Animal Use and Abuse Statistics: The Shocking Numbers
Published October 05, 2008 @ 07:10AM PT
Listed here are statistics in the following categories: Animals Used as Food, Animal Agriculture and Environment, Animal Testing, Companion Animals, Animals in Human Entertainment, Fur, Wildlife, and Activism.
Animals Used as Food
10 Billion, 27 Million, and 19,000:
Every year, 10 billion domesticated land animals are slaughtered for food in the United States—27 million each day and 19,000 every minute.
50 Billion and 1,680:
Worldwide, the yearly slaughter count is more than 50 billion. Every second, 1,680 animals are killed for food.
Most farmed animals are killed when they are barely adolescents or even younger, such as the "broiler" chickens raised for meat who are slaughtered at only 6–7 weeks old.
250 Million Chicks
:
The U.S. egg industry suffocates, gases, or grinds up alive 250 million male chicks each year; they are not profitable because they will never produce eggs and are not bred to grow at an unnatural speed like broiler chickens.
5.5 Million Calves:
The 4.5 million calves in Europe and 1 million calves in the United States annually destined to become veal are forcibly pulled away from their mothers—dairy cows—within hours, or at most 1–2 days, of birth. The milk produced naturally by the mother's body for her calf, who normally would suckle for 6 to 12 months, is to be taken for sale to humans, so the calf is fed nutritionally deficient formula. His movement is severely restricted, to give his flesh the texture and color desired by human consumers.
90 Percent of Soybeans and 80 Percent of Corn:
More than 90 percent of soybean meal grown in the United States is used to feed animals being raised for human food; these animals also consume 80 percent of corn grown in the United States.
Animal Agriculture and Environment
70 Percent of Land:
In the Amazon, 70 percent of once-forested land is now used for grazing cattle.
18 Percent of Greenhouse Gas Emissions:
Animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions—more than all the planes, trains, ships, and automobiles in the world combined. Animal agriculture is responsible for an astonishing 65 percent of nitrous oxide emissions (a gas with a global warming potential [GWP] 296 times that of CO2), 37 percent of methane (GWP 23 times that of CO2), and 9 percent of CO2.
37 Percent of Pesticides and 50 Percent of Antibiotics:
Animal agriculture uses 37 percent of all pesticides and 50 percent of antibiotics and contributes enormously to water pollution, endangering human and nonhuman animal health and life.
Animal Testing
25-100 Million Animals:
More than 25 million vertebrate animals are used in testing in the United States each year—including monkeys, chimpanzees, beagles and other dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, birds, farm animals, and still other sentient beings. After the experiments conclude, essentially all of the animals who have survived the research are killed. When invertebrate animals are considered, the estimated number rises to as high as 100 million.
50 Drugs:
Despite all this suffering in the name of determining safety for humans, as of 2002, more than 50 drugs tested on animals and approved by the FDA as safe had been taken off the market or relabeled because they had caused serious illnesses and death in humans. The FDA itself estimated in 2006 that 92 percent of drugs that pass animal testing fail in human clinical trials.
Companion Animals
6 to 8 Million Dogs and Cats:
Every year, 6 to 8 million dogs and cats enter shelters, and 3 to 4 million shelter dogs and cats are killed.
80 Percent of Puppies:
Most pet store puppies (and 80% of the American Kennel Club's business) come from puppy mills, mass-breeding operations in which ill, suffering dogs are kept in deplorable conditions. They breed between 2 and 4 million puppies each year.
Examples of Animals in Human Entertainment
7,600 Puppies and 11,400 Young or Adult Dogs:
In 2000 approximately 7,600 greyhound puppies deemed not fast enough to race were killed, as were an estimated 11,400 "retired" dogs. Retired greyhounds, who suffer greatly as racers, may also be sold to research labs or used to breed future litters.
100 Percent of Major Circuses:
Every major circus featuring animals has been cited for violations of the minimal standards of care under the Animal Welfare Act. The very nature of traveling circuses means that beyond cruel, highly abusive training and fear-induced performances, the elephants and other animals must also endure countless hours and days confined in boxcars and trailers.
