On Mon, 06 Oct 2003 18:22:29 GMT, "Marcelino"
> wrote:

>Please examine what we do to animals on factory farms and in
>slaughterhouses, denying animals everything that is natural to them and then
>killing them in gruesome ways, and try to tell me that this is moral.

It isn't. And I believe ongoing efforts to treat food animals in
reasonably "humane" ways is an excellent idea. I do, however, value
human lives above those of animals. That is, the conditions engendered
by huge poultry 'factories' aren't ideal for the chickens, but are
*also* miserable and exploitative of human workers in the 'industry.'
Rather than try and convert us all to vegetarianism, how 'bout a push
to pay a bit more for 'ethical' meat products? If more expensive
'organic' fruit and veg are economically viable, why not ethical beef
and chicken?

While I realize that outrageous PR is used by many groups to 'shock
and awe' people, I was much more impressed when PETA (headquartered in
the area) had a very quiet program that built and delivered dog houses
to homes and farms where dogs were observed outdoors without shelter.
Prancing around naked to promote a message butters no parsnips, IMHO.
There must be more benign efforts to actually *improve* the conditions
of animals than nasty and unproductive confrontation.