the Animal Welfare Act.
posted by Violet Hour (1 comment total)

Is it possible to get the opening paragraph to be more neutral and less graphic? It feels like it's setting up a huge argument.
posted by viggorlijah at 9:14 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]