friends not food

18/ cis girl / vegan animals are not ours to use + they never were she/her/hers (main blog: deerkin)

[vaniljasokeria-deactivated20240]

[loveisthefloweroflife-deactivat]

Pescetarianism is a great depiction of "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" and we are paving a pathway to hell on earth. Is the ocean not our most precious resource? It is, it is!!

Supporting industrial fishing is supporting human trafficking, as labor laws are not enforced in international waters. You are paying for the complete destruction of the ocean, ocean floors, and the murder of marine mammals and other innocent creatures caught in the nets and killed, labeled as "by-catch. I'm sure your heart is out of justification reasons for this cruelty. Is it not?

In the words of a pre-kindergartener much wiser than myself: "enough is enough!!"

[deathbedthebedthateats]

vegans are advocating for the rights of animals. we are not claiming that we, ourselves, are an oppressed group. thank you for coming to my ted talk

[alone-in-a-cafe]

"Not everyone can go vegan"

OKAY BUT CAN YOU???? CAN YOU????? CAN YOU?????

And this is referring to a fully plant-based diet. Veganism is about reducing harm "as much as possible and practicable". So yes, everyone with a moral agency can strive to reduce harm as much as possible. Which is what being vegan is about.

Stop using other people's circumstances to justify your own inaction.

Also stop saying POC and low income people cannot go vegan. Veganism is not inherently a white people thing, stop making it so. There are plenty of non-white, non-American/European vegans, myself being one.

Almost everybody is capable of recognising harm and injustice, and you saying that POC or low income people not being able to go vegan is extremely patronizing.

[thothoes]

can y’all stop giving white vegans & vegetarians attention now thank youuuu

[veganism-intensifies]

You guys say vegans are so emotional and rude when they talk about meat and dairy products but it's hard not to be emotional when we talk about murdering and abusing animals so you can eat their dead bodies in KFC. For you meat is just a simple meal, for us it's the final result of bloody nightmare of a living creature. Think about it before you laugh at us again.

[adhd-hippie]

Here’s your daily friendly reminder that vegans are 100% aware that

most clothes are made in sweatshops,

that their food is harvested unethically,

that plastic clothes cause waste.

Vegans are also aware that

choosing second hand clothes regardless of what they’re made of is more ethical and environmentally friendly than creating a demand for new clothes.

Reducing dependence on animal products will mean less ptsd for slaughter house workers and more subsidies for plant crops which could equal better wages for migrant workers

There are options other than plastic when replacing leather, wool, and other animal derived fabrics but again a second hand vinyl coat has less environmental impact than a new cotton one.

Vegans are not stupid, blind, or ignorant of the injustice in all areas of our consumerist system. Rather we see veganism as the key to broad changes in how we obtain goods, how we treat our planet, and how we treat each other.

If you’re not ready to give up meat or don’t think you should have to, okay, fine, but don’t treat me like I’m an idiot.

I USED to eat meat, I spent 23 years as a meat eater and 33 years as a consumer of animal products. I KNOW what it’s like on the other side. I didn’t become a vegan on a whim and I’m not following a trend. I put a lot of thought and reflection into this decision.

I became a vegan to save the animals yes, but also to save the planet and to improve the lives of humans caught up in our unethical food production system.

So please for the love of all that is holy stop acting like I don’t understand the impact of my choices. I assure you I do, probably better than you understand the impact of yours.

[the-barn-rat]

real tired of hearing the vegan vs. omnivore arguments when the real superior diet in terms of both cruelty and ecosystem is locally sourced

beef and pork from a farm 10 minutes away from you is more ethical and less detrimental to the environment than quinoa grown in ecuador. the future is food forests. the green revolution is food forests. if we manage to survive this apocalyptic hellscape all of your food, plant and animal, is going to come from within half an hour of where you live. plant a vegetable garden in the meantime

[clouddoggo]

As a trained conservation biologist this is the most important step we can take. You do not understand how many issues we could solve if people bought most of their food from local sources.

[vegandeer]

STOP JUST SAYING THINGS. Transport only accounts for ~10% of the greenhouse gas emissions of your food.

https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local

You want to reduce the carbon footprint of your food? Focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local

‘Eat local’ is a common recommendation to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet. But transport tends to account for a small share of gree

[one-thousand-antlers]

Ain’t it cute that y’all only ever want to turn to dairy farmers and zookeepers as a source of all of your opinions on animal rights but never ask Korean dog farmers the same questions. 

