Rising temperatures are putting millions of animals at risk of illness, stress, and death.
What’s happening?
The past decade has seen Earth’s hottest years on record. The average global temperature is on the rise, and with warmer weather comes more frequent extreme weather events like wildfires and droughts.
Rising temperatures also put humans at risk, but there’s another, less recognized victim of a warming planet: livestock.
Sentient Media detailed how the American farm system is ill-equipped to manage the needs of these animals in a swiftly changing climate. They lack adequate space, ventilation, or cooling, which can lead to stress.
Millions of livestock — cattle, pigs, chickens, and sheep — are suffering from heat stress. Heat stress has a significant impact on these animals, like reduced dairy and egg output, lower reproductive rates, and higher susceptibility to disease. Prolonged heat stress can be, and often is, fatal.
Why is heat stress concerning?
If the temperature continues to rise at its current rate, nearly 20% of all species on Earth will face extinction, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Unfortunately, animals are already starting to die. In 2015, 17 million chickens died during a scalding summer in India. Currently, thousands of pigs are dying every day as South Korea faces its hottest summer in nearly a decade.
As livestock die, reduce output, and struggle to reproduce, supply decreases, and humans pay a higher price for meat, dairy, and other goods. With billions of people already facing food insecurity, higher prices could push hundreds of millions more into hunger.
What’s being done to protect livestock?
It’s not as simple as turning on the AC. The weather is growing too warm, and standard cooling methods are becoming less effective.
While researchers are developing sustainable and affordable ways to keep livestock cool, Matthew Dominguez, the U.S. director of Compassion in World Farming, urged the industry to act quickly.
“We don’t need reports to know that they are suffering,” Dominguez told Sentient.
The best way to protect livestock in the long run is to address the source of the problem: human-induced climate change. Human activities — transportation, deforestation, manufacturing, and waste — are responsible for billions of tons of planet-warming emissions.
In the meantime, you can help reduce our reliance on livestock by switching to a plant-based or plant-focused diet.
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