Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on humane animal consumption. Consequently, this has seen the creation of organizations aimed at advocating for the rights of animals.

In relation to a definition presented by Abels, humane animal consumption entails being aware of or understanding tolerable animal rearing techniques, consumption of meat and animal products reared intolerable standards, as well as taking into account the rights of animals when making a choice on the kind of meat or animal product to purchase (para. 4). In the context of humane animal consumption, tolerable animal rearing methods denote free-range or natural systems and feeding animals with organic feeds or fodder. By purchasing animals bred under tolerable conditions, farmers who have adopted factory animal farming would be forced to adopt humane animal practices. Chicken farming in factory farms can be used as an example to illustrate the inhumane nature these animals endure. Synthetic hormones for instance accelerate the rate of growth. This means that a chicken attains maturity within a few weeks. In other words, this abrupt weight gain contributes to skeletal problems.

Under the USDA definition, factory farms are defined as “Operations with more than 500 beef cattle, 1,000 hogs, 500 dairy cows, 100,000 egg-laying chickens and 500,000 broiler chickens” (5). According to Kistler, the production of adequate amounts of meat to meet the needs of the current population in developed countries through conventional methods of free-range rearing is impracticable (66). In that case, conventional farming techniques have been replaced by modern methods characterized by holding animals in captivity under congestive circumstances. To meet the high demand for meat, animals are infused with hormones that guarantee earlier or faster growth and minimized chances of acquiring diseases (Kistler 66). Food and Water Watch further asserts a dramatic change from conventional animal farming to large scale industrial farming between 1997 and 2007: total livestock units increased by approximately 21 per cent between 2002 and 2007, and the total number of dairy cows increased twofold (5).