Posted on 12/21/2007 3:21:38 PM PST by Nasty McPhilthy
Monks at a Lowcountry monastery are looking for a new source of income.
Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery on the Cooper River, announced Thursday it will cease its egg production business following pressure from an animal rights group.
The phaseout of the industry, which has sustained the brothers for more than 40 years, comes after attacks by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Earlier this year, and again this week, PETA charged that the birds at Mepkin Abbey were caged in cramped quarters and suffered inhumane practices. PETA urged shoppers to boycott Mepkin Abbey eggs, which are sold at Piggly Wiggly and other grocery stores.
Abbot Stan Gumula has disputed PETAs claims, but said the continuing dispute detracts from their life of prayer, work and contemplation.
We will be looking for a new industry to help us meet our daily expenses. We hope to find a source of income that will respect this tradition of work on the land and care for the environment.
Gumula said the brothers who make their home at Mepkin had begun discussions under the late abbot Francis Kline but had postponed a decision because of his illness and death last year.
The egg business, which supplied among its customers at the Charleston Air Force Base, will be phased out over the next year and a half.
The 28 monks, who had 28,000 chickens, also have a gift shop and sell the Earth Healer brand of fertilizer for gardens.
Were delighted to learn that Mepkin is getting out of the cruelty business and we hope that we can work with them to remove the hens from these cages, PETA vice president Bruce Friedrich said.
No matter what the abusers religion, its wrong to abuse one animal, let alone 20,000 of them.
...while people in Russia live in cramped in-law apartments and suffer inchickane practices, and that is OK. Put the chicky threat mills in the cages and let them roam freeeeee!
But don't ask for decaf or a big salad.
Brew beer
Yep. The life cycle of the laying hen:
Perfect. If only they would... LOL.
What happened to the monks of old who would tell the nutty terrorists to shag off?
Into the bank, which at six bucks a hen comes to $168,000.00.
So, the customers, who support the whole operation, have no say, but the monks are acceding to those who invest nothing but harassment?
Seems to me we ought to put the PETA folks in too-small cages...
These communist nitwits are way over the edge, and have successfully gotten otherwise sane folks to buy into their claptrap. If it were up to them, we’d all be wearing clothing woven from hemp (their favorite plant, I think) and meandering around in open, unimproved spaces...not too much different from most of the third world countries that we generally (though ineffectually) try to assist.
Jerry! She said they don't serve eggs anymore. Something about PETA and the PigMan. Now what am I gonna do?
haha, you are very bad. That’s a perfect idea (KFC). They should never have caved to PETA. Chickens like to live like chickens.
“PETA vice president Bruce Friedrich said.”
Someone needs to pound this dirtbags head into the fertilizer that the monks sell.
It might teach him something.....
Heh, my first thought was for the gentle monks to tell PETA, "Bite Me"!;o)
Another surrender to the PETA terrorists. Who’s next?
Of course, maybe the monks could partner with a local synagogue and make some nice chicken soup for a while.
According to the Virginia state veterinarian, PETA killed 1,946 cats, dogs, and other pets last year, in addition to 141 wild animals. In 2005 PETA managed a startling 90 percent kill rate (worse than the 86 percent the year before), adopting or transferring out only 215 animals. Added to PETA's earlier numbers, these new figures tell us that since July 1998 the group has killed over 14,400 cats, dogs, and other pets in Virginia.
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/pressRelease_detail.cfm/release/148
The lack of response will, of course, be brought to mind in the next Huckster/Mitt thread.
puck peta
I am a chapter president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Plants.
Did you ever notice how vegetarians always go for the sex organs of their prey?
PETA members are simply imbeciles. Having stated that I will also state that putting a chicken in a cage that is so small that it can’t stand up or turn around and leaving it there until it is ready to die is an abomination. Those who do it are no better than the dog fighters that we seem to be so outraged about. You can pasture 28,000 chickens on 10 acres and the cost of fences and laying houses will be less than the mechanized torture chamber that is normally used. The eggs will taste a lot better. And besides, what the hell do monks have to do anyway that keeps them from herding chickens a couple of hours a day.
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