Above, the most recent breakdown of U.S. farmed animal slaughter may be surprising to many people. In short, we eat a lot of fishes – most of them shellfishes – as well as a lot of chickens. Sadly for these species, their small size relative to cows, pigs, and other animals means that we slaughter many more of them to produce the same amount of meat. These numbers are staggering, but they are even more shocking when you consider the waste that occurs. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the animals we slaughter are mostly inedible: only about 55% of the bodies of chickens and pigs are “edible” while the number is even lower for cows (40%). Farming animals is an unnecessarily cruel and inefficient process.