DEAR EDITOR:

In comment to a Nov. 12 letter by Michelle Reynolds in The Vindicator, she said many deer get wounded and suffer. I understand her concern, but I don’t agree when she says hunting is cruel. I’m not a hunter, but how is hunting a wild animal for food any more cruel than killing a farm animal for food?

I remember a farmer who had a 4-year-old cow killed for beef. That cow spent its whole life on a four-foot chain. He had two pigs in a small pen just barely big enough to fit them. They were lying in their own manure and urine. It was like mud. How is that any better than killing a wild animal for food?

Calves raised for veal spend their short lives in a small pen. Many cows and pigs live the same way.

When a hunter kills a wild animal, at least it lived its life free, and it probably lived longer than many farm animals did. A wild animal has a chance to live out its life. How many pigs get to live out their lives?

She also put down hunters for killing predatory animals like coyotes. That’s because animals like wolves and coyotes kill domestic animals.

I know some people who are vegetarians because they don’t believe in killing any animals for food. I respect that, but the problem with that is animals die when fields are plowed to plant crops, and insects and some animals die when fruit trees are sprayed.

I’m not putting down farmers for killing animals. The point is that hunting a wild animal for food is no worse than killing a farm animal for food.

STEVE BLESSING

Warren