Most people agree with me that people are way more important than chickens. But some people don’t agree. And want to stop us from eating chicken, believe it or not. And speak as if chickens are more important than people. The name of the group is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, also known as PETA.
You may have heard that there’s a heat wave in Europe that has cost the lives of many people without air conditioning. As many as three thousand people so far just in France, according to some estimates. Guess what the “ethical” people at PETA have to say about it? Well, they’re worried about the heat-related deaths of chickens.
In Britain they’ve written to Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett, telling her to prosecute farmers who let birds suffer. Well, I’m sure we can arrange to put the chickens out of their misery, but I don’t think that’s quite what PETA has in mind. When chickens were used to detect chemical weapons during the war with Iraq and dolphins were used to locate mines, PETA complained that these animals never enlisted. This implies that it is better to let undetected weapons kill human beings than risk the life of an animal.
If PETA had its way, it would be illegal to eat chicken for dinner. In fact, it’s completely ethical. Some nutritional authorities claim that if we did not eat food regularly, we could not even survive. And, as a matter of fact, some of my favorite animals eat animals. So go ahead and enjoy that bird. And save a drumstick for me.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.