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# That’s pretty tight
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/thats-pretty-tight-editor/
- Published: 2007-03-01T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:10:10.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import

*By Heather Moore People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals*

The JetBlue passengers who were stranded on an icy runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport for up to 10 hours, and the commuters recently stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for a similar length of time, understand how frustrating it can be to be trapped in a small space, especially if you need a bathroom break. It’s uncomfortable, inconvenient and almost unbearable. But imagine how horrible it is for animals who are packed in crowded transport trucks for up to eight hours and shipped to slaughter without sufficient food, water or veterinary care.

Workers grab thousands of chickens by the feet and shove them into the drawers of 6-foot-high crates, often breaking their legs and wings in the process. Terrified cows are prodded onto trucks and often trample one another during the long journeys in all temperatures. Piglets weighing up to 100 pounds are given no more than 2.4 square feet of space, and farmers are warned that the piglets “probably will get sick within a few days after arrival.” Once these animals reach their destinations, they are slaughtered and dismembered, often while they’re still conscious.

So the next time you’re delayed at the airport or sitting in a traffic jam, take a minute to think about these animals and the conditions that they endure. You can help them simply by going vegetarian.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 1, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/030107.pdf?ref=smdp.com)