The first time I looked into the true conditions of "cage free," "pasture raised," "free range", "humane", and "organic" labeled products, I felt a deep sense of betrayal and regret. Like many consumers, I believed these labels indicated humane treatment of animals. However, the disturbing facts I uncovered about factory farming in the United States and globally painted a very different picture. These terms often mask grim realities where animals endure immense suffering due to "standard industry practices" being explicitly exempt from animal cruelty laws. 

In countless facilities across the world, animals face cramped spaces, brutal handling, spend their entire lives indoors in dismal conditions, and are deprived of their natural behaviors. This treatment is not just an ethical concern—it is a matter of public health and environmental sustainability. Reports from organizations like The Humane Society and World Animal Protection reveal that over 90% of meat, dairy, and eggs sold in the U.S. come from factory farms where animals lead short, distressing lives with little to no legal protection. According to polls commissioned by the ASPCA, 94% of people agree that animals raised for food deserve to live free from abuse and cruelty.

It's time for a transformation in the way we treat farmed animals and the products we choose to purchase. We must hold grocery stores and large food companies accountable, pressing them to forsake supporting harmful practices and prioritize genuine animal welfare. They have the power to purchase from smaller farms, and to require that factory farms ("CAFOs") engage in cruelty-free practices.  Factory farms must also transition to cruelty-free food production methods, such as "cultivated meats" (real meat without animal suffering) and plant-based alternatives. Together we can build a future where our diet does not depend on cruelty. The true measure of a company's success goes beyond dollars and cents to include the dignity and welfare it provides to its animals, employees, consumers, and communities.

Therefore, I am calling on large grocery stores, large food companies, and legislative bodies worldwide to enact stricter standards to protect farmed animals, and using their power to incentivize innovation in suffering-free meats and dairy (cultivated proteins) and plant-based alternatives. Many large industrial leaders are already investing hundreds of millions of dollars in and planning their transition to these more sustainable and cruelty-free meat and dairy options (Tyson Foods, JBS, Cargill, Nestle, and Thai Union).  Lawmakers can play a pivotal role by providing incentives to farms advancing towards ethical and sustainable food production and enact stronger protections for the billions of farmed animals still being harmed in the meantime.

We can no longer ignore the emotional and scientific evidence against the ongoing barbaric practices on a mass scale. I urge everyone to take a stand and push for significant changes to grocery store and food company buying practices, reform that will improve the lives of farmed animals, and lead us to a more humane and sustainable future. Let us speak for those who cannot, and let us demand a kinder, more conscious world now.

In signing this petition, I ask large grocery stores, food companies, and legislators to require farms, or "Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)", and slaughterhouses to reduce animal suffering by:

