An alarming 80% of the total antibiotics used in the U.S. are actually injected or fed to farmed animals in order to force weight gain or to unnaturally keep them alive in filthy and desperately overcrowded conditions. Why? Quite simply because in animal agribusiness, profit trumps any other considerations by a long shot, so institutionalized abuse is rampant, and the laws permit it. Not only are attitudes towards animals atrocious, but human consumers are barely considered either.

Antibiotics are now so widely used on U.S. farms that they are losing their potency in human medicine. Countless new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria like MRSA are now breeding as a result.

Last year, 23,000 Americans died due to antibiotic resistant pathogens for which a large 22 percent can be directly attributed to animal agriculture. This is one of the many, many ways where animal abuse and human abuse intersects.

Animal Abuse = Human Abuse.
Why is making the connection important?

As animal advocates, we are often met with the claim that our advocacy for animals is less important because human suffering is a priority. We won’t address the hypocrisy of this claim here. However, by clearly illustrating the connection of how farmed animal industries also abuse humans, this not only counteracts this quick dismissal of animal suffering, but it can also make our message easier for others to relate to from a human rights perspective.

It’s important we do everything in our power as we speak up for animals to encourage our friends, family and wider networks on social media to question the unethical practices of huge animal agribusiness.

Informed consumers are the biggest threat to industries who abuse animals and us.

This is the first release of our new series “Animal Abuse = Human Abuse” designed to help expand the reach of our advocacy for animals to new audiences.