Has the recession made a Grinch of Ikea? The furniture giant is selling reindeer meat, and Rudolph isn't put down kindly: Animal-right activists charge that Ikea's reindeer slices and reindeer salami are products of animal cruelty. Modern reindeer ranchers herd the animals with helicopters, trucks, and snowmobiles over hundreds of miles, causing them mental and physical distress. More heartbreaking: 70 percent of Swedish reindeer slaughtered are calves, which die without ever seeing snow. Ikea has decided to hold its ground, offering this peculiar defense of the hunting methods: "The vehicles keep the reindeer safe from predators."
Read it at The Independent