Fur
350,000 Baby Seals:
In 2006 more than 350,000 baby seals were killed, mostly by clubbing, in the annual Canadian seal hunt; 98 percent of the slaughtered harp seals were less than 3 months old. Forty-two percent of the seals in a 2001 study by veterinarians were found to be skinned while alive and conscious.
30 Million:
More than 30 million mink, foxes, chinchillas, and other animals are killed on fur farms each year, by such methods as electrocution and poisoning. Neither fur farms nor the methods by which trapped animals can be killed are regulated by any U.S. laws.
2 Million Dogs and Cats:
Some fur trims and clothes labeled as fake or as from another animal are actually made from dog and cat fur exported by China, where the more than 2 million dogs and cats per year killed for fur suffer unspeakable cruelties, including sometimes the documented horror of being skinned alive.
Wildlife
3,000 Gorillas and 4,000 Chimpanzees:
Each year, roughly 3,000 gorillas, 4,000 chimpanzees, and hundreds of bonobos are killed for bushmeat in Africa—a devastating practice enabled and encouraged by the logging industry. Orphaned young usually die as well.
2 Million Wild Animals:
The federal Wildlife Services agency, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, kills 2 million wild animals per year (2.4 million in 2007), including endangered species, at the request of cattle ranchers, hunters, and municipalities and uses such tactics as poisoning, shooting, and even beheading and burning alive. The poisoning method in particular results in the indiscriminate killing of many "non-target" individuals and species.
300,000 Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises:
The global fishing industry's many problems include the devastating issue of bycatch: yearly, billions of ocean animals are caught unintentionally and thrown back, dead or dying, including 100 million sharks and rays; approximately 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises; 250,000 endangered turtles; and hundreds of thousands of birds. Shrimp fisheries are perhaps the worst offenders, with commonly more than 80 percent bycatch. Numerous species are facing extinction because of fishing and bycatch.
Activism
Zero:
In direct action tactics to save animals in the United States, no human being has ever been killed or harmed.
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Author
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Stephanie Ernst is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull. In her advocacy, she works to challenge prevailing perceptions of animals, to show the connections between animal exploitation and other injustices, to help people see that animals are more like us than different, and to encourage compassionate, nonviolent living and eating.
Great resources... I wil promote this on MySpace and Facebook!
Posted by Heather Mansfield on 10/18/2008 @ 06:37AM PT
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Nice compilation! As usual, it hurts reading this.
I'm going to use this info to make fliers to put up for my vegan campaign IF you don't mind. By the way, where did you get these stats? I looked for them on Google and couldn't find them.
Posted by Luella - on 12/01/2008 @ 01:44PM PT
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Yes, I'd like to know, too, because I was thinking of sending this link to someone who asked about some of these statistics about a year ago. I'd like to be able to cite sources, especially on how many are killed for food, and how many are euthanized in shelters.
I'm enjoying all your posts, and am linking to them on my Facebook page.
Posted by Sue G. on 12/06/2008 @ 10:03PM PT
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Billy, I do have a job, actually. I am an editor--and I'll even offer you my services for free just this once; the correct spelling is "tree hugger," not "tree huger." Thanks for the intelligent insights. My eyes are opened.
Sue and Luella, thanks for your support and compliments. The sources are in a jumbled-up Word document somewhere. When I get a chance to sort through that file, I'll send you a list, but I'm afraid it won't be immediate.
Posted by Stephanie Ernst on 12/08/2008 @ 09:35AM PT
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Thank you very much, I am enjoying reading all your articles and am seeing them posted frequently on Facebook. I have posted this to my page as well.
Hope you are having a fabulous new year so far, looking forward to more articles. Unfortunately, it looks as though you aren't going to run out of subject matter for them any time soon.
