Why Don’t Factory Farms Have Web Cams?

With the farming industry constantly painting a picture of happy chickens flapping about in their enriched cages, cows having a lazy afternoon in the sunshine before being brought in for an enjoyable round of milking, and pigs scuffling about in the mud, it seems surprising that they haven’t taken the opportunity to showcase the wonderful lives of these animals for all to see.

With farmers constantly defending themselves against claims of animal cruelty, surely the easiest way to prove to the world that their animals are as happy as they say they are, would be to install web cams so the general public could see exactly what’s going on in their establishments. After all, if your level of animal care is truly something to be proud of, you would be more than willing to stake your reputation on the fact that you have nothing to hide, right? People love to see cute animals doing their thing, so in principle this would only prove to be a win-win for the farmers. Trouble is there’s a reason why factory farms want to keep us out, and it’s one so horrific that it would make even the most carnivorous want to go vegan!

Exposing the Myth

Without a doubt, the number one reason that factory farms would never have webcams showcasing the daily things going on is that the life of a factory farmed animal is miserable, depressing, and utterly heartbreaking. Sir Paul McCartney famously said “if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.” The same concept applies to factory farms. If people were able to see the way in which those animals lived day after day, week after week, they would feel ashamed and disgusted to be part of it. Very few people who consume the meat and dairy that comes from factory farmed animals have ever actually seen the conditions which they are forced to endure.

Seeing Is Believing

It is one thing to be told that factory farmed animals are kept in cruel, cramped, dirty conditions for their entire lives, but to actually see it with your own eyes is a different experience altogether. If egg boxes had photographs of the actual hens which they came from, people would be much more reluctant to purchase them. It’s almost unheard of for a person to say that they Support animal cruelty, yet this is exactly what they are doing when they purchase animal products from factory farms. I strongly believe that if people were able to see the cruelty in real time, they would start altering their behaviors and shopping habits to match up to their ethical beliefs.

Undercover Investigations Paint a Truer Picture

The only time we see a true reflection of the conditions which factory farmed animals have to endure is when undercover investigations are able to expose the reality. Organizations such as Mercy For Animals and Animal Equality have investigated many different farming industries, and each time they enter factory farms, they expose a horrifying truth. It is not just the illegal animal cruelty which is shocking and upsetting, but the insight you get into the awful reality of life in a factory farm for these animals, a sight which is very rarely seen.

Most people are kind and compassionate and would change if they knew the truth, which is exactly why the farming industry is desperate to keep it hidden. You need no further evidence than the simple fact that they are actively trying to make it illegal for people to take footage inside their farms, for fear that people will actually change their ways, to know that what they are doing is inherently wrong.

Image Source: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals