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How many animals get slaughtered every day?
- JoeAltmaier 3y agoDunno, but I read Americans eat 6B chickens a year; only 2B are alive at any one time. So, lots.
- truculent 3y agoPer the article, 140,000 chickens a day (51.1M per year)
- skinner927 3y agoNo, it’s 202 million chickens every day. It’s 140k every minute. There’s 300M people in the US. Think of how many chickens you need to slaughter a day.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- jjallen 3y agoAmericans don’t eat .66 chickens a day. If we truly slaughter that many then they are feeding other things too.
- mfitton 3y agoI think it's confusing because person 1 was talking about America, person 2 was talking globally. That said, I eat dangerously close to .66 of a chicken every day.
- metapills 3y ago[flagged]
- snapplebobapple 3y agoYou should try switching to beef. Killing one animal feeds my family delicious meat for pretty much a whole year. If we round your diet down to half a chicken a day my family would have to cause 730 chickens to be killed each year if we ate it instead of our one beef cow.
- bfung 3y agoIf chickens were people, 2/3 of the US population would get slaughtered everyday. crazy.
- truculent 3y agoAh, yes you’re right. Thanks. That’ll teach me to read an article before I’ve had a my coffee.
- defrost 3y agoThe underlying data is from the UN Food and Agriculture database - it's WORLD consumption not just central north american.
- leetcodesucks 3y ago[dead]
- olliej 3y agoAnother side effect of the federal government shutdown: mass euthanization of lab animals (including those who aren't in any research that would lead to it normally). Hooray \o/
- defrost 3y agoThis is transformed data most likely aggregated and unit converted from: https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/ https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/ which facilitates bulk data downloads in XML | JSON and additional hosts a BETA data explorer interactive web front end: https://dataexplorer.fao.org/ https://dataexplorer.fao.org/ I have no opinion on the accuracy of the article linked, had I the time ATM I'd work through this myself (as I often do for all manner of things).
- pokstad 3y agoIt’s amazing how crude our agriculture system is. We’re so focused on serving ads, automating cars, creating virtual worlds, building bombs… but we can’t create a meal without hurting animals or the earth. Even a planet full of vegetarians requires the most fertile land and fresh water to be used for crops. Take a drive through Iowa or the San Joaquin valley, it’s amazing how unnatural it looks.
- ruffrey 3y agoA lot of smart people and savvy farmers are working on regenerative agriculture. Monoculture crops turn the living soil into dirt, and there are simple, cheap practices to bring it back.
- iancmceachern 3y agoAnd have been for thousands of years. Monoculture is what's new and weird.
- bamboozled 3y agoMonoculture is likely what happens when agriculture meets wall st.
- Turing_Machine 3y agoWell, "new and weird" if "new" is counted as 23,000 years ago, and "weird" is counted as "being different from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle". The earliest crop-raising cultures for which we have decent records (Mesopotamia, Egypt, China) all had specialized fields for different crops.
- iancmceachern 3y agoNot even close. "We found some evidence for" does not equal " All crops were raised this way". I.e. just because they found some evidence of specialized fields in the remains of those civilizations, does not mean they grew all their food exclusively that way. Also, you are simply wrong. "Three Sisters" The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of various Indigenous peoples of North America: squash, maize ("corn"), and climbing beans (typically tepary beans or common beans). In a technique known as companion planting, the maize and beans are often planted together in mounds formed by hilling soil around the base of the plants each year; squash is typically planted between the mounds. The cornstalk serves as a trellis for climbing beans, the beans fix nitrogen in their root nodules and stabilize the maize in high winds, and the wide leaves of the squash plant shade the ground, keeping the soil moist and helping prevent the establishment of weeds. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(agriculture) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(agriculture) And then when you go to the companion planting wiki article it highlights that it's been in use around the world for many years, China, etc https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_planting https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_planting To say this, to say that humans just started off right from monoculture is crazy. We just went straight from hunter gatherers to having large curated monoculture fields that are cultivated and specifically planted. No. "Though the transition from wild harvesting was gradual, the switch from a nomadic to a settled way of life is marked by the appearance of early Neolithic villages with homes equipped with grinding stones for processing grain." https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/development-agriculture/ https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/developmen...
