Vegan FAQ #2 – What are animals here for?
Last month, I came across this comment on a Philadelphia Vegan Examiner post.
sooo… i don’t understand the “exploited animal” thing.
is a dog that serves as a seeing eye animal, a dog that is well feed/cared for/loved, and then put to sleep at the end of his/her life exploited?
what is the role of an animal? are pets okay? are they not supposed to play a role in our society at all? we domesticated animals to serve a purpose in our society, was that wrong?
i guess what i don’t understand about vegans is what they think animals are for. i mean, i think everyone earns its keep. like on a farm. horses work, chickens give eggs, dogs herd and protect.
Here is my response. I may want to elaborate more on this in the future, but I think I already hit one of the most important points that I would have wanted to make in that post.
Vegans are concerned because animals are exploited for unnecessary commercial products. The fact is that we can live healthfully and abundantly without consuming any animal products.
You can’t compare seeing-eye dogs and dogs as pets to animals exploited for food or clothing products. Dogs in these cases are usually seen as more than property – a beloved member of a family, like a child. Do you consider it “exploiting” your children because you force them to live under your care until they’re adults? Vegans are divided on the issue of seeing-eye dogs, but at least the dog is performing a very noble service that GREATLY helps a person and GREATLY enriches his or her quality of life for many years. Farm animals are usually treated terribly, kept in awful conditions, and killed in pain and dread just so someone can have a momentary gustatory pleasure that’s not even healthy – like a burger or a sausage.
As to your question – “why are animals here?” Let me ask you why are you here? Why am I here? Why is anyone here? There is no objective answer to this question. Wouldn’t it be best if we all let each other (including our fellow earthlings) decide the peaceful course of his or her own life?
Also, chickens don’t “give” eggs as much as you don’t “give” eggs to anyone when you ovulate. They are your eggs, not anyone else’s. Eggs are just part of a chicken’s menstrual cycle, and the nutrients found in eggs are there for the baby chick to eat as he or she grows. Not all dogs herd and protect. What about chihuahuas? Should we find them another purpose – kill them for meat perhaps? Most horses only work because we’ve forced them to and “broken” their spirits into being terrified to do anything but what we tell them. It’s almost as if you’re saying if something doesn’t have a clear purpose for human benefit, then we need to give them one no matter how much it infringes on their right to live life as they want. What would you say about a severely mentally handicapped human who can’t do much of anything and has no living family? What is that person here for? They can’t work a job and contribute to society. They don’t have a family to make happy. In fact, they’re probably a drain on society because tax dollars have to support them. But why do we allow them to live in society and still support them? Because life is valued by many as sacred. And vegans extend that reverence for life that most humans have for other human life to include animals as well. Believe it or not, some people used to say, what good are black people for anything other than to pick cotton as slaves? It’s the view that we can define another sentient, emotional being’s life that gets us into trouble.
August 6th, 2009 at 5:07 am
You make some excellent points, Lindsey, although I’m not in favor of using animals even as pets.
Here’s a video that shows that eggs are not just for chicks. The adults eat their own eggs, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbMKNOcy5cM
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August 6th, 2009 at 5:19 am
Excellent post!
One could also make a point that any animal’s purpose is to help to balance our ecosystem. Unfortunately, humans are basically the only animal that is sufficiently enough advanced to be able to consciously decide to destroy this balance. =/
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Katie Reply:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:51 am
Heh, good point, we are the only species to defecate in its own nest. :-(
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August 8th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
I think non humans used as guide dogs or “service dogs are exploited. Fidelco puppies are bred for this purpose. They spend one year with a family that they are brutally ripped from to be “trained” to help a blind human. I have seen the way some people treat these dogs.”Don’t touch,” don’t pet, he/she is working.”I have even seen blind people yell and hit their dogs. One black seeing eye dog was out in 90 degree weather while the blind person chatted for 30 minutes. When I offered the dog water she said, you guessed it “he’s working.
”
We humans have domesticated(enslaved) canines and as a result there are an excess of these disposible beings. I do not think it is exploitation to rescue a companion animal. The breeders(animal pimps and procurers)and those who buy a living being are the true exploiters.
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Katie Reply:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:53 am
I guess it goes to show that vision-impaired people are no different from non-vision-impaired people.