• Stop mutilations, which are often done without anesthetics due to higher cost (cutting off beaks, cutting off tails, dehorning, and castration).
• Stop genetic manipulation leading to rapid growth (chickens grow so fast their legs break and organs often fail).
• Stop extreme crowding, where animals often live on hard concrete or metal slotted floors, have increased injuries, and high disease rates.
• Stop inhumane "gas chambers" where pigs are "stunned" or asphyxiated with CO2 in a painful manner, leading to significant distress, air hunger, "going crazy," crying in pain from carbonic acid forming on mucous membranes for for several minutes before they are stunned.
• Slow down kill line speeds. After animals are "stunned" they only have seconds to "stick" or kill them before they regain consciousness. The Humane League states that faster faster line speeds often cause improper stunning, and animals often regain consciousness, experiencing severe pain and fear while being bled out, boiled, or butchered alive.
• Crack down on rampant, unchecked abuse in the industry, such as kicking, throwing, and beating animals into submission done by stressed workers.
• Stop painful "tail docking" of cows and piglets entirely (routinely done without anesthesia, and banned in some countries and regions already).
• Stop painful teeth "clipping" of baby pigs altogether (routinely done without anesthesia, and would be unnecessary if animals were given enough space so they do not bite each other's tails).
• Allow farmed animals to have permanent pasture access with grass, straw, ample space, enrichment, and ample spaces protected from the elements (pigs and birds in factory farms spend their entire lives inside on metal grates, never seeing the sky, feeling the sun on their skin, touching their soft feet to grass, breathing the fresh air, or engaging in natural nesting or play).
• Stop beak trimming of hens and chickens (this practice is done without anesthetics. If given enough space, pecking behavior caused by overcrowding will vastly diminish).
• Ban "Frankenchickens" and other animals whose painful breeding makes them grow too fast, resulting in broken legs from their own weight, heart attacks, etc.
• Stop grinding up day-old male chicks alive (the technology exists to "sex" in-ovo eggs before they hatch. "Culling" has already been banned in many European countries in favor of in-ovo sexing).
• Enact higher space requirements for chickens (often only 1 square foot or less) and demand outdoor grazing.
• Stop using battery cages where birds cannot even open their wings or turn around.
• Stop  painful castration of baby pigs (this is done without anesthetics, and Switzerland has already banned it).
• Ban gestation and farrowing crates for all mother pigs ("sows") where they are not able to even turn around (Sweden and Norway have banned them already, but many places still confine mother pigs for life to these crates, and or for weeks while pregnant and nursing)
• Allow mother pigs to "root" and nest with straw outside or in protected areas of her choosing before giving birth and enjoy natural maternal behaviors.
• Allow animals to be born outdoors in individual straw-bedded huts or arks with ample space and protection from the elements.
• Stop throwing animals away: Stop "thumping", abusing, or killing piglet runts, "spent" dairy cows, downed animals, baby chicks, or sick animals. Require farms to care for, retire or adopt out "undesirable" animals to sanctuaries.
• Stop separating babies from mother cows (baby cows are routinely removed at birth from mothers, who feel intense distress and chase the babies who are dragged away. Baby cows never get to taste their mothers' milk that is meant for them. Instead, it is diverted to humans).
• Allow baby animals to wean naturally from their mothers (stop premature removal) and raise animals with their mothers.
• Stop separating all animals from their babies (lambs, goats, etc.). Allow them to live in social family groups together until slaughter. 
• Stop producing veal (killed at 4-6 weeks) and baby lambs (killed at 6-8 months). Please let them live longer. Cows can live 15-20 years. Sheep can live 10-12 years.
• Ban dragging, throwing, or rough handling of baby and adult animals.
• Allow cow babies to stay and graze with their mothers until slaughter.
• Stop separating babies from mother pigs. Like cows, pigs form deep emotional bonds and thrash against their cages when their babies are taken.
• Allow piglets to stay and graze with their mothers until slaughter. 
• Allow animals to live closer to their natural ages. Many are killed after only a few months. Cows can live 15-20 years and are killed for meat at 1.5-2.5 years old. Male calves used for veal are killed at just 4-6 weeks. Mother cows used for dairy are killed when they are "spent" (lowered reproductive performance or milk production) at 4-6 years. Pigs can live 15-20 years and mother pigs are killed when "spent" at 3-5 years old. Female cows used to breed babies for meat are killed at 6-12 years and are "culled" when fertility drops. Their babies are killed for meat at just 5-6 months old. Sheep can live 10-12 years and most are killed between 6-8 months for meat. Mother sheep are killed when "spent" at 4-7 years old. Goats can live 15-20 years. Goats used for dairy are slaughtered at 5-6 years old when milk production slows. Goats used for meat are killed at only 3-9 months of age. Chickens can live 5-10 years. Chickens used for meat are killed at just 5-9 weeks of age. Hens used for egg production are slaughtered at just 18-24 months of age due to heavy stress on the body.
• Retire or adopt out rather than kill mother animals used for milk or breeding.
• Use slower "line kill speed" in slaughterhouses/abattoirs to avoid human error and ensure animals are properly stunned before boiled (pigs), defeathered (birds), or butchered (cows, sheep, goats, etc.). Faster line speeds mean more animals are tortured alive.
• Stop factory farms from lobbying for faster "kill line speeds" (line speeds are already at record fast paces, which has resulted in more human error in killing or "stunning" prior to butchering or boiling).
• Require animals being transported to slaughter to have unlimited access to water and food for the journey. Right now, they suffer immensely during these long trips without food or water (the U.S., for example, lets them go without water for 28 hours straight - barbaric).
• Require factory farms to stop supporting Ad-Gag laws, which criminalize free-speech and whistleblowers from filming abuses at farms and slaughterhouses/abattoirs. Instead, reward farms who are more transparent and embrace humane practices.
• Ensure factories label medications given to animals in "ingredients" on labels.
• Engage in meaningful welfare monitoring or animals' physical and mental health (allow animal welfare inspectors to visit, and staff animal psychologists) 
• Provide mental health care to workers in factory farms and slaughterhouses/abattoirs, who also need care.
• Give animals a name, not a number. Every animal, just like cats and dogs, have their own personalities and they each matter. Treat them with dignity and love.
• Allow time for staff and their families to pet, show kindness, and visit with animals. It is good for the human spirit to show love to animals. 
• Actively invest in and commit to convert to sustainable, cruelty-free farming altogether (many food companies already are planning for the future by investing in "cultivated" meat and other cruelty-free food production)

In signing this petition, I demand my legislatures to:

• Enact laws that acknowledge animal sentience and stop the suffering of animals in my country (follow actions listed above if they have not already done so).
• Abolish animal abuse "exemptions" for farmed animals, animals used in testing, etc. from cruelty laws. These animals are just like cats and dogs and as intelligent. They form deep bonds with animals and humans, have "best friends", are protective of their young, are gentle and playful, enjoy nature, and deserve to live a life of peace and dignity.
• Enforce meaningful oversight of animal welfare in industrial farming and other settings where animals are exploited.
• Re-define "standard industry practice" to include cruelty-free standards already in practice in other countries
• Remove "standard industry practices" exemptions altogether to stop cruelty and suffering of animals in specific settings (farms, laboratories, etc.).
• Provide incentives for converting factory farming as an industry to cruelty-free "cultivated proteins" made from stem cells to grow real meat without harming animals.
• Provide and promote plant-based alternatives in public places (schools, prisons, etc.)
• Refuse to roll back the existing meager protections for farmed animals at the behest/lobbying of industry leaders. 

Photo credit: Four Paws Australia