For decades, the animal agriculture industry has profited off extreme cruelty—while creating a perfect storm for dangerous viruses to mutate and spread. Animals are paying the price.

Since the start of the bird flu outbreak, factory farms have “culled” over 160 million hens. The vast majority of them have been slaughtered using ventilation shutdown plus (VSD+)—which means sealing off barns, pumping in heat, and letting birds die by overheating and suffocation. Thinking about any animal dying this way is nothing short of heartbreaking.

Amidst these devastating mass cullings, the USDA dropped a bombshell: It started requiring dairy farms to test for the virus in raw milk samples. Why? Because the virus had jumped to dairy cows. And in the latest development, the FDA suspended its efforts to improve bird flu testing of milk, cheese, and pet food due to dramatic staff cuts.

The news has been chilling. And it's an undeniable wake-up call for justhowfragileourfoodsystemhasbecome.

Cramming thousands of suffering, immunocompromised animals into a single barn, with no fresh air or room to move? That isn’t just wrong. It’s dangerous—creating the ideal breeding ground for dangerous viruses.

To make matters worse, factory farms have also been feeding poultry litter to cattle for years as a “cheap protein source.” That’s right. Chicken poop. It’s no wonder the virus is rapidly spreading among cows. While the industry has profited off cruel and irresponsible practices like these, it’s offloaded the cost onto animals—and risked the health of the public.

Farmed animals. Wildlife. Human health. They’re all inextricably connected, and the animal agriculture industry has pushed all of them to a breaking point. So let’s get one thing straight:

Animals are not responsible for this horrific bird flu outbreak. Consumers are not responsible. The industry is responsible, and it’s time to show corporations that their actions have consequences.

Join the movement to hold corporations accountable for animal abuse—and help end the system of industrial animal agriculture that created this disaster.