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October 5th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Hi there. Let me open by saying I am a flexitarian farmer who works by day at an exotic animal behavioral research lab that is devoted to studying behavior for the purpose of forwarding endangered species conservation. Basically, I think I pull one of the greatest balancing acts of all times. I appreciate this article and find it well thought out and interesting, and I think your points are quite valid. However, I do have a few questions. One thing I thought of as I was reading is the use of work horses on Amish farms. If you are not familiar with the Amish, their religion bars them from the use of most modern technologies, and the degree of this technological restriction varies from group to group. However, I believe all Amish are barred from owning or operating automobiles and tractors, making horses an absolutely integral part of their lives for transportation and for the care of their fields. I dare say that these horses enrich the lives of their owners and perform a rather noble service. Are these animals exploited? If so, and tomorrow a Vegan was elected President (and to most of Senate and the House) would it be fair to take the right to use horses away from the Amish, who rely on them for religious reasons?
Also, being a dairy and poultry farmer specifically, I am not sure I understand how using milk or unfertilized eggs from cattle and chickens is harmful. Dairy cattle produce far more milk than a calf could ever eat (over 100 lbs per day!) and unfertilized eggs, well, are not highly useful to anyone if just left in the yard, and these materials, if taken properly, should cause zero pain or distress to the producing animals (the amount of just plain fabricated anti-dairy propaganda is staggering, please ask a local dairy farmer about the milking process, not activist groups; many small farmers will be happy to show you their operation, or take a gander at around 6PM at your county fair at their dairy parlor, where the cows are milked just a couple feet away from you). I guess I see this as opportunism, not exploitation. In fact, milking a cow who is producing more than her calf can eat can prevent discomfort to the cow, as well as infection (how would you feel if someone said, here, let me take 100 pounds off your back?). Finally, in response to your comment about your ovulation being yours, that’s true, but I think if for some reason somebody said they could make use out of my menstruation, I wouldn’t have a problem giving it to them. Afterall, I’m not using it.
Finally, I’m wondering how the vegan community feels about animals that are displayed in (nice, certified) zoos or act as “animal ambassadors” at preserves. These guys are put on display to the public, but do so to educate people about conservation and zoology. I think we can all agree that this is a very valuable thing to educate the public about. Additionally, they may generate funds to keep the zoo going (ensuring ongoing education) and to keep programs going that are dedicated to studying ecology, habitat protection, conservation, population recovery, biodiversity recovery, etc. etc. etc. In other words, they’re buying their species a future in many cases, and protecting their ecosystem. Should we do away with these programs that offer so much?
Thanks for reading!
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Katie Reply:
February 6th, 2010 at 6:33 am
Hi Tessa, you raise a lot of questions there! i’d like to offer my thoughts in reply. to begin with i’ll let you know that i started following a vegan diet to help combat a serious illness and, on discovery of the things that happen to animals while looking for recipes, became an ethical vegan.
re: religions. I believe strongly in freedom of religion, providing it doesn’t harm others. I don’t believe in allowing people to do anything they want just because it is part of their religion (or culture or family tradition etc). I wouldn’t condone, for example, baby sacrifice, female circumcision or the beating of women and children into submission because it was part of a religion etc.
re: dairy and eggs. we don’t need these products to survive or thrive and they weren’t made for us. it seems odd that cows are producing too much milk. this doesn’t normally happen in other animals. also, where do the male calves go? what happens to “spent” cows? if the cows weren’t bred in the first place worrying about their extra milk wouldn’t be an issue anyway.
re: chickens…they eat most of the eggs that aren’t fertilised to replace the nutrients lost while laying, particularly constant laying. in a natural setting they wouldn’t be constantly laying (there’d be roosters present and so they’d spend some time brooding). so not really a completely unused substance, the same as a human’s menstruation.
re: asking anti-dairy groups or pro-dairy groups, they’ll both have their agendas, so i don’t think the pro-dairy would give any information that would suggest they were doing anything wrong.
although some zoos are considered nice, ultimately animals deserve to be free. now, we humans have clearly made this impossible for them in most places, but i don’t think this makes zoos right. but beyond that, i don’t know enough about it to comment properly.
i realise you are writing from the perspective of a farmer and occasional meat/dairy/egg-eater. would you be willing to “try on” another way of thinking for a few days or a week? i’ve done that a few times and found it to be a most remarkable experience on each occasion.
thank you also for reading. i’m in a hurry but wanted to respond to you! i hope everything i’ve written makes sense. :-)
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February 6th, 2010 at 5:58 am
Great post Lindsey. I too believe that animals are not ours to do with as we wish. Simply put, we don’t need their “products” or their services, so let’s leave them alone and let the ecosystem start to re-balance.
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