By Iva Urbanek | Campaign Coach, Djurens Ratt Summer Tour
The food industry is the area where the largest number of animals are used, either in the production of food or to become food themselves. Each year more than 100 million animals are killed in the Swedish food industry. About 99 million of these animals are chickens.
Chickens make out the absolute majority of animals killed in the Swedish meat industry and they also suffer some of the worst conditions. The extreme growth-oriented breeding has made chickens grow so fast that their bodies hurt. It’s not unusual that chickens suffer from decreased mobility and leg issues. They only live 35 days before they are killed. During their short lives they are kept very crowded - up to 25 individuals per square meter. Often they are not even measured in individuals but in weight, 36 kilograms per square meter being the usual limit. That is more crowded than what is allowed for any other terrestrial animal in Sweden, less than one A4 sheet of space per individual.
During 2018 Djurens Rätt started the campaign “99 miljoner” (99 millions) for the chickens. The campaign builds on anonymous pictures and movies taken inside chickens farms in Sweden. The material is intense and the vast majority of people will be upset by witnessing how chickens are treated in the meat industry. Even though the material is intense, it shows nothing illegal. The treatment these individuals experience is cruel, but legal.
Djurens Rätt wants to see immediate improvement for chickens’ conditions. With our campaign “99 miljoner” we want people to leave chickens off their plate and we demand that companies in the food industry take responsibility for chickens. During our Summer Tour we will spread the message about chickens. We are visiting around 80 events between May and September and are getting ready for thousands of conversations. By meeting people we can spread knowledge and influence them to make compassionate choices.
The Summer Tour is a huge project where about 100 people volunteer each summer to make a difference for animals. In May we are arranging a volunteer training called “The summer tour kick off” for volunteers who want to learn more about outreach work and animal rights. The people who join our kick off will be summer tour experts and an important part of the project. Together with them we will work hard this summer to reach changes for the chickens in Sweden.
Our goal is to dramatically decrease the consumption of chickens during 2019. With the help of the Summer Tour we will reach that goal. With your help, all donators at Global Giving, we can do more and better tour stops. We want to print new materials and go to more places this summer.
Do you want to contribute to the Summer Tour and thereby help the chickens? Do you want to support our work? Please make a difference with us and donate money for our Summer Tour. Thank you!
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