Christina Matthies: Animal cruelty unchecked

Regarding the July 10 news article “Animal, farm groups say law halts probes”: The horrifying revelation that baby animals were left alone to die or were ground up while still alive and clucking at the Sanderson Farms poultry plant in Kinston is made all the more barbarous by the new North Carolina “ag-gag” law that seeks to cover up such suffering.

In their short lives, these newborns are denied their mothers’ warmth and nurturing, comfort and even sunlight before suffering painful and terrifying deaths.

Without the threat of exposure, there will be less incentive for farms to combat cruelty to animals. By giving protection to abusers rather than to those who are abused and allowing companies to sue whistleblowers into silence, North Carolina has moved backward into a crueler, less-enlightened past.

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Christina Matthies: Animal cruelty unchecked."