Sydney Morning Herald Online: Opinion
by Ondine Sherman

No one should be surprised when, at the onset of new viruses such as H1N1 swine flu, fingers are pointed at industrialised intensive farming practices.

Imagine if tens of thousands of people were permanently confined in closed sheds. No fresh air, only air-conditioning. No sunlight. Each person would have hardly enough room to move. They would defecate and urinate in the same spot in which they slept and ate.

Doesn't it sound like a recipe for disaster and disease?

This is exactly what more than 90 per cent of the world's 60 billion animals are subjected to each year in intensive farming practices, commonly known as "factory farming" in Australia or confined animal feeding operations in the US.

In Australia, as in other countries, the vast majority of pigs and chickens are raised in factory farms.

On average, more than 10 million hens and a quarter of a million female pigs are crammed into cages so small they cannot turn around.

Close to half a billion "meat" chickens are confined in sheds with individual space smaller than an A4 sheet of paper.

Baby animals are mutilated in sensitive areas such as their tails, beaks and teeth without pain relief, and unwanted animals, such as male chicks, are routinely thrown live into grinders.

Animals used to be raised in conditions akin to the "Old MacDonald's Farm" of our story books. But that was 30 years ago. Today, farm animals are disposable commodities pumped down the assembly line at lightning speed with little regard for their welfare.

Are humans now paying the price for the cruelty we have inflicted? Perhaps, when the cost becomes too high for us to pay, we will take action.

When we do, it will not only help safeguard our children from new diseases, it will save millions of intelligent and feeling animals from a lifetime of pain and suffering.

Ondine Sherman is managing director of animal protection institute Voiceless. To learn more about factory farming, see www.voiceless.org.au.

This opinion piece was first published in the Environment section of the Sydney Moring Herald online.

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