There is a natural genetic mutation that has been found in chickens that render them blind. This mutation, can be bred so that offsprings of the blind chickens will be blind as well. Now, fortunately enough, blind chickens are less stressed by overcrowded conditions, since they can't see. So these blind chickens can be raised in normal factory farm conditions without experiencing the same anxiety as normally sighted chickens do.
Should we breed blind chickens so that we can raise them in closer quarters?
Note that these chickens are born blind. They haven't been robbed of anything.... they never had it to begin with. If we don't breed these chickens, the alternative is that some other chicken will exist, that can see, and suffer more, than the chicken that is blind. And as much of an optimist as I am, I don't believe that factory farming will go away any time soon, so simply appealing to eliminate factory farms is naive at best. It would not take much to replace the chickens we have, with blind chickens, but it would take much more effort to redesign the way we farm chickens. So from a practical perspective, this is a way we can reduce the suffering of chickens immediately.
Monday, February 28, 2011
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Kind of reminds me of that deaf lesbian couple who intentionally had a deaf child. Its kind of tricky to make the claim that they're taking away the kids hearing, when he never had it to begin with.
ReplyDeleteIn the same way, I kinda get that initial reaction of "oh thats terrible, torturing AND blinding the chickens?" but then again, if they never had sight, and we're raising them JUST to be eaten, I see how that is the kinder thing to do.
It kinda helps give some perspective on how terrible factory farming is to begin with. Its a lesser evil, but still and evil nonetheless.