Factory farming is a tragedy
Letter published in THE JOURNAL NEWS, 10/2/02:
If you were a calf on a modern-day factory farm, you'd
be torn from your mother at birth, chained by the neck in a tiny crate and
fed a vitamin-deficient slop to keep your skin white for veal. You'd suffer
loneliness, chronic diarrhea and respiratory disease.
If you were a pregnant sow, you'd be in a crate so
small you couldn't even turn around. You'd still be caged after your babies
were born and they'd have to nurse through metal bars.
If you were a hen in a factory farm, you'd be crammed
with seven friends into a cage the size of a folded newspaper. The wire mesh
cages would cut your feet and rip your feathers. Your male babies would be
smothered at birth in garbage bags.
Factory farms have replaced most small family-run farms
in the United States. Most Americans believe animals should be treated
humanely, yet 45 billion innocent, sentient cows, pigs and chickens are
deprived, crowded, mutilated and often butchered while conscious in factory
farms each year.
People are also victims of factory farming. The filthy
pens and misuse of antibiotics breed drug-resistant pathogens that sicken
and kill thousands of Americans yearly; heart disease, cancer and stroke are
linked to heavy meat consumption.
Factory farming also causes severe soil depletion,
waterway pollution and devastation of forests.
Oct. 2, Gandhi's birthday, is the 20th anniversary of
World Farm Animal's Day. During this entire week, events across America will
document the tragedy of modern farming. For more information please visit
www.wfad.org .
Kiley Blackman
Yonkers
The writer is spokesperson, Animal Defenders of
Westchester
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