animals
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vegan
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especting...means going
What is a vegan?
A vegan is a person who refrains fromusing and consuming animals and animalproducts for any purpose, including food,clothing, and entertainment.
The argument in a nutshell
Although most people believe that animalsshould not be harmed unnecessarily, theybehave in ways that contradict this belief.
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Becoming vegan is the only way for aperson to resolve this contradiction.
Unnecessary harm
Like most people, you believe that it wouldbe wrong for a person to maim or kill a catout of anger. You would also be revolted bysomeone who burned a dog for the sake of enjoyment. Generally speaking, you agreethat because harming these animals in suchways is unnecessary, the above actionsare unjustied.
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And if you believe that itis wrong to harm animals like cats or dogswithout good reason, you already believesomething that compels you to becomevegan.
Why is that?
Your belief that harming cats and dogs inthese ways is unjustied stems from yourawareness that they are sentient beings—that is, beings who feel pleasure and pain,and who have interests in avoiding suf-fering and in continuing to live. Like mostpeople, you agree that their interest in notbeing harmed shouldn’t be ignored merelyto satisfy our comparatively trivial interests(such as our interest in pleasure). This belief compels us to be vegan becauseof the following three ideas, taken together:
1. There is no morally signicant difer-ence between dogs and cats and otheranimals.
You agree that it is wrong to harm a cat ordog without good reason because yourecognize that they are sentient beingswhose interest in not being harmedshouldn’t be ignored merely to satisfyour trivial interests. This same reasoningapplies equally to every sentient being,including cows, pigs, birds, and sh, allof whom also have an interest in notbeing harmed. So your belief about cats
There is no morally signicant diferencebetween dogs and catsand other animals.
1.
Gary L. Francione,
Introduction to Animal Rights
(Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2000), Ch. 1, generally.2. Francione 4-5.3. Michael Looper, “When Should Dairy Cows Be Inseminated?,”
The Dairy Site
May 2000, 24 Mar. 2010 < http://www.thedairysite.com/articles/720/when-should-dairy-cows-be-inseminated>.4. Coleen Jones and Jud Heinrichs, “Highlights of the Dairy 2007 Survey: Focus on Calves and Heifers,”
Dairy and Animal Science
, 03 Feb. 2008, Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, 24 Mar. 2010 <http://www.das.psu.edu/research-extension/dairy/dairy-digest/articles/dd200802-03>.5. Frances C. Flower and Daniel M. Weary, “Eects of Early Separation on the Dairy Cow and Calf: 2. Separation at 1 Dayand 2 Weeks After Birth.”
Applied Animal Behaviour Science
, 26 Jan. 2001;70(4): 275-284.6. Elizabeth Weise, “Illegal hormones found in veal calves,”
USA Today
28 Mar. 2004, 24 Mar. 2010 <http://www.usato-day.com/news/health/2004-03-28-veal-usat_x.htm>.7. “Veal from Farm to Table,”
Fact Sheets: Meat Preparation
, 17 Oct. 2006, USDA, 24 Mar. 2010 <http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/veal_from_farm_to_table/index.asp>.8. Richard L. Wallace, “Market cows: a potential prot center,” Illini DairyNet, 13 Mar. 2002, 24 Mar. 2010 <http://www.livestocktrail.uiuc.edu/dairynet/paperDisplay.cfm?ContentID=354>.9. “Economic Opportunities for Dairy Cow Culling Management Options,”
Ino Sheet: Veterinary Services
, USDA-APHIS,May 1996, 24 Mar. 2010
<http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ceah/ncahs/nahms/dairy/dairy96/Dairy96_is_BiosecurityPrac.pdf>
.10. Winston J. Craig, Ann Reed Mangels, “Position of the American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets,“
Journal o the AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION
, July 2009;109(7):1266-1282.
and dogs actually calls on you to avoidharming any sentient animal merely forpurposes of convenience or pleasure.
2. Using and consuming animals andtheir products causes harm to animals.
In all but the most extraordinary cir-cumstances, animals cannot be usedby humans without being harmed. Anexample (which is only one of many) willhelp make this point clear. To produce cows’ milk for humanconsumption, it isstandard to articiallyinseminate cows,keeping them preg-nant and lactating ascontinuously aspossible.
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Withinabout 24 hours of being born, calves areseparated from theirmothers,
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a trauma-tizing experience forboth the cows andtheir ospring.
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Eachyear, nearly a million calves are slaugh-tered for veal
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at around 3-18 weeks of age.
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After less than 4 years--only 3-4lactations--their mothers are no longerproduce enough milk to be consideredprotable.
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“Spent”, nearly all of them areslaughtered for consumption.
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Harms like these are essentiallyunavoidable when we use themfor our own purposes.
3. Using and consuming animals andtheir products serves only our trivialinterests.
In order for it to be the case that usingand consuming animals does more thanserve our trivial interests, we must havesome need to use and consume them.For instance, from a health standpoint, itmust be necessary to consume animalsor animal products.But this is simply notthe case. The AmericanDietetic Associationstates thatappropriatelyplanned vegan dietsare “healthful,nutritionallyadequate, and mayprovide healthbenets in theprevention and treatment of certaindiseases.”
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Humans simply do not needto use or consume animals. As such, theinterests we serve by using or consum-ing them can be fairly described as trivial(such as the interest in experiencingpleasure).
cow milking
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BVA Vegan Outreach Pamphlet (Updated Ed.)
Hard copies of this pamphlet are provided free to qualifying advocates for use in vegan education. Visit www.veganpamphlet.com for more information and to apply.
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