To the editor: I just learned about World Day for Farmed Animals, coming up on Oct. 2 (Gandhi’s birth date).
It has been around since 1983 and is meant to memorialize the billions of animals abused and killed for food each year.
Like many, I always considered farm animals only as a source of food. But after recently watching the documentary “Speciesism,” I realized that farm animals are much like our family pets, deserving of love and respect. I’ve learned that farm animals get neither on today’s factory farms. Male baby chicks are ground up alive or suffocated in garbage bags. Hens are crowded in small wire cages that tear out their feathers. Breeding pigs spend their lives pregnant in metal cages. Calves are snatched from their mothers upon birth so we can drink their milk.
The cruelty of factory farming drove me to replace animal products in my diet with plant-based meat and dairy items. I have since learned that my cruelty-free diet is also great for my health and for the health of our planet.
Burt Eastman, Pittsfield
