To the Editor:
Re: “Poor Old MacDonald: Benefits of Factory Farms” News, Oct. 13
I’m disappointed to read that some at Cornell defend cruel and inhumane treatment of animals on factory farms. Inside egg factory farms, hundreds of thousands of hens are confined in barren, wire cages so small the birds can’t even spread their wings. They’re given less space than a single sheet of letter-sized paper to live their entire miserable lives. While some defenders of factory farming give dogmatic and desperate pleas to continue this fading practice, science has proven time and again that immobilizing animals in small cages increases disease and causes physical and emotional trauma. Several states have already banned this cruel treatment, and hundreds of universities have moved away from using eggs from battery caged hens. Hopefully the other voices at Cornell who are in favor of sustainable food production and humane treatment of animals will grow.
Bryan Pease ’00