The following numbers come from The Humane League, a charity that works to end the abuse of animals raised for food, and other sources.
· 130 billion animals suffer every day on factory farms.
· 94% of animals raised for food are in factory farms. Their lives are spent without sun on their backs, fresh air in their lungs, and without the freedom to extend their limbs.
· 77 billion land animals and over 1 trillion aquatic animals are estimated to be killed for food every year.
· Chickens account around 65 billion of the land animals slaughtered.
Would welcome updates on these numbers from anyone who has more detailed and accurate numbers. The numbers for aquatic animals could be much higher, especially if one includes bycatch.
The World Wildlife Fund reports that about 40% of fish catch worldwide is unintentionally caught and is partly thrown back into the sea, either dead or dying. Their global bycatch statistics for those estimated killed accidentally each year include :
- 300,000 small whales and dolphins
- 250,000 endangered loggerhead turtles and critically endangered leatherback turtles
- 300,000 seabirds, including 17 albatross species
Though the total number of bycatch will include significantly more other smaller aquatic animals.