The Virtual Battery Hen Cage

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http://www.greenmuze.com/animals/farm/816-virtual-battery-hen-cage.html

 

Friday, 13 February 2009 GreenMuze Staff

 

The Virtual Battery Hen Cage by Mark Middleton.

 

Factory farm. Battery hen cage. We hear these phrases, but most people

have no idea what they mean. American artist Mark Middleton has come

up with an innovative new website to help people understand what life

is like for animals living in factory farm conditions.

 

His first visual project, the Virtual Battery Hen Cage, allows people

to experience a battery hen cage through the eyes of a chicken. We

caught up with Mark Middleton to ask him a few questions about his

compassionate new project.

Tell us a bit about Animal Visuals?

 

AnimalVisuals.org is a showcase for interactive media to advocate on

behalf of exploited animals.

Why did you create the website?

 

I want to create interactive visuals to attract people to the issue of

animal exploitation, inform them about the abuses that animals are

suffering, and let them know that there are simple things they can do

to help animals. Visuals have a lot of power to inform and engage

people. Animal rights issues are complex and can seem very abstract. I

want to use visuals to make information about animal rights more

concrete and digestible.

Can you explain the Virtual Battery Cage to us?

 

A battery cage is a device used on factory farms to confine egg-laying

hens so that providing them with food and water and collecting their

eggs can be automated, and to crowd the largest number of chickens

into the smallest possible space. There are an estimated 300 million

chickens currently confined in battery cages in the United States. The

Virtual Battery Cage is an interactive flash movie that gives people a

simulated view of what an intensively confined hen might see from the

inside of a battery cage. The viewer can use their mouse to look

around inside the cage. For reference material, I used photographs and

video taken by undercover investigators and rescuers.

 

Will the focus at Animal Visuals be on showing the conditions of

animals used for food only?

 

We have the most power to help the greatest number of animals by

modifying the way we eat, because the vast majority of animals killed

by humans are killed for food, so animals used for food will be the

main focus. I don't have any projects planned that focus on animals

used for other purposes, but I wouldn't rule it out.

Are you hoping the 'visual' experience will help people understand how

animals are treated?

 

I hope that it will help people empathize with chickens who are

intensively confined, and realize that there are living, breathing,

feeling beings inside those wire cages. Chickens are intelligent,

feeling, and they have an agonizing existence inside the cages. All we

have to do to help them is to stop buying eggs †" something we can

easily replace in our diets.

Who do you expect will be using the site?

 

I think that it will mostly attract people that are already interested

in animal issues, but my hope is that they will share the site with

their friends and family members who may not otherwise see it. Anyone

with a website or social networking page can also embed the projects

in their own pages. I also hope it will inspire people who are

becoming curious about animal exploitation to learn more and get involved.

 

How will the site help people understand factory-farming conditions?

 

Virtual experiences have a unique power to put the viewer into the

animals’ position. There may not be any other way to get inside a

battery cage, or to get inside a chicken's head. With the tools

currently available for creating interactive web experiences, there's

almost no limit to what can be done.

Why are animals so often overlooked in environmental discourse?

 

Perhaps it's because honestly addressing animal issues means examining

or changing the way that we eat, and this makes some people

uncomfortable. But, it's easier than people think to switch to a

plant-based diet. There's no question that eating less meat is better

for the environment and for your health, but the greatest impact of

eating less meat is in keeping animals from harm.

Can we 'heal' the planet without addressing how animals are treated?

 

I think that in order to reverse environmental decline and make human

activity sustainable, it is crucial that factory-farming practices be

addressed. Animal agriculture is a bigger contributor to climate

change than transportation. While the cattle industry and the

commercial fishing industry happen to do great harm to the

environment, animal suffering is a separate issue from environmental

sustainability. Environmentally sound practices may still cause harm

to animals. There may be a way to make chicken farming environmentally

sustainable, but the killing of chickens would still have to be

justified. I think that killing animals because of the way they taste

is unjust. Even if they are raised under sustainable conditions and

given nice lives, they are harmed by the loss of their lives.

What other visual representations have you got planned for your site?

 

I'm working on an interactive visualization of the numbers of animals

killed for food in the United States, because the numbers are so big,

they’re difficult to wrap your head around. I hope to add a virtual

veal crate from a calf's perspective and a virtual gestation crate

from a pig's perspective. I also have plans for a few animations and

videos.

Anything you would like to add?

 

The best thing that people can do to help chickens is to stop buying

eggs! I’m always interested in hearing people’s reactions, so feel

free to contact me through the contact form on my site.

 

Visit: www.AnimalVisuals.org