Why Vegan, Rather Than Vegetarian?
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A Vegan is one who strives to avoid using products derived from animals or tested on animals. For an ethical Vegan, the purpose of avoidance of "Animal Products" is to avoid causing suffering to animals. While Vegans do not condone the killing of animals for food or other products, when animals are simply killed, their suffering ceases. In contrast, the dairy and egg-production industries are inherently more cruel, as many of the animals in these industries are subjected to a life of ongoing suffering.
For many people, when they decide to become Vegetarian they replace the animal flesh in their diet with additional dairy products and eggs. Their diets often comprise more dairy products and eggs than the average Omnivore or meat-eater's diet. So, when this is true, this Vegetarian Diet is inherently more cruel than the average Omnivore diet! Quite a sobering thought.
The dairy industry causes on-going exploitation and suffering to cows for their entire lives. Cows are made to be pregnant, on a regular basis, so they can continue to produce milk - not for the calves they produce, but for human consumption. Most of the calves are killed for veal-meat or join the beef herd, to be killed as mature animals. A small percentage of female calves become dairy cows to live a life of pregnancy and deprivation and grief, when their calves are taken away from them. So supporting the dairy industry by using dairy products not only supports the suffering of animals, but also supports the killing of animals.
A large percentage of animal suffering is endured by the millions of chickens that spend their lives in small cages, to produce eggs (the Battery-hen system). Chickens, whether Free-range or not, are killed when their egg production is no longer economical. The unwanted male chicks are killed at birth. So the use of eggs supports the egg industry and the killing of chickens.
Free chicken walking in grass - "I'm free and I love it!" |
For these reasons, why would we recommend that a person go from being an omnivore to being a vegetarian? Rather, it would be better to recommend that they reduce or eliminate animal products, with the aim of becoming Vegan. That is, going from omnivore to Vegan.
How bitterly disappointed I was to realise that, after ten years on a vegetarian diet, this diet was causing more suffering to animals than if I had been an omnivore.
Unfortunately, there are millions of vegetarians around the world who are complacent in the mistaken belief that they have a cruelty-free diet because they avoid eating animal flesh.
Fortunately, we can tell them the truth!
