Animalclock.org- Factory Meat- Animal Cruelty
From the website:
Billions of intelligent animals, capable of feeling fear and pain, suffer in the dark without sympathy or compassion at a scale that is hard to imagine.
The United States Department of Agriculture reports that 9.76 billion land animals were slaughtered in 2020:
- Chickens: 9,346,660,000
- Turkeys: 223,003,000
- Cattle (incl. calves): 33,242,000
- Pigs: 131,563,000
- Ducks: 22,484,000
- Sheep (incl. lambs): 2,225,000
Aquatic animal deaths are challenging to calculate since these lives are measured in tons. A very thorough analysis completed by Counting Animals estimated that 3.8 billion finned fish and 43.1 billion shellfish were killed to support the U.S. food supply in 2013.
Total U.S. fish landings remained flat at these levels at least through 2018.Taken together, more than 55 billion land and sea animals die annually to support the U.S. food supply. Adding in bycatch (sea creatures caught and discarded--injured or dead) and feed fish, the total number jumps substantially.
To put this in perspective, during World War II--the deadliest conflict in human history--more than 60 million people were killed over 6 years. The same number of animals die in support of the American food supply every ten hours.
How many animals die for food in the United States every second?
Land animals only (USDA 2020 slaugher + imports - exports + pre-slaughter deaths):
Every year: 8,533,141,000
Every day: 23,378,000
Every hour: 974,100
Every minute: 16,234
Every second: 271
Inclusive of land and aquatic animals:
Every year: 55,429,141,000
Every day: 151,888,000
Every hour: 6,328,000
Every minute: 105,480
Every second: 1,758
