生命電視 台中五方講堂

編輯/小艾
原文/PETA: http://www.goveg.com/f-top10chickens.asp
相關連結
不吃牛的十個理由
不吃豬的十個理由
不吃魚的十三個理由

1.“鳥類的腦 (Bird Brain, 常被用來代指愚笨)”應該被用來當作讚美之詞
最近已有幾份研究顯示雞其實是十分聰明的動物. 他們擁有自制的能力, 能夠解決複雜的問題, 並且有著為未來而憂心的智能. 雞不但比狗和貓更聰明, 甚至還能做出一些除了靈長類以外的哺乳類動物所不會做的事. 在澳洲Macquarie University研究動物行為與溝通的Chris Evans博士說: “有時候我會在會議上耍一些技倆. 比如說列舉雞的特性而不提到雞, 人們就會以為我是在談論猴子.” Bristol University的John Webster博士發現雞不但能夠理解前因後果的關係, 而且能夠對同伴散播牠們學習到的新的知識 (也就是說, 雞與雞之間有著科學家所說的 “文化”). 您的智力和雞比起來如何呢?

2. 全都被餵食了大量的藥物
簡單的說, 雞乃是這個星球上受虐最嚴重的動物. 成千上萬的肉雞被擠入巨大的雞舍. 為了能夠這樣擁擠的環境中生存, 他們被餵食大量的抗生素與成長激素等藥物. 而這些藥物使得雞在不堪負荷短時間內快速長大增肥的體重壓力下, 變成了殘廢. 濫用抗生素不但加速了細菌抗藥性的發展, 人類也因此越來越缺乏有效的抗生素可以使用. 更多對於雞使用過量抗生素的問題.

3. 活活割喉燙死
才七周大的雞隻們被擠進擁擠不堪的卡車, 運送到屠宰場. 牠們常常得承受超過幾百英里的顛簸, 並且在沒有水與食物的情況下經歷各種惡劣的天候. 在這樣嚴苛的運送環境下, 每年平均有幾千萬雞隻因此折斷腿或翅膀. 在屠宰場, 雞被倒吊著割開喉嚨, 並且常常在去毛池中被活活燙死. 觀看Tyson屠宰場的殘障雞被活活燙死的影片.

4.不受法律保護
在美國, 每年被屠宰的幾十億雞隻們沒有受到任何一個聯邦法律的保護. 鳥類被剔除在”人道屠宰法案”之外, 即使每年被屠宰的雞隻數目是牛與豬加起來的55倍.肉雞在沒有任何止痛藥的情況下, 就被人用熱燙的刀剪去敏感的喙. 這些智慧型動物在骯髒的雞舍裡和幾萬隻同類一起度過一生, 每隻雞只有像一張紙一般大的空間可以活動. 這種過度擁擠和監禁的養殖方式常導致疾病的爆發. 而如果農場主人以對待雞的方式對待並不比雞聰明的狗貓, 他們會因為虐待動物而被關進監獄. 更多關於雞在養雞場所受到的虐待.

5. 吃雞肉的同時您也會吃到糞便
一個美國農業部的研究發現超過99%的市售嫩肉雞屠體中含有可偵測到的大腸桿菌 (E. coli), 意味著糞便的污染. 換句話說, 如果您吃雞肉, 您幾乎可以確定會吃到糞便. 消費者報告 (Consumer Reports)說: "每年有超過110萬的美國人因為吃了未煮熟的受到污染的雞肉而生病". 雞肉也含有危險劑量的砷. 砷在人體中能夠造成癌症, 失智, 神經疾病以及其他的病痛. 由於高比例的細菌污染, 健康人(Men’s Health) 雜誌最近將超市雞肉列為“十種最骯髒食物”的第一名. 更多關於食用雞肉與其他肉品如何招來健康風險.

6.減去脂肪, 避免流感
美國疾病管制局和世界衛生組織都認為, 禽流感病毒若是散播到美國, 人們可能經由很簡單的途徑而感染. 比如例如食用未煮熟的雞肉或雞蛋, 食用與被感染的雞肉或雞蛋放在同一塊砧板上的食物, 甚至只是經由碰觸到被污染的蛋殼. 雞肉和雞蛋含有大量膽固醇, 一塊3盎司 (85公克) 的去皮雞胸肉含有和牛肉一樣多的膽固醇, 而一顆蛋就有含有三倍於此的膽固醇. 這些膽固醇加上大量的動物脂肪會堵塞動脈並造成心臟疾病. 相較於此, 只含有少量的脂肪的純素食品全都不含膽固醇.

