Negative Human Conduct

British spelling.

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1/3

A bad parenting encounter.

It made me so angry.

We were on holiday at an all-inclusive resort.

A water slide connected to the swimming pool closed for two hours later in the afternoon.

A family arrived - mum, dad, and their three young children. Noticing the slide was dry, the children grabbed as many chilled water bottles from the poolside fridge as they could carry.

Mum and Dad watched as the children emptied the water bottles at the top of the slide and tossed the empty bottles on the ground. 

I stopped them when they reached the fridge for a second attempt.

Would you have intervened?

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2/3

Is this conduct acceptable?

Here is a photo I took in a restaurant while on holiday.

There were many more areas around tables left in far worse states but this one had a cup and cutlery.

We can't blame the young children but how can parents walk away and leave their child's debris scattered all over the floor?

The word that comes to my mind is disgusting.

How long would it take to pick up the mess with a tissue, doing that would also show a good example to their children.

What are your thoughts?

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3/3

Has our cruelty gone too far?

The unbearable lives of farmed chickens.

My story is not a pleasant read, but we need to understand how farmed animals are treated.

Where do chickens come from? It is thought that chickens are descendants of the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) from Southeast Asia.

Arguably, domestication of the birds began over 3,500 years ago. The distribution of chickens occurred rapidly because of their ability to provide meat and eggs.

Wild chickens still exist today, but you would have to travel to the forests of southern Asia to see them.

One estimate for the number of captive chickens alive today is over 34 billion. Chickens used for meat and egg production are born into highly mechanised, unnatural environments.

Chickens on factory farms are the most abused of all animals bred for food and egg production.

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Egg-laying chickens.

The cruelty starts when the chicks are only one day old.

Male chicks are considered an unwanted by-product of egg production because they cannot lay eggs and are not suitable for meat production.

Male chicks are mostly disposed of in two ways: gassing and maceration. Although both options are horrendous, they must be better than the miserable lives the female hens will have to endure.

Special breeds of hens are most commonly used for egg production.

These hens have the ability to lay high volumes of eggs, and most of them are confined to battery cages where they are unable to stretch their wings.

Wild chickens lay between 10 and 15 eggs per year, but hens bred for egg production can produce around 300 eggs a year, which can lead to many health problems.

After about two years, egg production decreases, and commercial laying hens are sent to slaughter and replaced.

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Broiler chickens.

Broiler chickens are bred and raised for their meat and are treated very inhumanely.

After hatching, many birds undergo the practice of debeaking without any pain relief.

Stress and confinement can lead to cannibalism, which is why portions of their beaks are severed. Parts of chickens' toes and combs can also be cut off.

Chicks are placed inside large buildings capable of housing hundreds of thousands of birds. Their miserable lives are short; after about 47 days, they are sent for slaughter, which is maybe not so bad considering the horrendous lives they lead.

Chickens in an outside environment can live for over six years.

Not all hens are confined in an enclosure for 24 hours a day. Some factory-reared hens have access to the outdoors and can roam freely.

These free-range hens can experience the rain and the wind, breathe fresh air, and feel the heat of the sun. Would it be unreasonable to give all chickens that opportunity?

Of course, it all comes down to what people are prepared to pay at the supermarket.

Now it is time for their miserable lives to end.

One method of killing factory-farmed chickens is called live shackle slaughter.

The birds' legs are forced into metal stirrups and hung upside down. From there, they are passed through an electrified bath of water, which hopefully renders them unconscious.

The next part of the process involves having their throats slit.

Then it is time for their bodies to be tossed into boiling water to de-feather them.

And we call ourselves civilized!

The end.