Saturday letters: Maltreatment of chickens; municipal composting good for the state
Last-minute cage bill harms chickens
Regarding “Dispute over chicken cages brings debate back to lawmakers” (News, June 14), some lawmakers, at the behest of one company, have rushed through a last-minute bill to postpone one of Rhode Island’s most important laws addressing animal cruelty.
The law, passed overwhelmingly in 2018, simply required egg companies to switch to cage-free production. In egg factory farms that use cages, each and every bird lives her life crammed into a space so small she can’t even spread her wings. These nightmarish conditions not only lead to higher rates of salmonella, but also effectively torture these animals for their entire lives.
In 2018, the only company affected by the law, Little Rhody Foods, was given a generous 8-year timeline to come into compliance. But instead of coming into accordance with the law, the company has egregiously procrastinated, continuing to confine birds in tiny cages to this day. Governor McKee should side with the vast majority of Rhode Islanders who supported this law in the first place, and require Little Rhody Foods to finally cease their maltreatment of chickens.
In the meantime, consumers who eat eggs should only purchase cartons with the terms “cage-free,” “organic,” “free-ranged,” or “pastured based” to avoid supporting cage factory farms.
Talia Sherman, Providence
Municipal composting is good for Rhode Island
Small states (Vermont), large states (California) and in between smart states (Washington) looking to save money and fight climate change are making municipal, curbside compost pickup mandatory. Why not Rhode Island?
Johnston's landfill will reach capacity by 2040. That’s in most of our lifetimes. It would be less expensive to offer composting than trying to ship our waste out of state. Yes, initially it would cost money but is it something we should be working on now? Yes!
Rhode Islanders need to reach out to their local government to get this conversation started.
Susan Dunnington, East Providence
Signs for crosswalks please
Can anyone explain why pedestrian crosswalks throughout the state don’t have signs posting the state law: “Yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk”?
I have contacted various officials and have gotten nowhere. In North Providence there is a treacherous crosswalk in front of the Citizens Bank on Mineral Spring Avenue where they have germ infested orange flags that you are suppose to carry while attempting to cross. I guess if you get hit while attempting to cross the flag might help you from getting run over again.
If only one person’s life is saved by posting this state law at these crosswalks then it is worth it.
Put up these signs!
Kevin R. Hurley, North Providence
Inconvenienced by abortion bans
Regarding the story “Out-of-state abortion trips more than double" (News, June 18), are we expected to bemoan inconveniences associated with the premeditated killing of the innocent? Why would we do that?
William P. McKenna, Cranston
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Saturday letters: Maltreatment of chickens; municipal composting good for the state
