Published Letters and Op-Eds from
COK’s Writers Group

Barbaric Industry

Published in The Chicago Tribune on August 5, 2004.

Eugene, Ore.—This is regarding "Humanity can't be forgotten, even when slaughtering poultry" (Commentary, July 28), by Wayne Pacelle, chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States.

Humanity can be practiced each time we eat, by not consuming animal products.

Agribusiness is a callous, barbaric industry that treats animals as production units, rather than as sentient beings.

Ethics and compassion are not considerations inside an industry that pumps out meat, eggs and dairy products at a frantic pace, using the most cost-effective—and, therefore, least animal-friendly—means possible.

Factory farms deny animals any semblance of a normal life by cramming them into horribly cramped stalls, cages or floor spaces, usually devoid of sunlight.

These animals' misery-filled lives end in violence at the slaughterhouse—provided they haven't already died of disease or injury inside the factory warehouses or on slaughter-bound trucks.

By adopting a healthy, diverse, vegetarian diet, people can avoid supporting an industry that treats its victims with such unconscionable cruelty.

Barb Lomow