Feb 5, 2009

Toxic Animal Ag - Illinois River Poisoned by Chicken Manure

13 Arkansas poultry companies, are being accused of treating Oklahoma's rivers like open sewers. Proceedings are underway to establish whether or not Tyson Poultry and Cargill, amongst others, are responsible for 1 million-acres of the Illinois River Watershed being polluted with with bird waste. Take a virtual tour of what the inside of a factory egg warehouse looks like:
Here's the story with bird litter. I know from keeping a small flock of rescued egg hens for almost a year... Chickens poop lots... constantly. Every place they stay for any period of time, has resulted in dead soil. Nothing, but nothing will grow inside their coop -All vegetation was killed to the root - within a few short weeks. The dirt will not even support worms -- 3 feet below. Dispersing the litter must be done very carefully or the ammonia will burn/destroy whatever it is applied to. The poultry and egg houses are claiming that the record level of fecal bacteria might be caused by other sources, including cattle manure or human septic systems. Oh let's see... billions and billions of birds... probably. Cows that poop 10 times more than humans... is very likely too- Septic systems however, is a desperate stretch. I'm putting my money on the one million acres of poisoned water shed is due to animal agriculture's filthy, flawed and failed practices. Time to evolve... Go Vegan Meat Poultry News

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Speaking of chicken, on the other thread I saw that you have rescued some factory hens. I have always wanted to do this. Do you have a large land area? I wonder how much land I would need to give them a fair habitat. I have heard they can even live happily in the city with a little room to scratch. Is this true?

Bea Elliott said...

Hi there... no, I don't have a lot of land - a large back yard only. While they love to forage they can be very happy in a smaller space as long as they can dust bathe, scratch/dig at the dirt and lounge in the sunshine. And also, because they are birds - they like to roost at night... just a foot or two above the ground would be fine.

It's wonderful that you'd like to rescue some of these hens - They live such miserable lives as you know.

Farm Sanctary has an adoption program that you can apply to:
http://www.farmsanctuary.org/rescue/adoption/faqs.html

Good luck & thanks for dropping by. :)

Site Closed said...

Second that on the chickens pooping LOADS! I remember when I used to keep hens roaming in the back yard. For how little they seem to eat they're like non stop poop machines! Haha!

~K~

Bea Elliott said...

And speaking of chickens... I'll never forget your photo showing the size space these poor birds live in. As all of your work that I've seen - it was most compelling.

Stay well. :)

Site Closed said...

Thanks. I just needed to learn how to draw a better chicken! :)

~K~