Letter: Question 3 clearly benefits chickens, farm animals

Posted Friday, August 26, 2016 4:06 pm

To the editor:

I would like to respond to the August 19 letter from Ken Klippen, entitled "Question 3 won't have any benefit for chickens." Quite to the contrary, Question 3 would prevent confinement so limiting that a chicken cannot flap its wings, in addition to stopping other cruel confinement practices.

Industrial farming has gone too far in its greed. His letter would be more aptly titled "Question 3 won't have any benefit for the National Association of Egg Farmers," of which Mr. Klippen is president. This question does not concern the idyllic farms that the family visits on the weekend; it concerns the mechanized factory farm, the likes of which most of us have never stepped foot in and find hard to imagine.

We would never dream of forcing our beloved family pets to spend their entire lives in cramped cages so small that they wouldn't be able to turn around or move their limbs. This would be considered extraordinarily cruel. So why, then, is it acceptable to treat pigs, calves, and chickens this way? The answer is simply that it's not. Forcing farm animals to live in cages where they are practically unable to move is just plain inhumane.

Ballot Question 3 would prevent this kind of treatment by phasing out extreme confinement practices on factory farms. Allowing farm animals enough space to move around and engage in some of their natural behaviors is the right thing to do and will dramatically increase their quality of life.

Vote "Yes" on 3. It is the humane choice for farm animals.

Alicia Zaludova, Pittsfield