SIR: I read with horror British Airways' plans to start serving ostrich meat on their North American flights. While many other airlines are removing the gruesome "delicacy" foie gras from their menu, due to consumer pressure, British Airways choose to stick their head in the sand and ignore consumer demand for a healthy and humane diet.

Naturally active, nomadic birds, ostriches are particularly ill-suited to the intensive living conditions of the meat industry. Adapted to wide open spaces, ostriches can run up to 40 miles an hour, covering 15 to 20 miles a day. More than 60 per cent of a free-roaming ostrich's day is devoted to walking, yet ostriches, raised for their flesh, skin and feathers, are confined to small pens with no opportunity to engage in this natural behaviour. Close confinement, combined with high-protein diets designed to make birds grow bigger, faster, causes many birds to develop crippling leg deformities.

In addition to the cruelty of confinement and slaughter, transport is also dangerous and stressful. Last year, 21 ostriches died en route from Devon to Manchester after being packed five to a cage on un-air-conditioned trucks. An airport worker said: "It was a pitiful sight. Some of the birds had been pecking, scratching and biting each other. They must have been in agony."

This is the cruel trade British Airways want to contribute to by adding ostrich meat to their menu. Public pressure will surely prevent them from succeeding.

Toni Vernelli,

PETA UK Representative.

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