Chickens in farming industries are kept under inhumane conditions, being cramped together in small, dark barns their entire life, in pain at every moment due to diseases, unsanitary conditions, reckless and painful slaughtering processes, and disgusting artificially bred mutations to improve the amount of meat or eggs produced from a single chicken. The chickens also live their entire lives in their own filth, pumped with dangerous antibiotics, and even “free-range” chickens don’t often see sunlight throughout their lives. 

These conditions are not only legal, but a standard for poultry farming industries nationally, and while Massachusetts has laws protecting egg-laying chickens from “inhumane confinement”, it does not protect broiler chickens from inhumane confinement, nor does it prevent any chickens from traumatic slaughtering (such as being boiled alive and dipped in low-voltage electrified water meant to stun them but often doesn’t work). 

It is important to take action as soon as possible before more animal lives are harmed under government supervision and approval. As the United States becomes more aware of unethical farming standards and demand better meat, chicken industries are able to overlook these and legally put “free range” and “cruelty free” labels on their produce while actively harming chickens, thanks to vague regulations and blatant loopholes.