Why Vegan?

So, it’s a question I get asked A LOT and so I thought, after six years I would shed some light on the apparently shocking life decision I have made.

The answer which I most commonly give is this: cruelty. 

I don’t understand why, but people seem to find this a pretty hard word to decipher, so I shall expand; I don’t care if animals ‘are here for our use’ (and for the record, I don’t believe this to be the case), at the end of the day, whether they are here for us or not, it still hurts to be tortured and killed. 

I cannot just turn my head and stay oblivious to what happens, instead I put myself in the shoes of an animal. I try to imagine the excruciating pain that they go through - would I want to go through this? NO. Then why should anything else? (especially for my selfish benefit).

Once I have finished my spur on cruelty, the next question often follows.  Well, actually its normally shouted at me as more of a statement; ‘animals are not killed for dairy products and egg though’. Did I say that they were? NO. But they can be tortured, which to be honest is probably worse than being killed. Take eggs for example; free range doesn’t exactly mean a life of freedom. Free range is classed as one metre per chicken. ONE METRE. In my opinion, there is no way that this is free range. Eggs have also been stated as free range if the chickens are let out for say, an hour a day. 

There is then the matter of milk. Not many people seem to realise that cows, like us, have to get pregnant in order to produce milk. What happens to their calves who are not needed? (specifically the males?). You guessed it: killed.

(Note: I shall save the more complex products of wool, honey etc for another post...)

So, thats the very basics of why I am a Vegan and I shall go into much greater detail in due course, but for now I shall finish with a quote that I truly believe in (courtesy of PETA); ‘Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way’.