Taking a Left Turn on the Food Chain

We were appalled when we read such an uncaring letter as Gwen Strong’s (“Screaming Tomatoes?,” Nov 12). A famous author once stated that you could judge the development of a nation by the way it treats its animals.

We don’t think that this attitude toward cruelty to animals is justifiable. Many people still prefer to eat meat, but nowadays, with our general level of education, the poor treatment of animals should not be an option; neither should it be defended like this. To even compare a tomato, which has no central nervous system, to a live being is amazingly ignorant.

In our part of the world, we have the excuse of neither poor education nor poor finances to hinder us from making the intelligent choice of good and decent animal husbandry. Let’s set a good example for future generations and the rest of the world in the way we treat our animals and talk about them.

MARIANNE and DAVID DELLINGER

Huntington Beach