Dear Editor,In response to your article “The Angry Vegan” (21 Feb. 2011), I would like to compliment Jaime Santos-Prowse for speaking out about what being vegan really means.
As Santos-Prowse discusses, the situation is critical for billions of animals who are suffering on factory farms and in slaughterhouses.
Most students are horrified to discover that chickens have their beaks cut off when they’re only days old and that cows and pigs are often skinned and dismembered while still conscious.
If these kinds of abuses were inflicted upon cats or dogs, it could result in felony cruelty-to-animals charges.
Yet these practices are standard in an industry that refuses to make even the most basic improvements in the way that animals are treated.
It is PETA’s job to draw attention to animal suffering, and we have found that people do pay more attention to our racier actions.
As a result of our ads, PETA representatives have been interviewed, and our videos and ads have been played – for free – on cable television talk shows with audiences numbering into the millions.
This means that people across America are hearing about how animals suffer on factory farms.
And judging by the spike in visits to our websites after we publicize an ad, this tactic is working, and more people than ever before are learning and thinking about going vegan.
Thankfully, with so many delicious meatless dishes – such as vegan barbecue riblets and vegan pizza – available at most grocery stores and with chain restaurants like Denny’s and Ruby Tuesday adding delicious vegetarian and vegan dishes to their menus, it’s never been easier to boycott cruelty to animals.
Even The United Nations is urging people to go vegan, as doing so is the single most effective way that you can improve your health, help the environment, and stand up for animal rights each and every day.
For more information, visit peta2.com, where you can order a free vegetarian/vegan starter kit as well as stickers and a DVD.
-Amelia Jensen
College Campaigns Assistant
No Comment