Completely legal. Utterly cruel.

Dear John,

Mutilations are horrifying—yet legal—in our food system.

Animals suffer this violence when they’re just babies, sometimes right after they’re born.

Factory farms mutilate animals so they can identify them, make them easier to handle, or make their flesh “taste better.”

Here are the most common mutilations:

Ear Notching

Farmers often cut notches into pigs’ ears for identification. Pigs typically endure ear notching when they are just a few days old.

Tail Docking

Tail docking is removing part of a calf’s or a pig’s tail, including sensitive skin, nerves, and bones. It may involve slicing with a sharp instrument or cutting off circulation with a rubber ring until the unwanted part falls off.

Dehorning and Disbudding

Disbudding is destroying a calf’s horn buds, often with caustic chemicals or a hot iron, and is performed anywhere from birth to eight weeks of age. Dehorning is pulling or cutting out the horns of older calves.

Debeaking

Debeaking is searing or snipping off the tip of a bird’s beak when the animal is between five and 10 days old. It’s performed using a hot blade or scissor-like tool.

Castration

Castration is removing male animals’ testicles using sharp instruments, rubber bands that cut off circulation, or—in the case of piglets—a worker’s bare hands.

To learn more, read our most recent blog post.

Mutilations are usually performed without anesthesia. John, will you take action for animals mutilated in our food system?

With hope,

Leah Garcés
CEO and President

P.S. Are you in the United States? Please urge your Congress members to put their voices behind the IAA, critical legislation that would lessen suffering for farmed animals.