The images in the following program are highly sensitive and may be as disturbing to viewers as they were to us. However, we have to show the truth about cruelty to animals, praying that you will help to stop it.

Today’s Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants will be presented in French and English, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

This is the Stop Animal Cruelty series on Supreme Master Television. Our Place on Earth is an Australian non-profit organization founded by animal advocate Jodi Ruckley that seeks to inform the public about the horrors of the factory farming system.

Farmed animals across the world, who are raised by the billions each year, lead terrifying lives in abominable conditions and are eventually brutally murdered in slaughterhouses. Each animal is a beautiful, unique being and Our Place on Earth strives to preserve life through a number of endeavors including a film directed by Ms. Ruckley called “The Animals You Eat,” which documents the callous animal agriculture industry in France.

I went and lived in France about three years ago now. And I started leafletting with some other animal rights activists to let people know about what happens in factory farms. And the response I had from the French public was, “Well, they don’t exist here in France, that only happens in the United States and England.”

And I thought, “Wow, that seems like it can’t be true.” So I was with a friend one day and made the commitment: “ I want to make a film just about factory farming something like Meet your Meat but that is specifically for France,” so that the French people can understand what’s really happening.

Today we present excerpts from “The Animals You Eat,” a film where the animals themselves speak about their chilling experiences of being trapped in a bloody, ruthless and savage system.

Our Place on Earth presents THE ANIMALS you eat
part 1: INTRODUCTION

I’m Lola. I’m in 10th grade. I like rock music and playing the guitar. I’m 15 years old. I go to the movies, I read and I hang out with my friends. Like most people, I love animals. I also search for the truth. I question the way things are done. I speak out when I think cruelties exist, even though sometimes it makes me unpopular. In most cases animals are treated atrociously. What’s within the law and is considered acceptable is downright disgusting.

Have you ever seen how a chicken, a pig, a cow, or a fish lives? Have you heard about intensive animal farming? It’s when they raise thousands of animals and shove them into one area. Sometimes in cages and sometimes stuck between small stalls like sows. These animals live one on top of each other. They are left in their own feces. They lack air. It stinks. They spend their lives inside and are forced to remain inactive.

They are provided with just enough food and water to keep them alive and to fatten up so that one day they can be eaten. They are also pumped full of antibiotics so they won’t die in the disease ridden conditions. It’s all about profitability. Many die on the spot from diseases and wounds while the rest will die in the abattoir.

No matter their fate, they live every day in pain. All these living beings are stopped from expressing their natural behaviors. If dogs or cats lived like that, we would be disgusted. So what’s the difference? Let’s check out these farms and get to know these animals better.

Part 2: THE CHICKENS you eat

I want you to meet a friend of mine, Jojo.

Jojo Rescued broiler chicken by the LARA Association, Centre of France

I met him at a farm animal sanctuary in the center of France. This was his first day after being rescued from a factory farm where chickens are raised to become meat. This is the first time he ever saw sunlight. The first time he walked on grass. The first time he was able to forage for food and scratch at the ground. He came here the day before he would have been sent to the abattoir. Sadly, all his friends and family from the factory farm are now dead and have been eaten.

Tell us about your new life at the shelter, Jojo.

This is a sanctuary for farm animals. Anyone who comes here is guaranteed to feel safe and secure for life.

What was it like on your first day?

I felt awkward, both in my relationship with other chickens, but also because my hips and my legs were completely distorted. In factory farming, they force our little bodies to grow too fast. Over there, I did not understand what was happening to me, what was going on. Here, I can breathe. I finally found my home. I really understand now what it means to be a chicken.

What was it like where you used to live, Jojo?

It was so different than where I live now. There were thousands of other chickens. We were very unhappy. It was painful. I saw others get sick and they could no longer stand on their legs and died around me. The food was the same every day. Everything was the same every day. It was the same temperature. The same dirty ground, it was always noisy all the time. I remember we felt confused and lost. I felt half dead. I literally had to drag my feet. We all felt very heavy.

Tell us more about the day-to-day living conditions.

I lived with about 10,000 other chickens. It was very crowded. There was not much room to move. We lived in the most complete chaos. It was sometimes difficult to access food. I was lucky because I could still walk. At this time we are only six weeks old. We’re just babies but look how big we are. I don’t know what they’ve done to us but we grow to our full size in half the time. This means we often have problems with our limbs, our bones break easily.

We cannot bear our own weight. Our hearts simply cannot cope with how fast we grow. The bones of our hips are deformed and crippled. So we have trouble walking. When this happens we are unable to get food and water. Many of my friends would die because of this. They died of starvation and dehydration. Oh that’s me walking.

Heal your heart, forget your belly if it invites you to taste the flesh. Your brethren are dying and you are profiting from it. The world cries and you’re laughing.

