New Film Highlights The ‘Hidden Human Cost’ Of The Meat Industry The Dying Trade, the debut film from Jack Hancock-Fairs, unpacks the “hidden human cost” of the meat industry on its workers.
Smadar Spector
The Dying Trade, a new documentary film from Jack Hancock-Fairs, unpacks the “hidden human cost” of the meat processing industry on its workers.
Hancock-Fairs is best known for his YouTube content, which he produces under the moniker Humane Hancock, and which has been viewed over three million times. The Dying Trade is his filmmaking debut and is already nominated for several awards.
Read more: UK’s Worst Ammonia Pollution Hotspots Correlate With Factory Farms
The Dying Trade focuses on Hancock-Fairs himself, a filmmaker and vegan activist, and his father, a career slaughterhouse worker, as they discuss the negative impact of meat production on people and animals after “years of avoiding the subject.”
The Dying Trade includes contributions from: Temple Grandin, an authority on humane livestock handling; Alex Hershaft, a Holocaust survivor and animal rights advocate; Gail Eisnitz, an undercover investigator and the author of 1997’s Slaughterhouse; “Tom,” an anonymous slaughterhouse worker; and Rachel Macnair, a psychologist who specialises in participation-induced traumatic stress (PITS).
PITS occurs when post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are caused by killing or acts of extreme violence, and is well-documented in combat veterans and police officers. Measurable trauma symptoms of this kind have also been documented in animal lab workers, veterinarians, and slaughterhouse workers.
In a statement sent to Plant Based News (PBN), Hancock-Fairs noted that the film does not vilify slaughterhouse workers. Instead, it “shines a light” on their moral discomfort, trauma, and coping strategies, which can include substance use.
‘It stays with you the rest of your life’
In the documentary, Tom recalls an incident where he skinned a cow alive on the line, while she was giving birth. “It takes 25 seconds, but it stays with you for the rest of your life.” He adds that you have to “become a robot” to stay in the job.
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. (Will Rogers)
the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe
"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
Until every cage is empty. Until every animal is free
יש מלאכים שהצמיחו פרווה במקום כנפיים
התחברות אל בע"ח במקום לשלוט בהם מרוממת אותנו לכוכבים (ברברה קלו הנד)