To the editor:
Re: "4-H continues PNE tradition," Aug. 17.
I'm always disheartened when I read articles about the 4-H club. I know it's a tradition that has made many a farmer over the years, and teaches kids leadership and public speaking. But what strikes me hard in the heart is that what is considered the "pinnacle" of the entire festival, the 4-H auction, might also be considered the time of greatest betrayal to the animals.
These young animals, so lovingly raised and cared for, are now thrust into the hellish, and soon to be fatal, world of agribusiness. The trust they had in their keepers, or dare I say friends, is now brutally torn from them as they are innocently led to slaughter. This relationship between kids and "farm" animals, for some young people, would be akin to that of their dog or cat.
Sure, they're told from the start that these animals are destined for slaughter, but can humans, especially young ones, control what they feel or how their emotions play out? Of course not.
What we teach kids on that sad day is to "suck it up-it's only an animal, hide your emotions, it was raised to be sold and is only a commodity." How can we be so callous and cruel, both to the kids and their "projects?" (Even the names are designed to distance us from our emotions: swine project. Or the names chosen for the animals: Lambchops, or some play on the word bacon.) How we humans fool ourselves. For anyone who's ever loved an animal, this is high treason and abuse for all concerned.
Nora Lott, Vancouver