Posted by Vanessa S on 01/18/2009 @ 09:08AM PT
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Thank you for the compilation of the statistics on the use of animals. It is sobering and frightening our dependance on these sentient beings! When my husband and I saw the videos on how farm animals are treated and "processed" we immediately ceased eating meat and using animal products. We are in much better health now and our lives have improved so much from that one decision. We live in a small rural town in Arkansas and are often ridiculed for our decision. We have also found a surprising amount of people who also made that decision. This one single act of not eating meat could create more change for the better in this world than all other acts any human could make. We are proud to be part of the Animal Rights groups and proud to be Happy Vegans!!
Posted by Connee Robertson on 01/21/2009 @ 04:28AM PT
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That 18 percent of greenhouse gases is just plain wrong. For a complete explanation of how wrong it is, see http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/3742 . The brief explanation is that they counted greenhouse gas emissions from all types of farm activities, whether related to livestock or not. The statistics are further skewed by the fact that the vast majority of the greenhouse gases being averaged into the total are from Amazonian jungle deforestation, not all of which is for farming purposes. No deforestation is taking place in the US – in fact, quite the opposite (for more than a century there has been an continual increase in overall US forest cover). This reduces the UN figure from 18 percent of greenhouse gases to 12 percent. But the EPA contradicts even this with its own figure of 6 percent as agriculture’s contribution to the US total, with the livestock-related portion being only 2.6 percent. Thus the amount any American farmer’s cow puts into the air is a tiny fraction of the publicly hyped figure. And consider this: if livestock farming disappeared overnight, vegetable and grain farming would have to increase to take its place. Since humans digest vegetables and grain less efficiently than meat, the replacement volume would be several times as much, and growing and transporting it would create at least as much greenhouse gas as the activity it replaced.
Posted by Bonnie Chandler on 03/02/2009 @ 06:26PM PT
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http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e36a67d49c1127a8c17cc38ed4a4c27e.211&show_article=1
That link is to an article entitled "Hamburgers are the Hummers of the Food World" and it quotes an study recently put out by Dalhousie University in Canada which backs up the 18% livestock emissions of "greenhouse gases".
Posted by Debby McCabe on 03/16/2009 @ 07:51PM PT
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The Center for Consumer Freedom is a front group for the agribusiness industry. Sorry, their agenda is to confuse people so they continue to support their "products" that are in fact destroying our sustainable existence. Even if you want to quibble about the amount of greenhouse gasses or even the deforestation, it is merely a denial that livestock is also the leading cause of pollution, erosion, desertification, eutrophication and biodiversity extinction. Its also the leading cause of infectious diseases like ecoli, MRSA, salmonells, pfiesteria and degenerative diseases like heart disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, MS, autoimmune diseases, kidney and gall bladder, IBS etc. Open your eyes. Only 4% of the old growth redwood forests are left in the Western US after logging and creating grazeland for "dairy" and "beef". Love life, live vegan.
Posted by Eriyah Flynn on 08/08/2009 @ 07:43PM PT
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Oh, right, Bonnie. Because a New Zealand MEAT company is the first thing I'm going to trust. And the second thing I'm going to trust is a website called consumerfreedom.com whose "additional links" are animalscam.com and petakillsanimals.org. Thirdly I am going to trust someone who has no credentials except talking about the environment on an animal rights blog, to the complete neglect of animal rights. I hope you have actually read the report yourself. I haven't, and I don't really believe any of the statistics about meat and the environment. If the statistics are false, let it be known. But coming from a meat company, I don't think I really know more than I did before.
Posted by Luella - on 03/02/2009 @ 07:14PM PT
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Bonnie, this is the third time you posted something from CCF on the AR blog.
