LETTERS: COMPASSIONATE SLAUGHTERING IS BENEFICIAL TO ALL

To the editor:

I suppose I should no longer be surprised by any editorial stance taken by the Southeast Missourian. But I must admit I was taken aback by the Sept. 29 editorial regarding slaughterhouse procedures.

How anyone could be against humane slaughtering practices is hard for me to fathom. After all, additional costs are negligible. The slaughterhouse may even benefit, since there is less chance of discolored meat due to the biochemical reactions that take place in stressed animals.

So why not provide a soothing, stress-free environment for these animals in their last moments? The humane treatment of animals is never wasted. The argument that they will be just as dead doesn't wash.

I admit that there are extreme groups in the animal-rights and environmental fronts, but this is not such a case. However, this is the newspaper that says global warming is a myth, that any environmentalists is a tree-hugging wacko and that anyone championing animal rights is an extremist.

I do not think that the triumvirate of Rust, Limbaugh and Kinder need worry about being labeled "compassionate conservatives."

LLOYD W. GUTH JR.

JUDITH A. GUTH

Cape Girardeau