Vegans/vegetarians would you kill a rat? What of bugs? Ants?!

The link you provided is two people having a conversation in an attempt to troll vegans, don't let it get to you. (:

I would not kill or harm a rat. I had a rescue rat when I was younger, and she was an incredibly intelligent and inquisitive creature. She would hang out on my shoulders a lot or crawl into my hoods/pockets to sleep, "chatter" (a rat version of a purr) constantly and even knew how to "give kisses" like some dogs do. Hardly a creature I have a desire to kill.

Anyway, if I see a cat killing an animal, I feel no reason to get involved and I'd prefer to let nature run its course.

I'd kill creatures in self-defense, but thats about it. Two examples I can think of are mosquitoes (due to the possibility of malaria or other blood diseases) and these poisonous spiders who live around my house and tend to bite.

I'd NEVER kill a rat. I would feel so bad. I once buried a wild rat that a dog across the street killed.

I don't kill bugs too (I try not to step on ants when I walk). I have a jar that I use to catch bugs and let them outside.

no, I don't kill them. I de-flea my dogs, but thats as far as it goes. I will also admit to swatting a mosquito that had landed on my arm, felt kinda bad about that, but I was in an area where they can carry malaria.

ive never been one to kill bugs, even as a child. if i saw a spider or something i would have my dad take them outside or do it myself if i couldn't get anyone else to do it.

Killing the rat was not wrong of your mother (there are a whole slew of reasons for not wanting rats around one's home) but if you don't feel like killing them, that's fine too.

I used to kill ants for fun when I was a kid, now I do not purposely kill any creature. I am not began, am a vegitarian since age five tho

I have no mercy for parasites. Fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, if I see them they're dead. I keep my cats clean and healthy and sometimes this means killing fleas and tapeworms, and that's just how it is. I also kill stinkbugs.

I use humane mousetraps (if my cats don't get to them first) and I set them free outside. Once in a great while I have to catch a bat and put it outside. I don't kill those things. I leave our groundhogs and snakes alone along with all the other animals that are outside. The only exception to this would be if I found a venomous snake on my property. I'm not risking my family's safety.

Spiders usually go outside.

I'm vegan too. Being a vegan means you do what you can and all you can to minimise your contribution to animal suffering and exploitation; it doesn't mean you sacrifice your own health or safety. Allowing animals to endanger your health and safety and that of your family, particularly your children, is not vegan; it is irresponsible and stupid

And rats, mice, flies, fleas, cockroaches, rodents do endanger your health. If anything has the potential to harm me or members of my household, yes I'll take what steps I have to to stop it. Mice, rats, cockroaches, flies, fleas, mosquitoes and, if necessary, wasps are signing their own death warrant if they come into my house.

If having done your best to keep them out, you find they are still there then sorry but killing them can be the only option.

Roaches carry and spread diseases like dysentery, typhoid, poliomyelitis and gastroenteritis. They can't be persuaded to leave; the exterminator is your only option.

There's a saying - if you followed a fly for an hour, you wouldn't eat for a week. Flies carry disease; the fly that lands briefly on the food your child is about to eat has probably just been feasting on dog sh*t or a dead mouse outside. It'll have regurgitated that onto the food, and stamped it in. Swat it before it gets the chance - you could spend all day trying to persuade a fly outside.

And anything that bites me or tries to is dead

Rodents are a huge health hazard and a danger when in your home. A danger because they need to gnaw constantly and will present a very real fire risk by gnawing on electric cables. A health risk because they spread disease - they are there for your food and will contaminate that; mice urinate and defecate constantly and that will be spread around wherever they go

Unfortunately mice don't come into the house singly - they move in en masse and breed very quickly .. Each female mouse can have 5 - 10 litters per year of up to 13 young each time; each of the new born mice will be able to breed at about 7 weeks. Do the maths and see how quickly the population will increase.

While scrupulous cleanliness will discourage them, it doesn't guarantee you won't get an infestation. Because of their numbers and breeding speed, you can't 'humanely' catch them and remove them one at a time - you'll never get rid of them that way. And so-called humane traps aren't really a practical option anyway. If released near your home, rodents will find their way back in. If you release them in woods or parkland a long distance from your home, far away from their familiar home range, into an environment with which they not familiar and where they no knowledge of sources of food or water, they may well starve, if they're not caught by predators first.

