Dear Editor:

The celebrity outfits at this year’s Met Gala—the glamorous fashion event in New York City—were as dazzling and outrageous as ever. But many people don’t realize that some of the costumes were also cruel. Ostriches, geese, turkeys, peacocks, and other birds suffer terribly so that humans can obtain their feathers.

Feather accessories usually come from terrified birds who were killed for their flesh. Young ostriches are forcibly restrained, their throats cut. Roosters are genetically altered, then killed and de-feathered. On goose farms, animals shriek in terror as fistfuls of feathers are ripped from their live bodies.

At the next fashion event, take in all the glamour and style—but leave birds’ feathers out of it. They aren’t ours to take.

— Scott Miller