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The US is normalizing the cruelest mass killing method to stop bird flu (www.vox.com)
submitted 1 year ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
277 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Last year, I wrote a great deal about the rise of “ventilation shutdown plus” (VSD+), a method being used to mass kill poultry birds on factory farms by sealing off the airflow inside barns and pumping in extreme heat using industrial-scale heaters, so that the animals die of heatstroke over the course of hours. It is one of the worst forms of cruelty being inflicted on animals in the US food system — the equivalent of roasting animals to death — and it’s been used to kill tens of millions of poultry birds during the current avian flu outbreak.

As of this summer, the most recent period for which data is available, more than 49 million birds, or over 80 percent of the depopulated total, were killed in culls that used VSD+ either alone or in combination with other methods, according to an analysis of USDA data by Gwendolen Reyes-Illg, a veterinary adviser to the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), an animal advocacy nonprofit. These mass killings, or “depopulations,” in the industry’s jargon, are paid for with public dollars through a USDA program that compensates livestock farmers for their losses.

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[-] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

Natural, sure. Vital? Something like 350,000,000 Indians would like a word with you

[-] Llewellyn@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

They have chicken.

[-] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

I don't think they do, considering they're vegetarian. Around 24% of the country consider themselves vegetarian, while about 8% consider themselves pescatarian (the ones that eat birds and fish)

[-] Llewellyn@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

And the rest 68%?

[-] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

How on earth could they be relevant to the point of whether meat is necessary for our survival?

this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
520 points (94.8% liked)

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