Where were you born and where did you grow up?

I came to the factory farm when I was a day old and lived there for the first six weeks of my life. On the first day of my life, they sent me to another farm. It was a special farm where there are male and female chickens living together to produce chicks that will be eaten as meat. We all came from farms like this one.

On the left are the chickens having babies, which will go to a leading fast food chain. On the right are the chickens having babies for organic chicken farms. The breeding of the chicks will be different but the starting conditions are the same. These are crazy breeding conditions with no room to move, with overwhelming noise. These animals are beautiful and inquisitive, almost majestic, but they are also oppressed and in pain.

Are you in pain?

Yes, indeed, yes.

Are you happy to be alive?

I am happy now. I like the sunshine and being outdoors. I feel the wind and I can be in the shade under a tree. This makes an incredible difference to my life. I know what it’s like to be alive now. I didn’t realize I was almost dead. I knew I didn’t feel good. I knew something was missing. Everything feels like the way it should be now. Everything is in place.

It’s like my body started working again. My natural instincts have taken over. I sleep when the sun goes down; I wake when it comes out. I eat when I’m hungry. I drink when I’m thirsty. I seek companionship when I wish for it. I feel at ease. I regained my energy and I’m happy. Being close to nature is what I like and I do not feel bullied. I can live my life.

What happened to your friends back at the farm?

Thousands of my friends were gathered up there. You cannot imagine what this process entails. Thousands of chickens were put into small crates and loaded onto the truck. I knew my friends would end up beaten and abused and many have to suffer broken bones. It’s very traumatic and terrifying. The truck drove to the abattoir and you know what happens there. For a chicken it is like entering the unknown, something cold, unreal.

What do chickens wish for?

A peaceful life, where we can forage among trees and bushes and explore with our friends. We talk to each other a lot you know. Listen to us carefully like you would with any bird. Do you know that we use dozens of different calls to speak with one another?

Were you laying eggs at the farm?

No. You will need to go and visit my friend Malika to meet the chickens that lay eggs. That’s completely different, but equally unjust. Some of my friends here at the sanctuary were from one of those factory farms.

Thanks, Jojo.

part 3: THE EGGS you eat
Malika Egg laying chicken raised in battery cage in Brittany

So this is Malika. I just took her very gently out of her cage for a cuddle. She seems surprised and not sure what is happening. Malika, please tell me about this place. What is happening here?

We live here for about 12 to 18 months; four of us live in each of these cages. These small cages are stacked up on top of each other. There are 10,000 of us in this shed and 20,000 just on this farm. Literally, there are rows and rows of tiny cages. Can you see how we all stand on this wired floor? Sometimes we have problems with our claws becoming stuck around the wire, nobody comes to our rescue. It’s very uncomfortable.

We live here our entire lives; it’s a truly miserable existence. It’s not easy to breathe; the smell is so strong from our urine and our feces. We have no bathroom, you see. The feces are supposed to fall through to pits below us, but very often we get them on our heads from above. It’s quite chaotic and dirty.

Are you happy to be so close to the other chickens?

It depends on whether you like the chickens that you’re with in the cage. We spend so much time together. I like two of my cage mates. No so much the others. We just don’t seem to be able to get along. We have tried to understand each other, but we’re just too different. We don’t get to choose our friends here.

Why are you here?

Every day we lay an egg. We keep doing that until they think we’re too old to be as efficient. Then they send us to the abattoir. To become nuggets or chicken stock to finally end up on supermarket shelves or in soups. Then they bring in the younger ones to replace us.

Do you feel you can express your natural behaviors in this cage?

No. I can’t spread my wings. I can’t forage for food, I can’t sit on my eggs. I cannot make nests. I cannot move nor exercise. My whole body’s aching. I need to stretch. I can’t explore my environment. I’m so bored. It’s a mindless existence and incredibly frustrating. I cannot express who I truly am. I’m constantly searching for means of escape.

How long have you being here?

I’ve been here for about nine months. I’ll stay here for about another six months. That’s my life, trapped into egg production. There’s not much else to tell.

Wow, that was heavy. Who ever thought to put a bunch of chickens in a cage like that? No wonder they were astonished to see someone. What were they thinking? This is madness!

Our gratitude, Jodi Ruckley for allowing us to share “The Animals You Eat,” with our viewers. We truly admire your steadfast resolve in advocating on behalf of all our animal friends and join your call for everyone to adopt an animal-free lifestyle right away so that innocent beings suffer no longer.

For more details on Our Place on Earth, please visit www.OurPlaceOnEarth.com

Thank you caring viewers for your presence on today’s program. Please join us next Tuesday on Stop Animal Cruelty for further excerpts from “The Animals You Eat.” Enlightening Entertainment is next, after Noteworthy News. May we all be touched by the light of Heaven.