roosterIn the past few years, I’ve noticed an increase in the frequency with which I hear the question, why not just eat local [tag]eggs[/tag]? While I’m happy to see a growing awareness about food miles and the importance of eating local, I’ve maintained my position that eating local eggs still isn’t enough if you care about the animals. I have two main reasons for this. Allow me to briefly explain:

1. Death is death.
There is a common misconception that the egg industry (small-scale or large) does not partake in killing. This logic makes sense if you look only at the [tag]chickens[/tag] that are currently producing the eggs. But, you must ask yourself, from where do those egg-laying chickens come? After producing fertilized eggs, the chicks are then separated by their sexual organs. Male chicks are either immediately killed, raised as food, or, at best but not likely, raised to fertilize the eggs. It is impossible to predetermine the sex of the chicks, so the death of the males is inevitable.

The killing of the chickens doesn’t end with the males, however. You also have to ask yourself what comes of the hens that are no longer able to lay eggs? Chances are they end up as dinner.

2. Exploitation is exploitation
This is the fundamental difference between [tag]animal rights[/tag] and [tag]animal welfare[/tag], if you ask me. Welfare is working to win improvements in the standards of care and the methods of killing, whereas animal rights argues that animals are not ours to exploit. They have their own basic rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When child labor laws were passed in the U.S., they did not state that children were to be given longer breaks and shorter work weeks, they won the abolition of child labor, arguing that it is unethical to exploit children for their labor. This is the same line of logic that I take when looking at animals. While I’m not going to fight with those winning better welfare standards, you also aren’t going to find me working towards better exploitation practices, but rather the abolition of exploitation.

Do I think eating local eggs from farmers that you know and can talk to is better? Without a doubt. For me, however, better isn’t enough. We can’t just do enough to feel better about ourselves. We have to work to do what is ultimately the right thing. But that is a whole other topic.