No Tyson in Kansas
Wichita Eagle Letter by Karen Davis
Tyson Foods is being met with fierce opposition in Kansas, where the
company is looking to expand its horrible chicken production operations.
Recently the residents of Tonganoxie, Kansas in Leavenworth County rallied
successfully to keep Tyson out. Residents of Sedgwick County, Kansas are
now waging a fight as well. Letters to the state’s largest newspaper, The Wichita Eagle, are overwhelmingly against Tyson establishing a
foothold. Sedgwick County animal rights activist Mary Moore asked if I
would please write a Letter to the Editor in support of the local
opposition to Tyson. My letter was published Nov. 28, 2017. It is followed
by another letter against Tyson.
– Karen Davis, President, United Poultry Concerns
“The new complex will include a processing plant, hatchery, feed mill
and related operations.” Industry photo.
Opposition from a chicken region
The Wichita Eagle, Nov. 28, 2017
Public opposition to a Tyson chicken production complex in Sedgwick County is well-founded. I hope it will be heeded. I speak as a resident of the eastern shore of Virginia which, together with Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore, is a chicken industry-dominated region with thousands of chicken sheds on the main road and back roads and gigantic slaughter plants including Tyson.
If Sedgwick County lets Tyson in, the operation will likely expand, but even if it didn’t, a complex comprising a hatchery, feed mill, slaughter plant and chicken sheds would pollute the county and lower its value as a place where people want to live, because the sight, smell and sadness of the chickens cannot be hidden, even by the shrubbery Tyson plants to hide its activities. The trucks with their sagging loads of traumatized birds are in plain sight.
Tyson targets rural counties, expecting little or no resistance from impoverished residents desperate for almost any kind of work no matter how repugnant, violent, and degrading. The company was surprised when residents of Tonganoxie successfully withdrew their welcome after educating themselves of the outcome if Tyson got inside their gates. I hope Sedgwick County residents will likewise succeed.
KAREN DAVIS, MACHIPONGO, VA.
Letters to the Editor - The Witchita Eagle
Photo by Linda Howard in UPC’s
Poultry Slaughter: The Need for Legislation