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Peta pressure puts monks out of longtime egg business
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Bowing to ongoing pressure by a national animal-liberation organization, the monks of Mepkin Abbey plan to phase out egg production, which has been their livelihood and main source of income for nearly 50 years.
The announcement, made on the abbey’s Web site, coincided with a protest by People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals at the Piggly Wiggly supermarket on Meeting Street, where Mepkin’s eggs are sold.
Peta has pressured Mepkin Abbey, located in Moncks Corner, for months about the practice of keeping its chickens in small wire cages, which the organization deems cruel but which is the most common method of egg farming. Peta spokesman Bruce Friedrich said about 5% of egg farms in the country are cage-free producers and the group had urged the monks to consider adapting that method.
Father Stan Gumula, abbot of Mepkin Abbey, in March asked Peta to recommend ways to alter its egg operation and said he would consider their suggestions.
Gumula also denied any mistreatment of the monastery’s chickens and said its operations met national standards. In November, the monastery began a process of selecting members for an advisory board to review its egg production.
Peta said its latest protest was organized because the abbey had not changed any of its egg production practices or implemented any of Peta’s suggestions.
In a letter posted on Mepkin Abbey’s Web site, Gumula said the monastery will phase out its egg production business in the next year and a half.
Gumula said Peta’s protests made it hard for the monks to live their quiet life of prayer, work and sacred reading.
“We will be looking for a new industry to help us meet our daily expenses,” Gumula said. “We hope to find a source of income that will respect this tradition of work on the land and care for the environment.”
Egg sales generate about $140,000 a year for the abbey, which is more than half its annual earned income.
Mary Jeffcoat, spokeswoman for Mepkin Abbey, said the monastery did not want to make any additional statements.
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@setcommedia.com.
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