Week 12 (Rational Argument Topic)

I am exploring the topic of slaughtering techniques of chickens and their humaneness. My mom loves learning about different things and doing research on them. Last summer she found articles about how farm slaughter chickens and how relaxed the rules are in the U.S. versus Europe. She shared lots of information to be and I found it very fascinating. So, I am taking this opportunity to learn more about the different methods of slaughtering chickens and figuring out which ones are humane or not.  

(This is the electrical stunning way) Chickens go through a very stressful process to eventually get slaughtered. The most common way: Chickens are first put in crates as they are being shipped to the slaughterhouse. Then, workers put shackles on the chicken’s feet and they hang upside down and dangle by their feet. They are connected to an automated line and submerged into a pool of electrified water. This is so the chickens are unconscious. After that, a sharp blade slits their throats allowing them to bleed out. Lastly, the chickens' bodies are immersed into a tank of boiling water. This is to loosen the feathers from their skin before a defeathering machine plucks them entirely.

I will then go through the electrical stunning method in more detail and describe the problems and controversies with this method. I want to make sure I introduce the method without any judgement and then judge it afterwards. After that I will be describing the gas method. I will then go through that method and describe how people view it as more ethical.