4 min read
Did PETA purchase shares of a company that sells eggs? Yes—to expose how all eggs are cruel. PETA bought stock in Vital Farms, a company that sells chickens’ eggs and butter made from cow secretions, to help make change for animals from inside the industry that profits from them.
PETA Will Directly Urge Vital Farms to Stop Spreading ‘Humane’ Lies
Vital Farms claims its mission is to bring “ethical food to the table” and that its purpose as a business is “improving the lives of people, animals, and the planet through food,” but no matter whether eggs come from a “pasture-raised,” “restorative,” or an “organic” farm, chickens suffer when exploited for food. As a shareholder, PETA will attend annual meetings and directly urge Vital Farms to stop deceiving shoppers into believing there is anything “humane” about buying eggs.
6 Vital Farms Truths PETA Is Ready to Bring to Shareholder Meetings
As a shareholder, PETA will ensure that Vital Farms’ executives and investors cannot ignore the suffering chickens the company’s marketing hides. Here are six issues PETA is ready to raise:
1. Hens’ Beaks Are Sliced Off to Prevent Stress-Induced Behaviors
Despite its deceptive “Certified Humane” label, Vital Farms sources chicks from suppliers that are permitted to cut off portions of hens’ beaks to prevent stressed birds from pecking at each other—an issue that wouldn’t arise if the animals were “happy” and their eggs were “ethically produced,” as the company claims.
2. Young Chickens Spend the First Several Months of Their Lives Indoors
Hens used by Vital Farms spend the first five months of their short lives packed into sheds before being moved to farms—despite the brand’s claims that they’re “pasture-raised.”
3. Hens Can’t Safely Stay Outside All Day
The company also claims that hens spend their days outside, yet it operates farms in regions with months of extreme temperatures, sometimes as low as 19 degrees and as high as 95 degrees. Chickens experience heat stress at temperatures above 77 degrees, and significant numbers die when temperatures pass 91 degrees. They cannot spend most of the day outdoors without the risk of death or severe injury for much of the year, meaning they are either outside at risk of death or forced inside a likely crowded shed.
4. When They No Longer Lay Enough Eggs, Vital Farms Hens Are Killed for Dog or Cat Food
The U.S. egg industry deems the 400 million hens used for their eggs “worthless” when they stop laying eggs daily. They are usually rounded up and sent to slaughter at just 1.5 years old. According to Vital Farms’ website, entire flocks are “retired” by killing them ‘en masse’ (which could be gassing them, or slitting their throats while they hang upside down in shackles) or they are sold to pet food companies.
5. Many Hens Can Feel When Their Throats Are Slit
At slaughterhouses, workers shackle chickens and hang them upside down before sending them through an electrified water bath intended—but often failing—to stun them. Many can still feel it when workers slit their throats and scald them to death in defeathering tanks.
6. Sensitive Chickens Are Forced to Live Without the Things That Give Their Lives Meaning
Chickens feel pain, grief, love, joy, anxiety, and a range of other emotions. When given the chance, chickens are social and enjoy spending their days together, scratching for food, taking dust baths, roosting in trees, and basking in the sun. But when exploited for their eggs, they hurt immensely.
The Only ‘Humane’ Eggs Are Vegan Eggs
While PETA dukes it out in Vital Farms’ shareholder meetings, you can make a difference for birds by refusing to purchase eggs, cheese, and any other product stolen from an abused animal. As consumers, we have the power to spare animals excruciating pain and suffering by making animal-friendly choices. There are tons of eggstraordinary ways to replace chicken eggs in recipes to help animals, your health, and our environment. Tofu scramble? Check. Applesauce banana bread? Check! Just Egg omelet? CHECK!
Are you ready to leave eggs off your plate? Take PETA’s 3-Week Vegan Challenge today!
Discussion about this post