Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Letters to the Editor
Friday, December 8, 2000

Chicken wings don't grow on trees

I am amazed at reports that a woman in Virginia has had trouble sleeping after finding a chicken head in her box of chicken wings. What was this woman thinking? That chicken wings grew on a chicken wing tree?

The head was only a reality check. Chicken wings are the body parts of an animal that had a face -- who experienced pain and suffering, just as we do.

It was condemned to death after a lifetime of imprisonment in a filthy, toxic shed, so its wings could be served up to a fast-food customer.

American consumers should wake up, find out where their food comes from and learn to live with the consequences.

Howard Blake
Haiku

Cruel Joke

A Dec. 1 Style article suggested that, to brighten everyone's day, people should forward the picture of the chicken's head found in an order of fried chicken wings. I don't know when I've seen such a disgusting picture in the newspaper. I regret to say that I was not surprised by your gallows humor, only sickened. The incident should make us think about what lax inspection standards we have in this nation's slaughterhouse and meat-packing industries. It is a fact that most processed chicken has traces of E. coli. Wings, anyone? Besides the frightening health issues, the chicken industry is the least regulated in regards to animal cruelty. The Animal Welfare Act, which is supposed to ensure humane slaughter, does not apply to poultry. Those wings are a plate full of an entire lifetime of misery and suffering. How can such a thing be healthful, appetizing or funny?

--Roger Lowe