Similarly to chickens, pigs are frequently enclosed in cages, which interferes with their quality of life. Personally, I have never thought about how my meat/animal products, such as eggs or bacon, are collected or what kind of environment the animal has grown up in. However, recently, as cage-free eggs are the only legal option, I have seen through the media the inhuman conditions in which caged chickens grow up.

The concern is factory farms, which house 99% of all U.S. farm animals, according to a 2019 Sentience Institute study. Although many people do not think twice about the origin of their food products, animals ranging from salmon to sheep are all cultivated just for the sole purpose of food.

The problem is that the media has portrayed healthy animals; Jacy Reese, Sentience Institute’s Research Director, says that the animal industry uses a tactic called “humane washing,” which deliberately uses pictures of animals who appear “much happier, healthier, and freer than in reality.” These factory farms utilize an intensive, inhumane form of animal farming; processes include debeaking, tail-docking (removal of a portion of the tail with no anesthesia), and manipulative breeding.

The farmers are only focused on high yields, thus they do not show concern for the animals’ well-being. The animals usually do not see daylight and are often overcrowded into small spaces. Animals, such as cows, need an abundance of room to grow and feed. This also causes them to be aggressive toward each other, which is why farmers resort to debeaking birds so there are no pecking deaths.

Additionally, their lives are cut short by an extreme amount. Young piglets and calves are ripped apart from their mothers and genetically manipulated to fatten quickly so they can be killed for meat.

Although not all cage-free farms discourage inhumane breeding and antibiotics, they rid animal farming of a critical issue: crowding, aggression, and no access to a natural lifestyle. These free-range animals can live a less stressful lifestyle by accessing daylight and open space.

Proposition 12, which bans pig cages smaller than 24 square feet, will be put into effect starting July 1. However, previously slaughtered pork will still be sold and served for a smooth transition. Pork producers oppose this law because of increased farm maintenance costs and California’s high consumption of pork despite producing a low amount. The CEO of the California Grocers Association, Ronald Fong, does not expect stock problems to arise from this issue, although some grocery stores are panicking.

However, it depends on how many farmers upgrade their production to accommodate these new situations. Hopefully, more pigs will now be able to enjoy their life full of sunshine and grass before turning into bacon.

<Kaylyn Kim Sunny Hills High School 12th Grade>