Dear Editor:
I was deeply saddened by the needless massacre of 47 animals abandoned in Zanesville, Ohio.
Yet, these precious lives represent only a fraction of the 300 cows, pigs, and other innocent sentient animals butchered for our dinner table every second of every minute of every hour of every day. That’s ten billion animals per year.
Unlike those in Zanesville, animals raised for food have no life before death. From birth, they are caged and crowded, deprived and drugged, manhandled and mutilated.
Undercover investigations have shown male baby chicks suffocated in plastic garbage bags or ground to death. The females are crammed for life in tiny wire-mesh cages that tear out their feathers. Pregnant sows are caged for years, unable to turn around.
At the slaughterhouse, animals may be dismembered, skinned, scalded, and drowned while fully conscious. Nearly ten percent die of injuries and diseases.
For folks who share my sadness at the Zanesville massacre, a vegan diet offers the only effective path to a guilt-free conscience. There’s no extra charge for the associated health and environmental benefits. Visiting LiveVegan.org, or typing “vegan recipes” into a search engine is a great start.
Sincerely,
Elmer Leighton