Dear future Mr./Mrs. President,

My name is Lexie and I am a student attending Staples High School in Westport, CT. For all 16 years of my life, I have been a vegetarian, therefore the issue on hand that I will be discussing is animal abuse and violence. All over the United States, animals are suffering from pure cruelty and abuse. Whether it’s domestic violence in the animal’s home, scientific chemical testing on animals for products of our enjoyment, or violence against animals for human entertainment, it is an occurring issue. Measures should be taken to help decrease this tragic issue. People are oblivious to the actual cruelty that animals suffer from on the daily, they’re just focusing on what meat they’re going to eat for dinner, what form of animal entertainment they’re going to check out later, or what shampoo they should buy at the store. I’m here to inform you that behind the scenes, animals are not treated how you would assume and hope they would be.

Every day animals are fighting for their lives. For human enjoyment, these animals are are enslaved, beaten, and kept in chains to make them perform for our entertainment. They are mutilated, encapsulated, and abused in tiny cages for the main purpose that we can kill them and eat them as food. Devastatingly, over 56 billion farmed animals are killed every year by humans (animalequality.net). They are poisoned, burned, blinded, and tested on with chemicals for the means of “science.”According to Human Society International (hsi.org), more than 100 million animals are killed each year in laboratories around the world. But it doesn’t stop there. Animals are also skinned alive so that humans can wear their coats, shoes, and show off their accessories.

Now, Mrs. Clinton, I know that your husband, Bill, is a vegan. By choosing to be a vegan he is contributing to the prevention, or decrease in animal cruelty in slaughterhouses. Once you see for yourself the upsetting cruelty involved in raising animals to be slaughtered and the slaughter itself for food, your mindset may open up more about the fact that animals should have enjoyable lives too. Ramon Moreno, who is an experienced slaughter-house worker, discussed the slaughter of cows with The Washington Post, stating that after the cow shot or it’s throat is slit, “They blink. They make noises. The head moves, the eyes are wide and looking around. … They die piece by piece.” (Peta.com). I know I can’t provide videos in this letter, but it would be civil and considerate of you to take the time to watch videos on Peta.com, with titles such as, “Meet Your Meat,” or, “Glass Walls by Paul McCartney.” These videos provide a clear behind the scenes look of what goes on in the process of slaughtering animals for food. Because Bill is a vegan, have you ever thought of converting to one like him?

Mr. Trump, you were referred to as a circusman, more specifically a ring-master of your party, at the Republican National Convention. While you may think this is a compliment, the figure you were compared to is cruel and abusive to animals in his circus in reality. Circuses seem fun and enjoyable for everyone, including the performing animals, but behind the scenes the animals are lacking the pleasure that we think they have. The actual fact of the matter is that these animals don’t perform because they find satisfaction in it, they perform out of fear of what will happen if they don’t. Circus animals are abused with whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks and more, in order to get them to perform the tasks that the ring-master demonstrates during the circus show. There is actual live footage of the occurrences of animal cruelty in the process of making a circus show. I know that the context is not the same, yet being compared to a ringmaster would be much more pleasant if a real ring master was so abusive to his animals.

Animals all over suffer from animal abuse of all different forms, including entertainment, scientific testing, clothing, and most of all food. While many think that nothing can be done about the issue of animal abuse, that is incorrect. According to Peta, “Circuses easily get away with such routine cruelty because the government doesn’t monitor training sessions and handlers are cautious when they’re in public.” Mr. or Mrs. President, if you are in high power in the government, don’t you think you could monitor training session and handlers in circuses? Even doing little things like this contribute to the decrease in animal cruelty. Now I’m not asking everyone to convert to vegetarianism, that would be unreasonable. But I do ask that these facilities that are using harsh cruelty on the animals are monitored, and recognized. This is a very important matter to me, and others should know the reality of the animal products that they use.

Thank you very much,

Lexie