Eggs for Breakfast? The Reality of What Goes Into Them
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

All-Creatures.org original article
January 2003

Flies. Flies like eggs for breakfast, too, as can be plainly seen in this photo. Flies have a very interesting way of eating. They regurgitate their digestive juices, along with bacteria, onto the food they wish to eat; then they suck it back up, leaving some of the bacteria behind. This is how they spread diseases.

flies egg industry

As Compassion over Killing's investigation uncovered: "the sheds at ISE are infested with literally billions of flies." Each of us knows how annoying even one fly can be when it's buzzing around our head or our food. Can you imagine spending your entire life crammed into a six foot by six foot prison cell with five other people and being pestered by hundreds of flies every moment of every day? Well, every day that is exactly what our egg industry is doing to millions upon millions of hens who have been crammed into small wire cages. Every egg a person eats contributes to this suffering. Remember these things the next time you think about having eggs for breakfast.

laying hens ammonia

Ammonia Gas. Because of the massive amounts of manure, gas masks hang on the wall for workers to use inside the sheds. The gas is ammonia, which comes from the decomposition of urine, the white part of bird feces (droppings). Ammonia gas is very irritating to the eyes, lungs, and delicate mucus membranes. If the concentration of ammonia gas is so irritating to the workers that they are forced to wear gas masks, think of the pain and suffering that the hens must be experiencing. The hens have no protection or relief at any time, day or night. Every egg a person eats contributes to this suffering. Remember these things the next time you think about having eggs for breakfast.

laying hens graves

Mass Graves. In the manure pits, below the battery cages, Compassion Over Killing investigators found mass graves of dead hens, presumably placed there by workers. It seems inconceivable that anyone would allow a dead animal to be left in the presence of other animals, but that is exactly what is happening. These corpses decay and breed disease, and the stench fills the building, compounding the suffering of the hens in their cages. Every egg a person eats contributes to this suffering and death. Remember these things the next time you think about having eggs for breakfast.

laying hens corpses

Corpses. Dead hens commonly go unnoticed in battery cages, forcing the living to eat and sleep on top of the corpses of their former cellmates. If you have ever smelled the odor of rotting flesh, you might come close to understanding what these hens have been subjected to. Imagine yourself in these crowded inhumane conditions with other people, one of whom dies and is left to decompose in your cell with you, and that you cannot lie down without lying on top of the corpse. Every egg a person eats contributes to this suffering and death. Remember these things the next time you think about having eggs for breakfast.

male chicks slaughtered

Infanticide. Unwanted male chicks struggle to survive amid egg shells and garbage in a dumpster behind a hatchery for laying hens. Since male chicks won't lay eggs, they are considered no better than trash. For every laying hen, there is approximately one male chick infanticide. A society that has no regard for the pain, suffering, and death of another living being will never have true peace. Every egg a person eats contributes to this suffering. Remember these things the next time you think about having eggs for breakfast.


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