[necessaryveganism]

“Insofar as cruelty appeals to majority sentiments of discomfort, it is inevitably going to be triggered more by those (minority) animal practices that are unusual or unfamiliar than by (majority) practices that are customary and familiar. “Necessary suffering” is likely to be whatever we the majority do to animals, whereas “unnecessary suffering” is what you the minority to do animals, particularly if we are not so keen on you the minority in the first place.” x

[theveganmothership]

A study carried out by AAAS shows that rats chose to free the imprisoned rats rather than eating food placed near the cage, which suggests that the rats show compassion, primarily a trait seen only in primates. Researchers at the University of Chicago performed some experiments to see if a rat would help a fellow rat out of a cage if it could. They got surprising results, the free rat did help the confined rat. After hearing calls for help from the caged rat, free rat tried desperately to uncage the rat and did so effeciently over time. Not just that, the free rat would also save some of it’s treat for the other rat. How humanly I say! The researchers came to the unavoidable conclusion that what they were seeing was empathy— and apparently selfless behavior driven by that mental state. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-new-model-of-empathy-the-rat/2011/12/08/gIQAAx0jfO_story.html

[vegannerdgirl]

Hog farm pollution in communities of color in North Carolina (taken from What the Health).

[acti-veg]

Just for some context, this is by no means an isolated case; animal farms have a devastating impact on their surrounding communities. Large farming facilities produce more than 400 different gases, all as a result of the amount of waste they produce, which pollutes local streams and waterways. The real concerns  are hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide. Communities surrounding these facilities are constantly close to hydrogen sulfide, a gas that can cause flu-like symptoms, while high concentrations or exposure can lead to brain damage. Methane can lead to vision problems, heart palpitations, brain damage, trouble breathing, and, with enough exposure, death. 

Animal agriculture industries and councils know this, and so establish them in communities least likely to be able to mount a legal challenge. This means that these facilities disproportionately effect impoverished communities and people of colour, and counties with larger black and lationo populations are home to more factory farms. When these facilities are established, they immediately drive down land values due to the known health issues they cause, meaning that many residents can no longer afford to sell their homes and relocate.

When people try to speak out against these corrupt industries either on behalf of these communities or on behalf of animals, they are met with legal action and often even criminal charges. These “ag-gag” laws are devastating for the human victims of animal agriculture as well for farmed animals, but the the meat and dairy industries have such an enormously powerful political lobby that they are able to influence politicians into passing legislation which best serves their own interests, at the cost of human and animal lives. 

[a-compassionate-dragon]

Do you know what I find odd? In all of the anti-Yulin and anti-dog meat petitions, not a single one of them calls for the more ‘humane’ slaughter of dogs, ‘organic’ dog meat or ‘free range certified’ dog meat. There’s no big campaigns from celebrities calling for better treatment of ‘meat’ dogs. It’s always a call to completely abolish the dog meat industry and put a stop to eating dogs and the Yulin festival forever, not a call for giving dogs bigger cages or better food etc. Most people would bite your head off if you suggested ‘humane dog slaughter’ or ‘happy dog slaughterhouses’. 

But yet campaigning for ‘happy beef’, ‘humane pork’ and ‘free range chickens’ goes completely unquestioned, and those who call for an abolition to the industries that kill these animals are pretty much shat all over. 

[sqid-ass]

You’re a piece of shit if you think eating dogs and cats is okay. They are treated above other animals because they have been domesticated by humans over the years as pets and treated as family members to most of the population. It is vile and cruel what they do to those sweet animals. I understand that eating cows seems the same but you don’t sleep with a cow or hold your cow when you cry. These animals are different. But all animals should be killed in humane ways period. But the slaughter of thousands of dogs in Asian countries is just sickening to me.

[acti-veg]

What, so we Westerners are so important that our designation of some animals as “pets” somehow magically gives them more right to live than animals we designate “food?” What possible basis could there be for that blatant assumption about our moral superiority? Have you ever been to a dog meat farm? You have no reason to assume they’re treated any worse than farmed animals are in the West, beyond an obvious societal and cultural bias. You don’t sleep with a pig or a cow, you don’t hold them when you cry, but other people do. 

The fact that you choose to give a shit about some animals and pay to have others killed does not make eating dogs any more unethical than eating pigs. Even assuming you’re right and things are worse for dogs than any other animal (though thousands of hours of western slaughterhouse footage says otherwise) that wasn’t the point. The point was that people don’t advocate for China to treat the dogs more humanely, they advocate for them to stop killing them.

