A common, but very accurate, phrase in the English language is, “Don’t shoot the messenger,” and that is exactly what politicians in Iowa are doing. These politicians, “bowed to corporate pressure” (Carlson) when they passed the AgGag bill. This law prohibited consumers from knowing what exactly is going on inside the factory farms from which they receive their meat and dairy products. Investigative journalists and animal rights activates are now restricted from going undercover and taking entry level jobs at factory farms trying to expose the animal cruelty and health hazards that take place in these factory farms. Previously, videos have surfaced from these undercover investigations that have caused some of the most substantial meat, egg,…show more content… “97% of the 10 billion animals tortured and killed each year are farm animals”(“Factory Farming: The Truth Behind the Barn Doors”). Every process in an animal’s life is for their owner’s satisfaction. “These animals are bred, fed, confined, and drugged to lay more eggs, birth more offspring, and die with more meat on their bones” (“Factory Farming: The Truth Behind the Barn Doors”). Many animals are forced into conditions where they experience such stress that it leads to an unnatural aggression. Farmers are breeding and drugging their animals to be so large that these animals cannot hold their own weight. It becomes very difficult to stand, and in extreme conditions this can result in broken legs. New born chicks are places on a conveyor belt and then checked to see if they are male or female. If male, they are placed into trash bags and suffocated, decapitated, gassed, crushed, or ground up alive. If the baby chick is a female, they are placed back onto the conveyor belt to the next station. Here, the baby chick is held up to a machines hot iron and has her beak cut off. This practice relates back to the “unnatural aggression.” The hens would peck at each other, pulling out feathers and skin, which would cause their value to decrease, so they promptly have their beak cut off. The practice is incredibly painful and consists of slicing through bone, cartilage,and soft tissue. From the conveyor belt, 5-8 chickens are crammed into one 14 sq inch cage.The floors of the small cages cause the hens skin to chafe, their feathers to be ripped out, bruising, and can even cause foot deformities. In these conditions, 1 in 5 hens die of disease or stress. If the disease or stress does not kill the them, the hens are ground up and turned into animal feed. When the hens laying cycle ends, the hens are killed or subjected into “forced molting” Water and food are withheld for up to
