"Earthlings"

[El Greco]

This is not a thread to discuss animal rights or vegetarianism. I'm interested in discussing the statement that appears in the opening of the Earthlings documentary (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1282796533661048967):

The images you are about to see are not isolated cases. These are the Industry Standard for animals bred as Pets, Food, Clothing, for Entertainment and Research.

I know nothing about how widespread those practices are and I'd like to find out whether this is indeed the way things happen.

[Soapy Sam]

There is no "Industry Standard", worldwide.
I've been in two UK slaughterhouses. Neither was anywhere near as disgusting as some of the images here. Nor was either exactly pleasant.
I've been on many UK farms. While they are food raising businesses, I've never seen any farmer treat animals callously. That said, some procedures are not pretty.

I'd say the images have been selected to shock. They do not reflect the state of the food industry in the UK from my limited personal experience.

That said, the reality of that industry is not fluffy lambsies and cute calfs. It's about feeding 6 billion humans.

[Rolfe]

Sorry, I can't get usable video here on my dial-up. I'll look at it at work tomorrow. It probably even counts as "work"!

Rolfe.

[El Greco]

Sorry, I can't get usable video here on my dial-up. I'll look at it at work tomorrow. It probably even counts as "work"!

Rolfe.

Be warned that it's a full-length movie, 95 min (Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthlings_%28documentary%29))

[Rolfe]

Oh.

Rolfe.