How many dead?
The stark facts on animals killed
for food
According to the most recent detailed report from the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO), the worldwide number of animals
killed for food in 2003 was 52.7 billion (52,715,066,718 to be precise).
This included more than:
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312 million cattle, buffalo and calves
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1.2 billion pigs
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506 million sheep
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45.8 billion chickens
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691 million turkeys
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2.2 billion ducks
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338 million goats
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532 million geese
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62 million pigeons and other birds
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4 million horses
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856 million rabbits
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65 million "other rodents", and
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4 million asses, camels and similar animals (1)
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The actual number of deaths, however, far exceeds this figure,
which omits:
- "non-slaughter" deaths (from disease, malnutrition, injury,
suffocation, stress, or other deadly factors associated with animal
farming)
- slaughters in countries that have no reporting procedures in
place
- 'backyard' slaughters (generally not reported), and
- the killing of fish and other aquatic animals, whether farmed
or wild-caught.(2)
Also excluded from this report in many cases are the killing of:
- many of the less commonly eaten species, such as game animals
(deer, partridges, pheasants, quails, etc)
- 'exotic' animals (crocodiles, emu, ostriches, etc)
- many 'traditional food' animals (cats, dogs, frogs, snails,
snakes, etc), and
- any other animal not mentioned in the report, whether farmed
or part of natural populations.
The Food and Agriculture Organization report on animals slaughtered
for food in 2003 shows an increase of 4.8 billion in the 2 years
from 2001, (when the total was 47.9 billion) - again, this only
includes official, reported "slaughter" deaths.(3)
(1) UN FAO (Food & Agriculture
Organisation) website - http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/form?collection=Production.Livestock.Primary&Domain=Production&servlet=1&hasbulk=&version=ext&language=EN
With thanks to Frank J. Gomez, FARM - Farm Animals Reform Movement,
www.farmusa.org
(2) World Farm Animals Day 2004, 25 September, 2004,
www.wfad.org
(3) Ibid
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