Straits Times Online Forum
April 16, 2009
Ban supermarkets from selling live and exotic animals
I WAS shocked and dismayed by the report, 'Supermarkets go live' (April 11). Eating meat, especially from animals reared under intense industrial farming methods, is inhumane as it subjects animals to intense cruelty, apart from abuse of hormones and antibiotics used on them.
Going for exotic wild species like bullfrogs and turtles is even worse, as one is plucking them directly from their natural ecosystems and creating a major imbalance. By making it easy and convenient for consumers, supermarkets only create easy demand, and more pressure to harvest more in future, beyond sustainable capacities of the environment.
These creatures are kept under cruel conditions in overcrowded tanks of frogs, fish, lobsters and crabs, with hardly any space to move. Customers are allowed to poke, pinch and press the live animals to add to their distress. Tortoises and turtles in wet markets are kept in uncomfortable wire baskets.
Have we, as human beings, become so insensitive and sadistic to the pain and suffering of other creatures?
The sale of live and exotic animals should be banned to discourage the inhumane handling of animals, and also protect the environment.
Bhavani Prakash (Mrs)
