A number that's hard to imagine
Every year, humans kill somewhere between 34 and 54 trillion animals. That includes mammals, birds, fish, shrimp, insects, and others. For comparison: there are about 8 billion people in the world.
This text shows how these animals live and die, using the ones raised for food as an example.
Hens and chickens
- Egg-laying hens often live in crowded cages, each one with a space about the size of a sheet of paper.
- Broiler chickens have been bred to grow so fast that many can barely hold up their own weight.
- Male chicks from egg-laying breeds don't lay eggs and don't grow fast. So they're usually killed right after hatching.
Pigs, cows, and calves
- Many sows spend months locked in metal crates where they can barely move.
- Cows only produce milk after having babies. The calves are taken away from them, and some live in pens so small they can't even turn around.
- Many animals have body parts cut off without anesthesia: piglets' teeth and tails, pieces of ears, brands made with a hot iron.
Disease, transport, and slaughter
With so many animals crowded together, diseases spread fast. During transport, animals are pushed with sticks and electric prods into packed trucks. At the slaughterhouse, everything is done at high speed, and many animals are still conscious when they're cut.
Fish, insects, and crustaceans
Fishing is one of the activities that kills the most animals. Fish die by suffocating, being crushed under the weight of other fish, or having their organs burst from the change in pressure. Insects and crustaceans are also exploited in enormous numbers.
In short
- Tens of trillions of animals are killed by humans every year.
- Confinement, mutilation, disease, and violent slaughter are common.
- Fish, crustaceans, and insects make up most of the victims.