No more silence about the torture of animals, Opinion, Dec. 21
I’d like to thank the Toronto Star for finally beginning to uncover what animal activists have know all along: the meat and dairy industry is cruel beyond most people’s imagination and, if we are ethical beings, we need to stop it.
Many people think it is only on factory farms that animals are treated in such a despicable manner. Their conscience feels better when they buy from a local farmer or “humane organic” farmer. In many cases, it is true that during the animals’ very short lives they do live better than the poor beings on factory farms, but all animals get sent to the same slaughterhouses and face the same inhumane treatment in transport and at the abattoir.
The only option is to stop contributing to the torture by not consuming animals and moving toward a plant-based diet. Not only would this help the animals but one’s health and the environment as well.
Susan Larson, Toronto
As a student, I had lucrative summer jobs working as a mechanic in Toronto’s slaughterhouses. I was immediately skeptical about Linda McQuaig’s account of slaughtering at the Ryding-Regency plant.
In my experience, no one would see an animal writhing on the kill floor with its throat slit. A steer would be led into a “knocking box,” where a bolt gun would be applied to its skull and fired. The animal would drop immediately, unconscious or dead, and a gate would be opened to roll the carcass onto the kill floor. Only then would the animal be hoisted up by its rear legs and its throat slit to drain the carcass. A federal inspector had to be present at all times and one of his responsibilities was to ensure humane treatment of animals.
I took the trouble to find the video McQuaig refers to. I was shocked and deeply disturbed by what I saw. I can’t believe the slaughtering process has evolved to this today. My only question is whether that plant was somehow adapted for kosher or halal slaughter, which does not permit use of a bolt gun.
Mirek A. Waraksa, Toronto