I read this article [“The Carnivore’s Dilemma” by Nicholas Day, July 13] with hopes to understand why people think it’s OK to eat humanely raised animals. All I was left with, yet again, was a sense of nausea as once again people ignore basic principles of equality, morality, and reason. Had the animals being described been domestic dogs or cats, I doubt that your reaction, or your readers’, would have been the same. But is there a huge difference between a dog, a cat, a pig, or a lamb in terms of pain or suffering? The slaughtered lamb or pig are as equally capable of affection or love as a pet dog you might have. I believe that these types of thinking are at the roots of human discrimination based on arbitrary classifications like race, sex, and religion. Additionally, the “humane husbandry is a contract” argument is ridiculous–how can we know if the cows or pigs have given consent? Moreover, who would sign a contract to be kept, fed well, but murdered in the prime of life?
