Do I have to be a vegan to be an animal right activist?!
Do I have to be a vegan to be an animal right activist?
Next to loving all people, I love animals. They're all so important in my life. I don't agree with animal cruelty, or animal testing, or killing animals for clothing or anything else and I can't watch people kill or hurt them and I could never hurt one myself. But I do eat meat and fish. I don't think about it when I am eating because I try not to think about such cruel things. I am an animal right activist and I am a member on PETA. But does it make me an hypocrite and a bad person. I might never give up eating meat cause I am use to it and I think that it's a person's personal choice. And what about wearing leather? I heard that they don't kill the animal for this. What do you think? As well, I know this sounds stupid, but do you think that we should not kill insects either? I try not to kill them, but I do sometimes. Is that the same thing? Again, all I know is yes I do eat meat and might not stop but I can honestly say animals are my life and I will always love them.
Answers:
No! You do not have to be a Vegan to support humane treatment of animals...
i don't think it makes you a hypocrite. humans were made to eat meat. if we weren't we couldn't digest it. so i wouldn't worry about it.
you are kiddin right . you speak about killin and torturing animals but youself eat meat . that,s not fair . nothin about wearing leather b'coz the skins are seperated only after the anims death
Sorry, it's a bit long, but you asked so many interesting questions!
For starters, people often confuse "animal rights" and "animal welfare". The differences are a little too much to get into here, but basically, welfare is ensuring animals are well-treated (which, many say killing is unacceptable under this definition, whereas others say it's okay as long as the animal was kept in good conditions beforehand and then quickly and painlessly killed) but for animal rights, killing or exploiting an animal would not be acceptable.
So you could be a strong animal *welfare* activist without being vegan, but quite difficult to take a consistent position of animal *rights* while still using products obtained from animal exploitation. Since egg-laying hens and dairy cows are often mistreated, some animal welfarists are vegan anyway for that reason. There are some animal *welfare* activists who eat meat, but you would have to take the highly disputable view that you can compassionately kill something for food.
Short version:
Animal welfare: vegan, vegetarian, or (dubiously) meat-eater
Animal rights: vegan or (dubiously) vegetarian - being a meat-eating AR activist would be completely hypocritical
Yes, to get leather, you have to kill the cow.
As for killing insects, I try to avoid it, but have done things in self-defense which may have resulted in insect death - for example, fire ants found their way into my apartment, crawled into my sleeping bag and clothes and bit me in over a hundred places. I washed the bag and clothes, and vacuumed the carpet (probably killing ants), because the alternatives were to either abandon my stuff and apartment or continue being bitten.
So, I've answered all of your questions, but there's an implicit one here, so I have this to say - all of this is up to you. You go as far with this as you can, follow your heart and your moral guidance. Being vegetarian is pretty easy, and I don't deign to know why any person does or doesn't eat vegetarian, so I won't tell you what to do, but if you don't want to contribute or benefit from animal death - go for it! If there are a couple things you are not ready to give up, you could just greatly reduce your meat-eating rather than going vegetarian. Large leather items (purses, coats, etc.) are extremely easy to avoid (bits of leather on shoes, straps, backs of pants etc. are more difficult). Being vegan is somewhat more difficult, but I eased into it, and it's actually been surprisingly easy - the main difficulty is getting used to my choice in restaurants being limited. But again, if you feel strongly, do what you can, don't worry about labels (er, but don't misuse them either!), and follow your own morals - for example, maybe you can give up beef, pork, leather, and dairy, but still eat turkey on Thanksgivings, shrimp every two weeks, and omelettes for breakfast, and only buy vegan cosmetics and toiletries. In that example, it wouldn't be vegan or even vegetarian, but you would be doing a great help, and consistency in time could develop until you *were* either of those - or maybe not, it's your life. (I know for me, I thought I could never give up cheese, that was the last to go...until eventually my love and respect for cows, and outrage at their treatment in modern dairy farms surpassed my love of the taste of cheese.)
Whatever you decide, just be consistent and accurate in the labels you do decide to describe yourself with, and remember that a lot of the things you think you "can't do without" right now will often lose their appeal the less you use them and the more you learn about how they are acquired - and there are alternatives for so, so much. Right now, you sound like you're somewhere in the animal welfare group, but who knows where you will end up as you grow and learn? Good luck!
NO 1 of my best Friends in in Animal Rescue, she is not a Vegan or even a Veggie. But she has for 30 years constantly helped thousands of abused, lost creatures. Follow your heart, but use common sense.
You don't have to be a vegan to be an animal rights activist, but if you really cared about hurting animals, you definitely would be a vegetarian of some kind. Animals may be killed cruely or tortured for leather and such, but the mistreatment of animals is probably worse when they are raised for food! You are a member of PETA?? have you watched the Meet Your Meat video? if not you should, if you really do love animals it will open your eyes. I don't think it's right that you say you love them and want to fight for their rights and then you turn around and EAT them. ew.
I think it would be slightly hypocritical of you to eat non-free range meat and be an animal rights activist. Are you just a pet activist or something? All animals are animals, whether they're made for 'eating' or not. Choosing to eat meat is a personal decision, but if you have to eat it, at least try to get the animal that was treated the best in order to support your beliefs. Every time you munch into that KFC snacker you're supporting their unethical treatment. To "not think about such cruel things" defeats the purpose of what you're trying to do, does it not?
I'm not judging anyone, but I just don't understand how someone can say they are so against something, and yet continue to support it. Eating meat is a completely personal decision, and I truly see nothing wrong with eating meat from a healthy, non-hormone/antibiotic pumped animal that's lived in a dwelling hardly bigger than it's own body size most of its life.
You cannot be an animal rights activist and still eat meat, or dairy or eggs, or wear leather. What would you think of someone who claimed to want freedom for slaves yet continued to own them?
I mean no offense by this but the very fact that you asked this question in the first place suggests you have no real understanding of Rights theory, or what animal rights really means. If you take animal interests seriously the first step is not to eat or exploit animals. Period.
The idea of according animals basic rights (what animal rights means) would, at minimum, mean that animals are no longer the property of humans. This means we could not eat them, have them as pets, or use them in any way. As vegan's we live this idea as reality to the best of our ability now. To do otherwise does in fact make one a hypocrite.
So to sum it up, your not an animal rights activist, Peta doesn't care what you believe or do as long as you give them money, and you will never get anyone to take the intrests of animals seriously if you yourself do not.
Check out these links for more info:
http://animal-law.org
http://veganfreak.net
You're a HUGE hypocrite. If you're against animal cruelty then obviously you wouldn't be eating meat. It's not like someone comes up to a cow or pig and puts them to sleep...nor do they ask them.
"I might never give up eating meat cause I am use to it and I think that it's a person's personal choice"-...alright, so then I would stop saying you're an animal right's activist right here and now.
"And what about wearing leather? I heard that they don't kill the animal for this"- I'm hoping that you just worded that wrong and meant to say 'I heard that animals aren't just killed to provide us with their fur or skin"...if so most of the time animals are killed just for their fur. If you didn't word that incorrectly then you are totally oblivious to what happens to animals and have obviously not watched any of the videos PETA has.
"As well, I know this sounds stupid, but do you think that we should not kill insects either?"- Lets just say that you're walking down the street and an ant is crawling across the ground, I doubt you'll see it and you would probably accidently step on it. I wouldn't go out of my way to kill an insect, most of the times they're just trying to get out of your way or out of your house.