"To me, it's propaganda disguised as research," Mattos said in response to the report the California state Senate Office of Research produced. Essayist Bart Gruzalski (Ethics and Animals, p. 253) writes that "the use of animals for food can be justified on utilitarian grounds even if we take into account only the pleasures and pains of the animals involved." Gruzalski quotes pig farmer James Cargile, who buys "several pigs" every year "from a neighboring hog farm"; Cargile raises them "to slaughter for food" but sees no meanness because the pigs "are given lots of room and food, everything a pig could want for a good life but a short one" (Gruzalski, p. 253). Cargile states that his pigs "…are getting the best deal people are willing to give them" because their "good, short lives are better than no life at all" (Gruzalski, p. 253).

Arguments Against: Writing in The Well-being of farm animals: challenges and solutions, David Fraser and Daniel M. Weary assert that a pig in hot weather "will normally wallow in mud" to cool down (p. 41). But if an "overheated pig is confined in a pen where wallowing is impossible," Fraser et al. continues (p. 41), "its quality of life is arguable affected according to three criteria: the natural behavior is prevented; the animal is likely to undergo a heat-stress reaction" (involving reduced growth and reproduction); and three, the pig "is likely to feel uncomfortably hot."

D. Explain The Position Taken on These Issues

While I do not pass ethical or moral judgment on those who regularly eat red meat, pork or chicken, I do pass judgment on the unethical strategies used in "factory farming" of poultry, pigs and cattle. I find myself eating less of those three animal meats lately. Indeed, the facts brought out in this paper regarding the hideously inhumane conditions that these animals are put through creates a bit more hesitation in me to order a burger at McDonald's, a steak at Chile's or a BLT at Denny's. The solution to unethical slaughtering strategies can be achieved...

It is unconscionable and unacceptable for corporations like Foster Farms to crowd thousands of chickens into small enclosures and fatten them up using chemicals just to obtain the highest possible profit.
Works Cited

East Bay Animals Advocates (EBAA). (2005). Foster Farm Facts. Retrieved June 23, 2009,

From http://www.fosterfacts.net.

Fitzenberger, Jennifer M. (2004). California report criticizes animal cruelty at large cattle

And poultry farms. Sacramento Bee, Retrieved June 22, 2009, from http://www.sacbee.com.

Fraser, David, and Weary, Daniel M. (2004) Quality of Life for Farm Animals: Linking

Science, Ethics, and Animal Welfare. In G.J. Benson and B.E. Rollin (Eds.) The Well-

Being of Farm Animals: Challenges and Solutions. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

Gruzalski, Bart. (1983). The Case Against Raising and Killing Animals for Food. In H.B.

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Masson, Jeffrey. (2009). Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food. New York W.W.

Norton & Company.

Taylor, Angus. (2003). Animals and ethics: an overview of the philosophical debate.

Peterborough, ON (Canada): Broadview Press.

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Theories. Retrieved June 23, 2009, from http://clacc.uchc.edu/ACC/Ethics/EthicsCurrentTheories.htm.

US Newswire. (2005). Animal Cruelty Revealed at Foster Farms. Retrieved June 22,

2009 from http://www.usnewswire.com.

Wunderlich, Gene. (1991). The Ethics of Animal Agriculture. Livestock Production and Marketing. Economic Research Service, USDA.