Madam, - I agree with Deirdre Wicks (May 1st) that it is time for the public to be made fully aware of the suffering endured by animals in order to provide meat. Not only do those animals suffer a horrific and barbaric death but many of them are confined for their entire lives in cramped spaces without access to fresh air or sunlight before being crammed into trucks and transported for hundreds of miles without food or water.
Not so long ago it was the custom for greedy traders to abduct humans and ship them across the world in truly awful conditions so that they could be sold as slaves. Nowadays this practice would be viewed with horror. One can only hope that in a more enlightened age people will regard the ill-treatment of animals with the same disgust and that it will be outlawed by future generations, thus ending the suffering of animals - and ensuring better health for humans, since vegetarians are known to enjoy better health than their meat-eating counterparts. - Yours, etc.,
CARMEL COURTNEY, Sandyford Road, Dundrum, Dublin 16.