IN LAST TUESDAY’S DAILY NATION, the article entitled Chicken Boost gave many details of the expansion of Chickmont Foods Limited’s processing plant. It mentioned the various aspects of thise state-of-the-art establishment.
However, nowhere did it mention any improvements in the conditions for the poor birds that will be housed there. In fact, they weren’t even mentioned, except to say that the new 20 000 square foot pen will be able to house 30 000 birds. This equates to an area equal to the size of a letter page per bird.
In this tiny space, each bird will grow and live until it is mechanically killed, a horrific life of hell if ever there was one. These birds will never forage in grass, will never eat naturally, will never feel the sun on their backs or the breeze through their feathers.
In the gluttonous desire for cheaper, fatter birds, for faster food, for convenience, we’ve forgotten about the humanity of raising these creatures. It shouldn’t be all about money. We’ll have to answer one day for how we’ve treated God’s creatures.
What can be done? At the very least, try and make sure that the chickens that we purchase to eat have been raised in a kindly natural fashion and are killed by the most humane method possible. There are other options, such as becoming vegetarian, as I have been for the last 38 years. We don’t have to kill other living creatures in order to stay alive ourselves.
– RITA CAMPBELL,
regular visitor to Barbados from Canada