My first year out of college, I lived with three friends. About once a month, we’d go to Costco to shop and get one of the giant cheese pizzas to share. I have fond memories of enjoying dinners together. But, it always puzzled me how all of the food was so cheap. 

A piece fell into place when I saw the undercover investigation covered by the New York Times of a farm that supplies Costco: of course the chicken can be cheap when the chickens are genetically modified to grow to six times as fast as chickens from 1925 and sheds are crammed full of hundreds of thousands of birds. The focus on efficiency causes the chickens great suffering: they’re forced to lie in their own feces for weeks on end and many are born with painful deformities.

Costco has changed nothing in response to the investigation: They publicly stated that these horrendous conditions are “normal and uneventful activity”.

Who would subject living, feeling animals to such a horrific life to save a few dollars? I won’t stand for it. Seattle shouldn’t either - especially with Costco headquarters in our city.