Ever think about where the meat comes from that you pick up at the supermarket or through the drive through at your favorite fast food restaurant? After discussing this in class, I found a very interesting article on PETA discussing the issue.  Since this meat was once a living animal, the animals must be transported from wherever they were raised to the location of where they will then be slaughtered, packaged etc. These animals are first packed into a large truck and driven hours upon hours to get to their destination. However, it is not just as easy as loading livestock into a truck, animals must be beaten and forced into trucks. According to PETA, pigs, for example, are beat on their noses, rectums, and backs with electric rods. They are also packed so tight that their guts supposedly “pop out of their butts”.

On top of all of this, the insane temperatures are also a huge issue at hand. These hot temperatures, mixed with the waste produced that this livestock create an unhealthy amount of ammonia, which is then inhaled by the animals for the numerous hours they are trapped in these vehicles. Therefore, animals show up to their slaughterhouses already sick, only to experience more abuse before being killed completely inhumanely, and these are the animals that even make it to the slaughterhouses. According to PETA, 1 million pigs die each year just during the transportation process, a staggering statistic.

All in all, the transportations process is one of the most inhumane parts of the slaughtering process. Due to this, actions need to be taken to cut down on the mistreatment of animals as they reach their final destination. Just because they have a short life, does not mean that their quality of life should be completely taken from them.