"Stun, bludgeon, and slaughter animals at a breakneck pace"

Global meat production has increased more than fivefold since 1950, and more than doubled since the 1970s; livestock meet "30 per cent of total human needs for food and agricultural production"; and the average meat consumption in the developing world is about 30 kg a year, compared to 80 kg in the developed countries.

To match the demand, production is through factory farming, or CAFO, short for `confined animal feeding operations'. Industrial systems generate almost three-fourths of the world's poultry products, and half of all pork. On the fast lane, "Beef calves can grow from 36 kg to 544 kg in just 14 months on a diet of corn, soybeans, antibiotics and hormones." To help hasten the process, cattle are fed with "cow's blood, chicken, chicken manure, feather meal, pigs, and even saw dust."

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