‘Pig abuse’ no more than necessary policies

On June 27, I read an article that was disturbing to me. It was titled "4 in Iowa get probation for pig abuse." While I don't condone animal abuse, I think we have to be careful in saying what is abuse and what is necessary. I do not condone hitting pigs with rods or kicking them; however, castrating and docking tails without anesthetic is another question. Give me a break.

We have castrated and docked tails for years. If America wants to continue having excellent pork products to eat, we better be careful what restrictions we put on our pork producers. Because of the time element and the cost of anesthetic, we cannot, nor should we, expect our pork producers to use anesthetics for these two procedures. It is a time-consuming process as is. It would be interesting to know if those responsible for the investigation have ever raised pigs.

Something definitely has gone wrong in America. We can kill a human baby before birth, but we can't castrate pigs or dock tails.

Bill Bishop

Guttenberg