A better option is to try and prevent pests coming in. You can get a plug-in device that emits a noise inaudible to humans but intolerable to rodents and to other pests like cockroaches; make sure your kitchen is squeaky clean, with no food scraps or crumbs to tempt them in; and try to block up any holes or gaps where rodents might get in - bearing in mind that if you can get a ball point pen into a hole, a mouse can get through it. They tend to stay away if you have a cat, too.

If having tried all the above you still get an infestation you have a responsibility to deal with it properly. Your health and safety and that of your family come first.

I'm vegan and I have (and would again) call in the exterminators if precautions failed - just as I would defend myself against any creature - animal or human - that was threatening my health, safety or life

I do kill rats and mice. They destroy things and carry disease. My family's health and safety comes first.

Last year one evening, I was carrying a bowl of cereal from the kitchen to my desk. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something move, but figured it was just shadowing and hair in my eye. Later, I definately saw sometihng move. (I had gotten up and my husband was changing our daughter's diaper. He saw it too, and I told him what I had seen earlier. I assumed the mouse and snuck upstairs the minute it took me to run down and get a box of cereal. (We keep anything that can be chewed off the floor.) My daughter and I sat down in the recliner while my husband set traps and banged around trying to get the mouse to come up. Nothing. Not event the next moring. After a few days, we moved the traps from the dining room and kitchen and my husband just kept them on the basement stairs. That's where the mouse met his Maker. I think my husband put the mouse and the trap in a plastic bag and threw the whole thing away and didn't bothre to bury the mouse.

I was NOT going to have that thing scurry and live around on the same floor where my daughter walks and plays. Naturally, we gave her toys a good cleaning as well. (I don't recall if I was pregnant then or not.)

(When we lived in the city, we got a couple of mice on our top-floor apartment. I think the first one came up in the Christmas box. We had the traps leftover from that. They were in one of my desk drawers where I had put them just to put them somewhere. The desk is in the living room, now, which made them easily accessible that night.)

Since our mouse incident here, somebody from church (we live in the parsonage) came around and sealed any hole in which a small animal might enter. We have seen no further evidence of mice.

As for rats, they're just scary looking. The only ones I have seen have been in the NYC subway and they seem to be as big as some small cats. I joke that it's not a complete trip to NYC unless I see at least one rat in the subway.

Rats i wouldn't kill because they are very large and ugly. I don't want to listen to any animal scream in pain as I sqaush it. Of course I couldn't kill a cute little pig or lamb because I have spent time with those animals and they were all very nice creatures. You can form a bond with a cow or pig but you can't form a bond with a bug. I don't care about Mosquitos. If a mosquito is trying to suck my blood I'm not gonna just let it go. I am constantly told by meat eaters that it's hypocritical to not kill pigs but kill bugs but if I really did try and spare the life of a mosquito they would all say I'm to extreem and accuse me of other things and tell me I'm stupid to be concerned about bugs. I actulley would kill Mosquitos when they're not even trying to land on me because it's good that we get rid of them. If I get the chance to spare a rats life I would do that. I would take it somewhere besides my home. I think that all pretty animals like pigs, bears, wolves, tree kangaroos, tigers, cows, deer, whales and elephants have souls but bugs don't. It's not emotionally traumitizing to simply smack a mosquito but slitting
a cows neck would be absolutly terible. Sheep are cute and friendly bugs are not.

Vegetarian

i coudlnt kill a rat no, they are actually intelligent creatures , and i despise mouse traps etc
i can and do kill bugs, , and it doesnt feel good when i do it, i let them out if i can, and try to let out all spiders
we had a bat as well and caught it as humanly as we could and let it

its 'ok' depending on what you individually beleive
its not a requirment, its an individual issue

i do have a rule with bugs, typiucally if there are lots of them, theres not much else you can do but kill them as they have a nest of some sort in your house, and my home i smy home, same as theirs is theirs, and all animals are territorial
;-)

Fleas . Because I love my cats . Thats it . Just be happy you couldnt do what your mother did . You are of a different ilk . Theres not enough space or time to address that even . Just ,,,,cringe .

I catch flies in a cup against the wall, slide a piece of paper and let them outside . Same with bugs, the cup paper method.
Actually I like to show my kids the beautiful colors on bugs, spiders before I let them outside .

What?? Cry pain?! Go see a physician straight away