Prisoned Chickens Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at Modern Poultry Industry

by Karen Davis

Book Overview

The original Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs became a blueprint for people seeking a coherent picture of the poultry industry as well as a handbook for animal rights advocates seeking to develop... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1570672296
• ISBN13: 9781570672293
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Book Publishing Company (TN)
• Length: 209 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

The Case for Chicken Rights

Chickens don't get no respect.... But the fact is that the suffering of commercially raised poultry is the world's largest animal welfare problem. And because the demand for chicken meat and eggs continues to rise at an astounding rate, the problem is getting worse rather than better. For every baby seal that is clubbed to death, 30,000 chickens will die in the United States; for every dog euthanized in an animal shelter, 3,000 chickens will die; for every animal used in a biomedical experiment, 150 chickens will die; and for every game rooster that dies in cockfight, 9,000 commercial broilers will be killed for the culinary pleasure of Americans. Further, in the United States, commercially raised chickens, turkeys, and ducks are excluded from coverage under either the Animal Welfare Act or the Humane Slaughter Act. In the newly revised edition of Prisoned Chicken, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry, Karen Davis provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the poultry industry, a natural history of chickens, and a scathing critique of the ways that broiler chickens and battery hens live and die on modern factory farms. The new edition contains hundreds of new references and current information on the bird flu epidemic, genetic engineering of poultry, the expansion of the chicken industry, global warming, and recent changes in the rearing and processing of commercial poultry. While, as the title suggests, this is a book of animal advocacy, the information is up to date and accurate. Davis, who runs an animal shelter for poultry, is director of United Poultry Concerns. She has spent over 20 years tirelessly arguing that chickens merit our moral concern. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the contentious debate over the use of animals. But be careful -- this book could change your life. That's what happened to Ira Glass, host of the National Public Radio show This American Life. He traveled to Davis' poultry sanctuary in Virginia to play the "chicken rights lady" for laughs on his radio show. But few years later, he admitted to David Letterman, she got the last laugh. "I became a vegetarian because of that woman," he said. The same is true of her book.

A Compelling Case to Stop Cruelty

Karen Davis shows with passion, science, and close-up observations how we take billions of delightful, smart, social animals and put them through Hell each year because we like the taste of their flesh or eggs. It's all unnecessary and easy to stop. Veggie chicken, either out of the freezer case at your local grocery store, or made from a recipe, tastes like chicken but without the bitter aftertaste of knowing that you've supported severe confinment, mutilations, forced starvations and other cruelties. If you're thinking about reducing meat consumption, adding more vegetarian dishes into your diet, or just wondering how you can help make the world a more peaceful place, buy this book, and before you're halfway done you'll be saving lives. (Dr. Davis' book on turkeys is superb, also. It's amazing how we put animals down, and use that as an excuse to make them suffer.)

(...)

This was a great book. The first few pages were hard to read but the rest of the book made up for it. It gavea detailed account from poultry,government and scientific sources. Youll never feel the same way about eating chicken or eggs in the same way again. Great job!!!

A frighteningly accurate portrayal

I bought Karen Davis' book at the Vegetarian Summerfest 2000, an event from which omnivores and herbivores alike can gain a lifetime worth of empowerment. I read her book in two days, despite the density of information within. Inspired, curious, and horrified, I checked out the University of Georgia's poultry science department and the local Goldkist "processing" plant (more accurately referred to as a slaughterhouse), and found them to boast of the same atrocities Dr Davis had rightly condemned. It's a must-read!

Ralph Nader said one couldn't stop all the suffering...

but, "you could reduce it." Karen Davis is commended for the passion and dedication she shows when taking on the topic of poultry production. This book opens our eyes to the truth about just what animal suffering and environmental degradation goes into that chicken soup. No educational program is complete without a course in modern food production...not the side presented by the factory farming industry, but by those who have a different slant. Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs shows us what the poultry producers don't want us to see. A must read for those who want to know how to change the world, for those who wish to "reduce the suffering."ÿ