- jowdones 3y ago[flagged]
- baron816 3y agoI’m wondering how many fish, birds, and mammals get eaten by non-humans every day. I wouldn’t be surprised if that number is less than the number of animals humans slaughter. Like, I’ve heard that there are more chickens alive right now than all other birds combined. I think it’s a similar thing for pets and livestock when it comes to mammals.
- mahogany 3y agoAs to the second half of your comment, you may be interested in this (mammal and bird biomass estimates): https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass
- jeppebemad 3y agoI would assume that the majority of the animals that humans kill are kept in captivity and therefore not exposed to other animals. Since this breeding/captivity is happening at a staggering scale, my second assumption is that animals have absolutely no way of keeping up with humans. I would also like to see the numbers of kills by non-humans too! I’m quite appalled actually, seeing it laid out like this, and I eat my share of chicken and fish.. Edit: typo
- myshpa 3y ago> I’m wondering how many fish, birds, and mammals get eaten by non-humans every day https://xkcd.com/1338/ https://xkcd.com/1338/ https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass > I wouldn’t be surprised if that number is less than the number of animals humans slaughter https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/our-global-food-system-primary-driver-biodiversity-loss https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/our-glob... Our global food system is the primary driver of biodiversity loss https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/ Biodiversity conservation: The key is reducing meat consumption > Like, I’ve heard that there are more chickens alive right now than all other birds combined https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass#global-poultry-weighs-more-than-twice-that-of-wild-birds https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass#global... We have twice as much poultry by weight as wild birds. > We have twice as much poultry by weight as wild birds. https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/the-truth-about-cats-and-dogs-environmental-impact https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/the-truth-about-cats-and-... In a paper published today in the journal PLOS One, Okin says he found that cats and dogs are responsible for 25 to 30 percent of the environmental impact of meat consumption in the United States. If Americans’ 163 million Fidos and Felixes comprised a separate country, their fluffy nation would rank fifth in global meat consumption
- metapills 3y agoAlso let's not forget about the mice, rats, birds, rabbits, frogs, lizards, moles, possums, snakes, insects etc... killed by plant agriculture. This study estimates 7.3 billion animals die each year from harvested cropland in the US alone (not including insects). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10806-018-9733-8 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10806-018-9733-8
- AnotherHuman 3y agoMostly to grow crops to feed to animals to feed to humans. Cutting out the animals in the equation saves those lives too.
- maipen 3y agoWhat a fantastic lie.
- AnotherHuman 3y agoGiven that animals will eat a lot of crops in their life and burn through those calories in order to grow, it seems self evident that more crops will be required than eating the crops directly. Why is it a lie?
- 000ooo000 3y agoDo you have trouble with the idea that millions of animals grown to be fed to humans need to eat something?
- timeon 3y agoIf the current scale of animal production had to be fed by grazing there would be little nature left anyway.
- mfru 3y agoSure, one step after another. Can we agree to stop raising animals >specifically< for killing and consumption? Subsequently, we can tackle the problem of accidental killing of animals through farming practices.
- petarb 3y agoThose numbers are wild. I didn’t expect them to be that large.
- rollulus 3y agoI hope that one day in the future our children will look back to this the same way we look at our ancestors having slaves and burning witches: “how ethically primitive yet technologically advanced they were”.
- throwaway11890 3y agoFair point, though I hope by that time the same will hold for abortion, which (according to the Wikipedia article) kills *73 million human beings* every year...
- timeon 3y agoAre you implying that only vegan people that are against abortion are truly 'pro-life'?
- rzimmerman 3y agoIt’s pretty horrifying. I never thought about the raw number, but millions of animals tortured and killed every day is astounding. Hundreds of millions. Future generations are going to look back in horror.
