Remove injured animals from food supply: Your Say

Reading the column "Time to ban slaughter of sick, injured animals" reminded me of the words of theologian Albert Schweitzer: "Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight."

I was raised on an Eastern European diet and ate meat three times a day. The very idea that I would one day become a vegetarian would have been laughable in my first few decades of life.

Yet once I learned what animals are routinely and systematically subjected to, I decided I could no longer support such senseless violence. I thank commentary writer Bruce Friedrich and his organization, Farm Sanctuary, for providing a voice for the voiceless.

Stewart David; Asheville, N.C.

Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

The practice of slaughtering and selling the meat of sick animals should be illegal. Laws protecting the rights of animals to a life they were designed to lead and — at the very least — a humane death should be our default, not something we need to protest to enact.

A vegan culture is the only fully humane solution. Until we get there, the maximum protection for food animals should be in place.

— Mara Guccione

Industrial farming is necessary to feed people lumped together in huge population centers.

— John Thomas

Changes must be made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to alleviate the most egregious suffering.

— Karen Dawn

Shame on the USDA for choosing to pander to big business and ignore this farm animal abuse.

— Cindy Rutherford