I'm already a vegetarian, and I avoid products that involve extreme cruelty, such as veal and foie gras. Isn't that enough?
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FROM
Be Fair Be Vegan
September 2016
No. Many vegetarians still wear leather, wool and silk along with eating
dairy, eggs, honey, and other items from the same industry that produces
meat. All of these animal products cause unnecessary harm, which we are
obligated to avoid if we are to live consistently with our values.
- Milk and other Dairy Products: Production of dairy requires female
cows to be repeatedly impregnated, so that lactation will occur. But
mothers and babies cannot be allowed to stay together, or there will be
no milk to take. Female calves born of this breeding cycle become the
next generation of dairy slaves, following their mothers into a lifetime
of repeated forced insemination, resulting in annual mourning for their
stolen infants. While these girls are milked dry by mechanized systems,
their male sons and brothers are sold for their tender flesh (known as
veal), with a small few kept aside to be used for the same artificial
insemination endured by their sisters and mothers.
- Eggs: As only female chicks are capable of laying eggs, those
identified as male are considered a ‘waste product’ that must be disposed of
using the most cost-effective methods available. What this often means is
that 50% of all chicks born in hatcheries are ground alive or thrown into
trashcans and smothered. Many chicks end up incorrectly sexed, meaning that
males are sold as females and end up filling farm sanctuaries when their
owners discover that they are actually roosters. Hens raised for meat and
egg laying generally come from the same hatcheries. The hens that make it
out alive are de-beaked; an extremely painful process.
- Honey: Many bees are killed during the extraction of honey. But even
prior to this, they are forced to live in unnatural and unhealthy hive
structures so that we can take their winter reserve of food (honey) and be
shipped around the country to pollinate crops (edging out the natural
species that would normally do so).
No matter their “quality of life,” unnecessary harm is always involved
when we exploit another animal’s reproductive system, flesh (meat), skin
(leather), or regurgitated food (honey). Thankfully, there are good vegan
alternatives to all of these.
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