Fish eating chicken flesh? The unnatural ‘solutions’ of a cruel industry
Some of the largest salmon farming groups have made headlines recently, as reporters discovered a switch to poultry-derived feed on their farms. Salmon are carnivorous, typically eating wild fish; when farmed, the industry obtains pellets from wild aquatic animals caught in the wild – devastating wild stocks and the environment. This latest move comes after the cost of wild-caught fish feed doubled.
Until 2013, by-products from animals farmed on land – including cows, pigs, and chickens – were banned from fish feed in the UK because of concerns about diseases that can spread in intensive farming environments.
But it has now been discovered that chickens farmed in Britain are being used as a food source for farmed fish.
The vast majority of chickens farmed in the UK are confined in crowded, unhygienic conditions – most are ‘Frankenchickens’, bred to grow far too big, far too quickly, causing their fragile legs to break and their hearts to fail. Companies like Pret continue to knowingly profit off of this extreme suffering.
In Britain, Tesco and Waitrose have previously stated that fish fed on oil and poultry-derived products were prohibited and that they would not allow for such items to be sold on their shelves. Yet one of Tesco’s suppliers, Lerøy Seafood Group, one of Norway’s biggest salmon farmers, has announced that it will introduce chicken-derived feed across all of its offshore salmon farms.
There is already growing concern among British consumers over the state of salmon farming, with one in three fish dying in Scottish sea cages, due to warming waters, rough weather, parasitic sea lice infestations, and disease outbreaks. Now, following this latest controversy, people around the world are wary of the unsustainable and unnatural feed practices that are arising.
Feeding chicken brains, feathers, and bones to farmed fish is not only disgusting, but also environmentally damaging. Farming chickens requires energy and water, produces high levels of effluent, and requires crops like soy to be flown from deforested countries, like Brazil, as feed.
One cruel form of factory farming should not be used to bolster another, all to save costs for major multi-national corporations.
The best way to prevent this suffering is by stopping this harmful industry altogether. Sign our petition asking for a moratorium and stand with animals.
You can choose not to be a part of this cruelty and the industry’s unnatural choices by leaving animals off your plate entirely. Try one of our delicious plant-based recipes from our free cookbook today!
Protect Fish
Scientists confirm that fish feel pain and suffer. Protect these sensitive beings by choosing plant-based alternatives to animal food products.