and they cannot fulfill normal behavioral patterns or social needs. Constantly rubbing against the wire cages, they suffer from severe feather loss, and their bodies are covered with bruises and abrasions.
lmao! Social needs? They're going to be dinner! Their only purpose in life is to be regular or extra-crispy. They are
food, not pets or wild animals. They wouldn't even exist had they not been selectively bred for millennia as domesticated foul for a dependable source of
food.
Now I'm all for raising any food animals in conditions that do not promote or encourage disease and I am opposed to the pervasive use of prophylactic antibiotics in the commercial meat industry, but not because I give two hoots about the chicken. I think it is increases the risks for humans to consume animals that but for the constant use of antibiotics from birth would never make it to slaughter. It also promotes resistant organisms and superbugs that do not respond to our best antibiotics.
Why would I give a hoot about the "social needs" of an animal I plan to have with mashed potatoes and gravy? Don't worry, when preparing the little guy, I promise to lovingly rub and tenderly caress him....
with garlic and herbs. lmao!
On a note related to the discussion, many environmentalists are coming to the conclusion that "farming" fish and other sea food is not a superior alternative and has its own consequences. The pollution and waste materials produced by any fairly large commerical fish or sea food farm can pose a huge problem to the local environment and area watersheds. Prawn farms in Asia are notorious for polluting nearby lakes, rivers, streams, and crop land with raw sewage and bio-wastes (e.g. metric tons upon tons of prawn poop).
The fact is, we are too damned successful for our own good. There are simply too many people on the planet to rely on any one source of food nor can we exclude any source of food. It is about striking a sustainable balance between all available sources and methods. This problem isn't going away folks nor is it getting any better, lest the planet should rid itself of a few billion people in the near future.