Section 6

Recycled Feeding

*Warning: This section contains content some readers may find disturbing*

The practice of feeding animals fecal matter, commonly from poultry litter or other manure, to cattle is not only grotesque but morally indefensible. This vile process forces animals to consume excrement contaminated with pathogens, parasites, and antibiotics. According to FDA estimates, American farmers feed 1 to 2 million tons, roughly 2 billion pounds, of poultry litter to cattle annually. The result is a filthy, inhumane system that degrades the dignity of sentient beings and exposes them to chronic illness, injury, and systemic cruelty. No level of cost-cutting can justify such a disgusting affront to animal welfare and basic decency.

Worse yet, this disgusting practice may pose a grave risk to the food chain and public health. Historically, feeding cows animal by-products triggered the BSE, or mad cow disease, crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, and some experts warn that manure-based feeds could facilitate the transmission of similar prion diseases. Even tiny amounts of contaminated material can trigger infection. Feeding feces back into cattle diets is not just unsanitary, it’s a biologically dangerous loop that echoes the roots of past epidemics. Given these alarming connections, it is imperative that we make the inhumanity of fecal feeding unequivocally illegal. After all: would you want to consume another animal’s waste?

Section 6 Legislation

6.1 It shall be unlawful for any individual or entity to knowingly engage in, promote, or fascilitate the feeding of animal fecal matter to any animal. Such practices pose significant health, ethical, and environmental risks.

6.2 Violation of this statute shall be subject to civil and/or criminal prosecution and penalties.