From http://www.prwatch.org/node/2031
"Consumer Freedom's" Corporate Funding Exposed
* corporations * food safety * front groups
Source: http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Center_for_Consumer_Freedom Through a whistleblower, the Center for Media & Democracy has obtained a list of financial contributors to the "Center for Consumer Freedom," a front group for the tobacco, restaurant and liquor industries that represents itself as an advocate for consumers' rights. Highlights of the list, which we have added to the group's profile on our Disinfopedia, include $200,000 apiece from Coca-Cola, Excel/Cargill, Monsanto, Tyson Foods and Wendy's International; $164,000 from Outback Steakhouse, and $100,000 from Pilgrim's Pride Corporation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XHhZEoYpHQ
http://www.consumerdeception.com/
Here's what Rick Berman's son said about him:http://www.dragcity.com/dcforums/viewtopic.php?t=649
Here's what 60 Minutes aired: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/05/60minutes/main2653020.shtml
Posted by Sue G. on 03/02/2009 @ 11:31PM PT
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Numbing.
Posted by Ariel Rose on 03/03/2009 @ 07:06PM PT
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About two years ago, one of my daughters made a very negative remark about PETA and as I really didn't know too much about them, I decided to look them up and you guessed it, got an awakening like no other. I became absolutely obsessed with articles, videos, blogs and so on and found it impossible to not look. In short order, I became a vegan and made the change immediately. My husband, who will not look at that sort of thing, preferring to adopt a head in the sand attitude, still eats meat, but only when we go out because I won't cook it at home. The images of pain are literally burned into my brain, and the mention of any type of animal product brings up a related image. Say cheese or ice cream, and I see a new little calf, chained in a dark box. I love baby calves with their knobby knees and wet noses....but not in boxes. Sweet and sour pork at the Chinese restaurant conjures up visions of - well we won't go there because I'm sure you've all seen them too. I guess the thing that I can't understand is why everyone doesn't care? It just baffles me totally, and then to top it off, people can find that treatment acceptable and yet call themselves animal lovers!!!!
Stepanie, I have to hand it to you for writing this blog. I can drop in to this sort of thing periodically but to commit to doing it regularly would be a hard thing because you are opening yourself up to all the "animal lovers" and their skewed perspectives. You must be a strong and determined lady. Thank you for that.
Posted by Debby McCabe on 03/16/2009 @ 08:05PM PT
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Hmmm.....I guess you are defining injuries due to "direct action tactics" a little differently than I would. PETA burned down an occupied research facility at the university where my mother used to work because they performed experiments on genetically engineered rats that would not have survived in the natural world due to their compromised immune systems.
Posted by Erin Hoffman on 04/23/2009 @ 10:25AM PT
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First of all, I highly doubt "PETA burned down" anything as they do not use violent tactics (even if they approve of them), unless you count the infamous painting-throwing type of incident. PETA is pretty well-known, and I have heard of number of tactics such as blowing up buildings, so I figure I'd have heard about it if they had done such a thing. However, if this is what you have heard, please post the evidence.
As for your last excuse for the engineering of lab rats, that's too absurd to warrant an argument from me.
Posted by Luella - on 04/24/2009 @ 06:23AM PT
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it's cruek to teat on animals and i'm doing a speech against it at school
Posted by Lizzy Dickhaus on 05/16/2009 @ 05:31PM PT
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Thank you for this list. Could you provide us with the source for the following stat?:
'The FDA itself estimated in 2006 that 92 percent of drugs that pass animal testing fail in human clinical trials.'
Thank you!
Posted by V F on 05/29/2009 @ 06:53AM PT
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Thanks for creating this page. You present the material in an informative, meaningful and attractive format. As a kindred animal advocate (e.g., vegan, tabling, civil disobedience, etc.), I find reflecting on this information valuable and, again, appreciate your making it available.
I recently posted this on Facebook. I was thinking that it would be helpful to my animal-using FB friends if the sources for these items was added (e.g., as end notes). Might this be possible?
Thanks so much again.
Posted by Larry Rosenfeld on 07/19/2009 @ 08:59AM PT
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Please clearly list stats for the world separate from your own country. Nobody cares about America.
Posted by Paul Nicholson on 12/11/2009 @ 04:24AM PT
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As much as I am sure these statistics are right no, where is the reporter getting these from? Is there a reference list I didn't see? If so, PLEASE email me a link at katmays@live.com
Posted by Kat Mays on 12/17/2009 @ 08:20PM PT
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