To produce pork profitably, thousands of pigs are crammed into giant metal warehouses in rows of crates. Feeding, watering, and manure disposal are completely automated, and animals do not receive individual care or attention. Breeding sows spend most of their adult lives pregnant, confined in gestation or farrowing crates measuring just two feet by six feet long. The sows cannot walk, turn around, or even lie down comfortably. When the piglets reach three weeks of age, they are taken from their mothers and crowded into finishing pens until they reach slaughter weight.
Conditions are so harsh that millions of pigs die before reaching the slaughterhouse every year.
Like the pork industry, the egg industry has implemented unnatural and stressful production systems to maximize profits. To produce eggs, four to five laying hens are crammed into a cage about the size of a folded newspaper. The cages, stacked by the thousands in long rows, are crowded into large sheds. To reduce pecking, which results from overcrowding, laying hens have their beaks cut off. Debeaking is a painful procedure that involves cutting through bone, cartilage, and soft tissue.