Saturday, November 12, 2005

La Barbarie - November 12, 2005

To Whom it May Concern:

Following the current events in Europe it is obvious that there is something really wrong where a total disregard of humanity, compassion and community is taking place. Not only enraged minorities are destroying properties like a domestic violent abuser destroying his/her family's property, but also birds are just dumped and killed in the millions in the worst cruelty possible.

Below please find statement from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that express the feelings of most of animal protectionists.


Cordially,

Maru Angarita

"Thank you for contacting PETA with your concerns about the cruel killing of birds in response to the threat of avian influenza.
PETA has pressed affected nations to adopt more humane killing methods by speaking to the media (we have been quoted in several news stories in Asia), writing numerous letters to officials, etc. Although Hong Kong is now using gassing procedures, which is an improvement over other methods used—including burning and burying live chickens and placing them in plastic bags to suffocate to death—these appeals have largely fallen on deaf ears; most of these countries have few if any animal protection laws to begin with, and during a time of crisis, they are even less likely to be concerned about animal welfare.
Such epidemics regularly sweep the globe and almost always originate in chickens, ducks, and pigs who live in concentrated numbers close to humans. Diseases such as avian flu spread like wildfire in factory farms, where animals are crammed together with barely enough space to turn around. Sadly, the same inhumane conditions that helped foster the recent epidemic in Asia also exist for the nearly 10 billion animals slaughtered for food each year in the United States, which is why we have also begun to experience flu outbreaks here. Please visit
http://www.peta.org/news/NewsItem.asp?id=3878 to learn more.

PETA is working hard to prevent further tragic outbreaks by educating people about the health benefits (for both human and nonhuman animals) of a vegetarian diet. By alerting the public via provocative ads, attention-grabbing protests, undercover investigations, boycotts, and legal actions, our vegetarian campaign is making significant progress.

You can help prevent more birds from being slaughtered in the wake of avian flu epidemics by spreading the word about vegetarianism. Write letters to the editors of local publications every time you see an article about the meat industry; let everyone know that eating meat supports cruelty. For letter-writing tips, see
http://www.peta.org/alert/guide.html. You can also help by subscribing to PETA Action Alert E-News (http://www.PETA.org/lists.asp) to get weekly calls for action. For more ideas about ways to help birds and other animals killed for food, see http://www.GoVeg.com/getActive.asp.

Thank you again for contacting PETA and for all that you do to help animals.

Sincerely,


PETA Staff"