7.全美最危險的工廠工作還境
據美國勞工部勞工統計局, 屠宰場工作人員在工作中受傷的機率是其他製造業工作人員的三倍以上, 而他們受到重複性壓力傷害 (repetitive stress injury) 的機率則是其他製造業工作人員的35倍. 業界拒絕藉由降低生產線速度或是添購適當的安全裝備來改善工作環境. 人權觀察組織稱此為“埋藏在肉品業工作中的侵犯人權”. 如Tyson和Perdue等的大型雞肉公司也會剝削特約養雞戶. Auburn University的經濟學者 Robert Taylor形容他們是“背著貸款的農奴”. 這些特約雞農被迫支付龐大雞場的建築與維持費用, 使得他們債台高築. 如果雞肉公司取消合約, 他們可能就會破產. 更多關於為何人權觀察組織指稱肉品包裝是全美國最危險的工廠工作環境.

8.母愛
在自然環境中, 母雞還在巢裡孵蛋時便會發出咯咯聲呼喚小雞, 即使他們還沒孵化出來. 小雞則會在蛋殼裡偷看母雞和其他同伴. 在養雞場, 蛋一生出來就被帶離母雞, 放在大型的孵化箱中. 小雞永遠都不會見到牠們的父母. 母雞喜歡有私人而隱密的巢以便躲避掠食者. 為了獲得私密的巢她們甚至可以不吃不喝. 這種為了保護小雞而犧牲自己的舒適正是雞母愛的表現. 更多關於雞這種有趣動物的性格習性.

9.雞糞便造成環境污染
每年在養雞場養出的90億隻雞製造出大量的排泄物. Oregon State University農學教授Peter Cheeke說這種大規模養殖法乃是“對環境的正面攻擊”, 並使得廣大的土地與水受到糞便的污染. 由於小雞被餵食大量的藥物, 荷爾蒙以及殺蟲劑, 他們的糞便中也含有這些高濃度的化學物質. 因此, 來自養雞場的糞便污染對於環境的傷害特別具有災難性. 例如在西維吉尼亞州與馬里蘭州, 科學家們最近發現雄性的魚長出卵巢. 他們懷疑造成這種怪異的畸形的原因是養雞場排放的含有富含藥物的雞糞便廢水. 更多關於養雞場如何污染環境.

10.雞肉替代品比原來的更好
您想吃雞肉卻不想造成以上提到的對於人, 動物與環境的各類傷害嗎? 沒問題 –– 試試目前市面上棒極了的替代品, 例如: Boca 雞塊, Gardenburger’s Meatless Buffalo雞翅, 或是 Yves Veggie 雞肉漢堡. 這些超級美味的食物不但不含膽固醇也不經由殘暴虐待而來, 並且含有豐富的蛋白質, 而且在你家附近的超市就買得到(限美國, 台灣可以買到更多好吃的素雞肉雞塊雞翅喔!). 試試用炒豆腐來代替蛋做的全素法國吐司, 或者看看我們的無蛋烹調秘訣.

(台灣的素食者真是世界上最幸福的了. 不只是超市, 市場裡也隨處買得到美味的素肉, 美味的素食餐廳更是比比皆是. 試試看, 循序漸進的在飲食中增加素食食品. 給自己, 給地球, 也給動物們一個機會!)

Meet Your Meat - Chickens

http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/video.asp?video=meet_your_meat&Player=flv

相關連結
不吃牛的十個理由
不吃豬的十個理由
不吃魚的13個理由

1. ‘Bird Brain’ Is a Compliment
Several recent studies have shown that chickens are bright animals, able to solve complex problems, demonstrate self-control, and worry about the future. Chickens are smarter than cats or dogs and even do some things that have not yet been seen in mammals other than primates. Dr. Chris Evans, who studies animal behavior and communication at Macquarie University in Australia, says, “As a trick at conferences, I sometimes list these attributes, without mentioning chickens, and people think I’m talking about monkeys.” Dr. John Webster of Bristol University found that chickens are capable of understanding cause and effect and that when chickens learn something new, they pass on that knowledge (i.e., they have what scientists call “culture”). How does your IQ compare to that of a chicken?

2. All Drugged Up
Quite simply, chickens are the most abused animals on the planet. Chickens raised for their flesh are packed by the thousands into massive sheds. They are fed large amounts of antibiotics and drugs to keep them alive in conditions that would otherwise kill them. The antibiotics make chickens grow so large, so fast that they often become crippled under their own weight. This reckless use of antibiotics also makes drugs less effective for treating humans by speeding up the development of drug-resistant bacteria. Learn more about the overuse of antibiotics in chickens.

