Four acclaimed, celebrity French chefs are making a push to re-introduce the Ortolan, a tiny song-bird, into French restaurants for one weekend a year, according to an Oct. 13 New York Times article. But the European Union put the Ortolan on the protected species list in 1979.

Because of its place on the protected species list, the Ortolan should not be eaten. But outrage over the birds’ treatment represents a larger problem, and one that most people are apathetic to. The torture of animals pre-death is not specific to the Ortolan. In fact, it happens in our own backyard. Factory farms re-create the Ortolan’s pain on a massive scale every single day.

The Ortolan’s trip from capture to being served is excruciating to event recount. The same New York Times Article details how the birds are first poached and captured during their annual migration from Northern Europe to Africa. They are then put in complete darkness for 21 days while they are fattened before being drowned in Armagnac, a French brandy, after which they are plucked, cooked and served whole.

Factory farming, also known as intensive animal farming, values profit over the well-being of animals, only on an industrial scale — and most people don’t even bat an eye.

According to a Feb. 19 New York Times article, “Nine out of 10 sows in America are kept in gestation crates.” These are tiny stalls that are barely bigger than the pigs, who don’t even have enough room to turn around.

More than 42 million cattle are abused before slaughter every year, according to the PETA website. Cattle are branded, stripped of their horns and the males are castrated. Families of cows are separated, and mother cows can be heard wailing for their young.

Ninety-nine percent of chickens never see the light of day in factory farms. In the egg industry, male chicks are killed immediately. This can be done through a giant grinder that effectively pulverizes them, as well as mass fumigations that kill the birds by way of chemicals.

The list of atrocities occurring in everyday factory farms in the United States, and throughout the world, goes on and on, yet there is minimal mainstream awareness or empathy to this issue.

Speciesism places varying degrees of worth onto a subject solely based on their species membership. This way of thinking is what needs to change. Notable thinkers have commented on this phenomenon in the past, but few are listening. As Leonardo da Vinci once said, “The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as now they look upon the murder of men.”

To put this in perspective, the case of the Ortolan bird can be further dissected. The bird should not be killed because it is an endangered species. But to value this small scale issue over the widespread treatment of animals on a daily basis is to miss the bigger picture. For all those upset about the treatment of the Ortolan bird, fantastic. But take a step back and also consider the cruel treatment factory farm animals are subjected to everyday, instead of just one weekend a year.

 

 

Published on October 22, 2014 at 12:01 am