Dear Editor,
Imagine how terrified the more than 300,000 chickens who were recently burned alive in a fire at Fassio Egg Farms in Tooele County, Utah, must have been. They were trapped in a barn, unable to escape. All they could do was watch the flames approach.
While it’s too late to save these chickens, there is a way to help other sentient birds like them: Go vegan.
About 360 million hens are raised for eggs in the U.S., and most spend their lives in battery cages, stacked tier upon tier in huge warehouses. Farmers cut a portion of each hen’s sensitive beak off with a hot blade—without pain relievers—to prevent the birds from pecking at one another out of stress and desperation. Because male birds don’t produce eggs, and because they’re too small to profitably be used for their flesh, day-old male chicks are ground up alive in high-speed macerators.
When hens can no longer produce as many eggs, they’re sent to the slaughterhouse, where their throats are cut open, and they’re often scalded alive. If you don’t want to contribute to such cruelty, please see www.PETA.org for a free vegan starter kit.
Sincerely,
Heather Moore
PETA Foundation
501 Front St.
Norfolk, VA 23510