3. Scalded to Death
Only seven weeks after they are born, chickens are crowded onto trucks that transport them to the slaughterhouse. Tens of millions of chickens have their wings and legs broken in the process every year. They are trucked through all weather extremes, sometimes over hundreds of miles, without any food or water. At slaughter, chickens are hung upside-down and have their throats slit, and they are often scalded to death in defeathering tanks. Watch undercover footage of chickens who are mutilated and scalded to death at a Tyson slaughterhouse.

4. They Don’t Even Get a Lawyer
The billions of chickens killed each year are not protected by a single federal law—the “Humane Slaughter Act” exempts birds, even though there are more than 55 times as many chickens slaughtered each year as pigs and cows combined! Chickens raised for their flesh have their sensitive beaks cut off with a hot blade without any painkillers. These intelligent animals spend their entire lives in filthy sheds with tens of thousands of other birds, each getting about as much space as a sheet of paper, where intense crowding and confinement lead to outbreaks of disease. If factory-farm owners treated cats and dogs like they treat chickens, they would go to jail for cruelty to animals. Learn more about the routine abuse of chickens in factory farms.

5. Do You Want Poop With That?
A USDA study found that more than 99 percent of broiler chicken carcasses sold in stores had detectable levels of E. coli, indicating fecal contamination. In other words, if you’re eating chicken flesh, you’re almost certainly eating poop. Consumer Reports states there are “1.1 million or more Americans sickened each year by undercooked, tainted chicken.” Chicken flesh is also loaded with dangerous levels of arsenic, which can cause cancer, dementia, neurological problems, and other ailments in humans. Men’s Health magazine recently ranked supermarket chicken number one in their list of the “10 Dirtiest Foods” because of the high rate of bacterial contamination. Learn more about how eating chicken and meat puts your health at risk.

6. Lose the Fat, Avoid the Flu
Both the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization say that if the avian flu virus spreads to the United States, it could be caught simply by eating undercooked chicken flesh or eggs, eating food prepared on the same cutting board as infected meat or eggs, or even touching eggshells contaminated with the disease. Chicken flesh and eggs are packed with cholesterol—a 3-ounce piece of skinless chicken breast meat has as much cholesterol as beef, and just one egg has nearly three times as much! This cholesterol, along with a high intake of animal fats, blocks arteries and causes heart disease. Vegan foods, on the other hand, are all cholesterol-free and much lower in fat!

7. The Most Dangerous Factory Job in America
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, slaughterhouse workers are more than three times more likely to suffer injuries while working than workers in other manufacturing jobs, and they suffer a rate of repetitive stress injury that is 35 times higher than that in other manufacturing jobs. The industry refuses to make working conditions safer by slowing line speeds or buying appropriate safety gear, which amounts to what Human Rights Watch calls “systematic human rights violations embedded in meat and poultry industry employment.” Big chicken companies such as Tyson and Perdue also exploit contract factory-farm operators, whom Auburn University economist Robert Taylor calls “serfs with a mortgage.” Contract factory farmers are forced to foot the bill for building and maintaining massive factory farms, which puts them deeply into debt and can drive them to financial ruin if their company cancels future contracts with them. Learn why Human Rights Watch calls meat-packing “the most dangerous factory job in America.”

8. Motherly Love
In a natural setting, a hen will cluck to her chicks before they even hatch while she sits on the eggs in her nest. They peep back to her and to each other through their shells. In factory farms, eggs are taken from the mother as soon as they are laid and put in large incubators—a chick will never meet his or her parents. Hens prefer to have private nests hidden from predators and will often go without food or water in order to obtain a private nest. This demonstrates the fact that hens will sacrifice their own comfort if it means protecting their chicks. Learn more about the personalities of these interesting animals.

9. Chicken Sh*t
Raising 9 billion chickens in factory farms each year produces enormous amounts of excrement. Oregon State University agriculture professor Peter Cheeke says that factory farming amounts to “a frontal assault on the environment,” which leads to widespread fecal ground and water pollution. Because chickens are fed massive amounts of drugs, hormones, and pesticides, these chemicals are also found in high concentrations in their feces, which means that fecal pollution from chicken farms is especially disastrous for the environment. In West Virginia and Maryland, for example, scientists have recently discovered that male fish are growing ovaries, and they suspect that this freakish deformity is the result of factory-farm runoff from drug-laden chicken feces. Learn more about factory farming’s toll on the Earth.

10. Better Than the Original
Do you like the taste of chicken flesh but don’t like the suffering? No problem—try some of the fantastic alternatives now available, such as Boca Chik’n Nuggets, Gardenburger’s Meatless Buffalo Chicken Wings, and Yves Veggie Chicken Burgers. These super-tasty foods are high in protein, cruelty- and cholesterol- free, and available at your local supermarket. Instead of eggs, try tofu scramble, whip up some vegan French toast, or check out our egg-free baking tips.