- AnotherHuman 3y agoYep, and there's a bunch of us who are looking at it all in horror right now, it's why vegans feel a sense of urgency about the situation.
- maipen 3y agoIt’s not. We have needs. The problem isn’t that we kill animals, but rather people like you have no respect and are privileged to have been shielded from having to participate in hunting animals all your life. We live in abundant times, in terms of food (atleast in the first world, because i rather kill and eat 10 cows than eat a dog like some people do)
- maipen 3y agoEating your veggies has an environmental impact too. You are contributing to killing of rodents and many other beings that are a threat to crops. But you only fancy cows so they don’t matter right?
- AnotherHuman 3y agoWho do you think most crops are fed to? That's right, animals! Eating more plants cuts out the middle man and causes less deaths.
- mfru 3y agoThis is a somewhat oddly defensive reaction. Did you feel personally attacked by someone sharing their feelings?
- npteljes 3y agoI mean, we could try to triage issues and work on them in sequence, or even in parallel.
- AnotherHuman 3y agoThe intense thing is, each number is an individual with thoughts, feelings, fears and pain. Remember, if you don't want to be a part of those numbers, you can pick a different sandwich filling.
- chrisandchris 3y agoI'm all about reducing the environmental impact of us humans and I agree that not everything about our agriculture is ok. Philosophical take: Every day animals kill other animals to survive. We can't change that. Why should humans be forbidden to kill & eat animals?
- 000ooo000 3y ago>Philosophical take: Every day animals kill other animals to survive. We can't change that. Why should humans be forbidden to kill & eat animals? Adopting the moral code of animals, as justification for killing them, while simultaneously leaning on our supremely advanced intelligence to separate us from them so that we don't feel bad about it. Ironic.
- chrisandchris 3y agoThat's a thought I didn't have and now I'm getting downvoted for having an opinion.
- 000ooo000 3y agoIt's unfortunate. Hard to have open conversations about this stuff because of how it reflects on one's moral identity. Vegans say "don't kill animals", nonvegans hear "you're a bad person". Nonvegans say "animals kill animals, why can't we?" and vegans hear "you are stupid". Probably not all that different to a lot of discourse really.
- AnotherHuman 3y agoI guess I don't take my moral code from animals, else I'd be saying it's OK for people to do horrendous things like rape, murder, torture, eating each others' children etc. We have higher-order thinking as well as choice - can use those to choose not to cause terrible suffering to sentient beings where we don't have to.
- marion-brother 3y agoAs a midwest Bible belt farm boy, the entire premise of this article is lost on me. Yes, many animals are slaughtered for food. We try to do it as humanely as possible, and we can and should improve on this. That's... just how food works?
- spicymapotofu 3y agoThreads on veganism are 100% flamebait here. I'm thankful for the thoughtful discussions some users engage in, but I don't believe it's worth keeping this much fuel open for discussion.
- UPnorth1234 3y agoFor a variety of reasons, I'm interested in incorporating more plant-based food into my diet, including plant-based main dishes. Anyone have any favorite dishes, cookbooks, websites that are good introductions to vegetarian/vegan cooking?
- BrandoElFollito 3y agoI am considering the same and will have a look at Indian food (they have so many vegetarians and food styles that it must be a good reference) as well as at tofu (which I have never tried to cook)
- amriksohata 3y agoCheck "cowspiracy" and "game changers" on netflix
- kcartlidge 3y agoI'm not a vegetarian or vegan. I'm weak-willed in this area and the best I've managed is to choose a non-meat option where the choice is easily available and comparably appetising. I want to do better, but am not in a position to moralise. Nevertheless I'd recommend reading "The Extended Circle: An Anthology of Humane Thought" (Jon Wynne Tyson). It's one of only a handful of books I've kept a copy of for a very many years and peruse regularly, taking the form of quotes from famous people, not so famous people, historical personages, and founding texts, all concerning the human relationship to animals. A very moving and wounding book.