Sample letter to your mayor or town council to have
your city or town adopt the Sentient Beings Proclamation

Date
[Member of the Board]
Town, city, county, state
Address
Anytown, USA

Dear [Name of city/town/county leader],

I am writing to ask [the Board of city/town] to help address a growing concern about the inhumane treatment of animals who are raised for food.

Agriculture has changed markedly over the past fifty years—as traditional family farms have been replaced by industrialized factory farms where animals are treated like “tools of production,” rather than as living, feeling animals. Millions of cows, pigs, and chickens spend their entire lives confined in cages or crates so small that they cannot walk, turn around, or even lie down comfortably. These intensive confinement systems are so cruel that they have been outlawed by European countries but, unfortunately, they remain legal in the United States despite widespread public opposition. (For more information about modern farming practices, please contact Farm Sanctuary, P.O. Box 150, Watkins Glen, NY 14891; 607-583-2225 ext 228, e-mail activist@farmsanctuary.org, or see: www.factoryfarming.com or www.freefarmanimals.org.)

Farm animals—like all animals—feel pain, and they should be protected from cruelty. Toward this goal, I urge [name of town] to adopt a proclamation that officially acknowledges that farm animals are sentient beings who deserve to be treated with respect. A draft proclamation is included below for your review.

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “The moral progress of a nation can be judged by its treatment of animals.” Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Your name
Your address

Draft Proclamation:

WHEREAS, animals exploited by agribusiness are sentient beings—capable of awareness, feeling, and suffering; and

WHEREAS, human beings have an ethical obligation to refrain from causing pain and suffering to other sentient beings; and

WHEREAS, agribusiness commonly subjects cattle, pigs, chickens, and other farm animals to overcrowding, intensive confinement, and other conditions which cause pain and suffering;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved, that we recognize farm animals as sentient beings who deserve to be treated with respect and protected from inhumane treatment.