Statement of Mary Tyler Moore

Farm animals, like all animals, have feelings, and should be protected from cruelty. They are intelligent, social, and affectionate creatures with individual personalities, but unfortunately, these sentient beings are commonly treated like mere “tools of production” on industrialized factory farms. Farm animals are subjected to grossly inhumane conditions and suffer from both physical and psychological disorders as animal factories seek to maximize productivity and profitability. This commodification of sentient life leads to intolerable animal cruelty, and it serves to diminish us as human beings.

Shockingly, at a time when other developed countries have passed laws to prevent cruel farming practices, humane laws in the United States have actually been amended to exclude farm animals from any protection. We must redress this embarrassing and unconscionable trend, and recognize farm animals as sentient beings who deserve to be protected from mistreatment. It is time for cruel farming systems—including veal crates, battery cages for egg-laying hens, and gestation crates for breeding pigs—to be outlawed in the U.S. just as they have been outlawed in other countries.

In order to produce veal, young calves are chained by the neck in crates measuring just two feet wide. This severe confinement is intended to make the calves' meat tender since the animals cannot exercise and their muscles cannot develop, but it also results in leg weakness and lameness. In addition to restricting the animals' movement, veal producers severely limit their calves' diet, feeding them an all-liquid milk substitute that is purposely deficient in iron and fiber. This inadequate diet is intended to produce borderline anemia and the pale colored flesh fancied by “gourmets.”

The vast majority of eggs produced in the U.S. come from hens who are confined in battery cages—small wire cages stacked in tiers and lined up in rows in huge warehouses. The birds cannot even stretch their wings or legs. They suffer from severe feather loss, and their bodies are covered with bruises and abrasions from constantly rubbing against the wire cages. Nearly all laying hens have a part of their beaks cut off in order to reduce injuries resulting from excessive pecking, an aberrant behavior which occurs when the birds’ natural behaviors are thwarted by battery-cage confinement. Debeaking is a painful procedure that involves cutting through bone, cartilage, and soft tissue.

After one year in egg production, the hens' production rates drop off, and they are classified as "spent.” Then, they are either killed or force-molted. If they are slaughtered, the hens are commonly used in soups, pot pies, or similar low-grade chicken meat products where their bodies can be shredded, and their bruises and blemishes hidden from consumers. In other cases, the hens are force-molted. This process involves starving the hens for up to 18 days, keeping them in the dark, and denying them water in order to shock their bodies into another egg-laying cycle. The birds typically lose more than 25% of their body weight during the molt, and it is common for between 5% and 10% to die.

Emblematic of the industry's attitude, pig producers have been advised, "The breeding sow should be thought of, and treated as, a valuable piece of machinery whose function is to pump out baby pigs like a sausage machine." Breeding sows spend most of their lives in narrow metal crates just two feet wide, where they endure a continuous cycle of impregnation, birth, and re-impregnation. Scientific research has found that pigs treated this way experience both physical and psychological disorders. They cannot move without rubbing against the sides of their crates, and they commonly sustain open sores on their bodies. Additionally, the hard slatted floors and lack of exercise contribute to urinary tract infections, crippling leg disorders, and other health problems. These sensitive, intelligent animals are prevented from fulfilling their natural behaviors or from engaging in normal social interactions. They suffer from depression and frustration, and exhibit neurotic coping behaviors such as bar biting, head waving, and sham chewing.

Public opinion polls have found that the vast majority of Americans oppose cruel farming practices, and most are shocked to learn about the inhumane conditions imposed on animals for the sake of agribusiness profitability. But ironically, most Americans unwittingly support this cruelty by purchasing meat, milk, and eggs produced on factory farms. We should reevaluate our food choices, and we should seek to make conscientious decisions that are consistent with our values and that promote compassion instead of cruelty.

As a civilized nation, we have an ethical obligation to prevent animal cruelty and to treat animals, including farm animals, as sentient beings. In doing so, we prevent intolerable suffering, and we elevate the human spirit.

Mary Tyler Moore, Honorary Chair of Farm Sanctuary's Sentient Beings Campaign