Treatment of Livestock

As a vegetarian and animal welfare/rights advocate, this article struck a chord with me. While Oliver shows sympathy and sensitivity for the plight of “food animals,” he stops short in the process in that he still sees no problem in using other animals’ bodies for human consumption. While it’s nice to say be kind and give them a few feet to turn around, my question is why bring them into the world in the first place? Not only has it been proven that the production and consumption of meat is not a healthy practice, having been linked with most of the scourges in meat-eating societies, but it is also environmentally unsound and morally degrading.

I wonder how many meat-eaters would have the stomach for it if they had to do the slaughtering themselves or even visit a slaughterhouse? Doing without meat is not a sacrifice, and I believe most vegetarians feel the same way.

A.M. BROWN

Newport Beach