If pigs could fly

I know pigs aren't marine mammals but I feel compelled to write about this..... 

Today I was at a shop and the TV there was on. There was a food show playing, where chefs were frying up bacon and sausages on a food show. The show went on to detail how bacon is immensely popular and pretty much any food (even chocolate, ice cream, peanut butter etc) with bacon in it would be a hit, and also showed some gourmet sausage competitions. 

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with eating bacon or sausages, or any kind of meat for that matter. It just struck me as rather one-sided and sad that so many of those sort of shows that tempt people into eating these foods are aired, but to date I haven't seen one show on TV that is about the way those pigs (and other food animals) are brought up. Granted, I am not a TV junkie and I do not watch TV all day so I can't be 100% sure that they don't air, but I do believe programs detailing farm animal lives are shown much less than cooking shows. 

Of course there are many different types of farms and I'm not saying that farming in general is bad. I'm talking about factory farming. Factory farming is done to increase the efficiency and speed at which animals products (meat, eggs, milk) is produced. And as a result, animal welfare suffers. Here are some photos to whet your appetite:

http://ecomerge.blogspot.sg/2013/06/factory-farms-and-human-health-hazards.html

 

http://www.change.org/p/oppose-the-cruel-practice-of-factory-farming-of-egg-laying-hens

As a vet, I've been on some factory farms and it's exactly as these photos show. 

Again, I'm not saying that eating meat is bad. Just that there's a simple solution: if people didn't eat so much meat (and you definitely don't have to have it at every meal, there are people who survive on no meat at all), the demand for meat probably wouldn't be so high and the conditions in factory farms could be improved immensely. There could be a happy balance between meat and egg production and the way animals are farmed.  

And so, I think programs that show how animals are farmed (not just factory farming but also free range and in between) should be as readily available as those cooking shows. Then people could be well informed and make their own (hopefully) wise choices. 

Maybe you could make a wise choice right now.