By Susan Roghair -
[email protected]
Please consider sending the following letter to
the editor of your local newspapers. Feel free to personalize it.
Dear Editor:
We live in strange times. We subsidize farmers to grow
tobacco, then tax and sue the tobacco industry to recover the costs of
associated medical care. We subsidize the meat industry, then suffer the
costs of associated medical care and lost productivity. Now, we prepare
to give thanks for our good life by taking away the life of an innocent
animal. It just doesn�t make sense.
Thanksgiving is about liberty, happiness, and life. But,
the 330 million turkeys raised each year for our holiday dinner table
experience none of these. They are crammed into large sheds filled with
toxic fumes from their excrement. Their beaks and toes are clipped to
reduce damage from stress-induced aggression. After 16 weeks of hell,
they are hung by their legs on a conveyer belt and beheaded by an
electric saw while fully conscious.
Thanksgiving is about good health. But turkey flesh is
laced with cholesterol, saturated fats, hormones, antibiotics, and
deadly Salmonella and Campylobacter. Careful adherence to government
warning labels or Poultry Hotline instructions are required to defer
disease.
Thanksgiving is about sharing. But feeding grain to
turkeys denies lifesaving foodstuffs to millions of starving people.
Thanksgiving is about a bountiful harvest, but raising grain for turkeys
depletes topsoil and groundwater that are essential to a good harvest.
On this special occasion, let us reflect on the true
meaning of Thanksgiving. Let us replace the wretched, sick carcass of an
innocent animal on our holiday dinner table with a wholesome, delicious,
guilt-free spread from our bountiful harvest of grains, vegetables, and
fruits. Let us replace misery, disease, and death with happiness,
health, and life!
Sincerely,
Go on to Pigtails
Sanctuary Needs Help
Return to 24 November 2002 Issue
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