So why, beyond racism and speciesism, are we happy to accept that it’s okay to slit a pig’s, chicken’s, or cow’s throat for food, but not a dog’s for the exact same purpose? If the issue is treatment, and you trust so completely in the animal welfare standards of the West, then why aren’t you all advocating for them to apply the same standards to dog slaughter as we do to pig slaughter? Why are you all advocating for no dog meat, rather than free range dog meat? I’ll leave you with a quote from Foer who puts it better than I ever could:

Dogs are wonderful, and in many ways unique. But they are remarkably unremarkable in their intellectual and experiential capacities. Pigs are every bit as intelligent and feeling, by any sensible definition of the words. They can’t hop into the back of a Volvo, but they can fetch, run and play, be mischievous, and reciprocate affection. So why don’t they get to curl up by the fire? Why can’t they at least be spared being tossed on the fire?

[farm-paws]

I was going to write a long post on people with no experience in the livestock industry trying to tell real and actual farmers how to farm but I know it will only get wrong and mislead attention so I’m just going to say: if you aren’t in a place of knowledge, it’s better to let someone more knowledgeable than you speak up about issues. Especially if you are in no way involved in the field. There’s nothing you can say from your inner city studio apartment with your iced frappechino that will convince a farmer not to work as they already are.

Here’s a goat loaf to make your day better

[severelynerdysheep]

I would absolutely recommend anyone reading to check out some testimonials from former farmers linked below, its also important to emphasize that there is no such thing as “ethical animal agriculture”, of farming that isn’t cruel since bringing an animal into existence for the sole purpose of needlessly exploiting and brutally slaughtering them in their young is not ethical under any circumstance. When it comes to animal agriculture, in all farms, regardless of the size of the farm, location, or the labels used (”free range” “organic” “grass fed” etc) animals live their too short lives trapped in genetically engineered bodies that are ravaged by their size and forced overproduction of babies and milk till they are “spent” and are slaughtered for profit, all for needless human pleasure. Also worth noting that many of the cruelest practices industrial factory farming takes place on smaller “free range, organic” farms, these include forced impregnation, stealing babies away from mothers, routine mutilations without anesthetic, murder of newborns and young animals (including using methods such as bludgeoning and maceration), horrendous living conditions, denial of important instinctive behaviors and preferences and brutal transport and slaughter conditions. Its simply oxymoronic to say otherwise and it’s important to recognize that common indusyry terms and propaganda (such as free range, organic, happy meat etc.) designed to ease consumer conscious about supporting something that is inherently unethical, taking the life of an innocent, sentient being for an unnecessary purpose.

Also worth noting that the notion that those who are opposed to animal agriculture are sitting in their inner city apartments with frappuccinos and no nothing about the issue is pretty chock full of elitism. Vegans, those opposed to animal exploitation and the needless cruelty of animal agriculture, come from all places and all walks of life, cities, rural areas country vegans, the animal science industry, diverse socioeconomic backgrounds etc. From every country and at every age and walk of life. Many people become opposed precisely because they have that first-hand experience with animal agriculture, (generally the more people learn the more likely they are generally to be opposed to these industries) But even for those who don’t have such first-hand experience, it doesn’t matter since you don’t need to have first-hand experience to know that the exploitation of and needless violence against sentient beings is wrong.

Some links:

~  Here’s a link to with testimonials of former dairy farmers. A quote from a former dairy farmer I found incredibly powerful is “It is a deceptive place. Only the ones who are inside really know that. I am not talking about a one hour visit to the farm… Whoever is really inside, knows what kind of place it is. It’s hell. There is terrible suffering there… The screams of the mothers … I still hear the sound. It won’t go away. I keep thinking about it. Today I am a mother, and I don’t understand how people who say that they love animals don’t see it. Don’t understand it.” and “And they cried and called for their babies. They call and call.“ And a fab piece on a former dairy farmer who amazingly turned his farm into a sanctuary and is now a plant-based farmer (here).

~ Testimonies from many former farmers here!

~ 73 Cows documentary

~ A great article from @acti-veg on “ethical” animal farming and another here.

~  More info on veganism and all the areas of animal exploitation from the vegan society

~ Viva, a fab UK charity which has loads of info!

~ Land of hope and glory

~ Dominion

[acti-veg]

“If you’re not actively engaged in and profiting from animal exploitation then you’re not allowed to talk about animal farming.” How very convenient that that would be for you all.

[karalora]

Animal Intelligence

Ever notice how they keep moving the goalposts when it comes to animal intelligence vs. human intelligence?

“Humans are completely unique. No other animal uses tools.”

“Actually, wild sea otters have been observed using rocks to open shellfish.”

“Okay, but that’s not true intelligence. They just pick the rocks up; they don’t alter them in any way.”

“Chimps peel the leaves from sticks to make more effective termite probes.”

“Well, that’s just technology. Only humans have art.”

“What about painting elephants? Art critics often can’t tell the difference between their work and a human’s.”

“Okay fine. But only humans have language. That’s the mark of true intelligence.”

“These African Grey Parrots use hundreds of words correctly and even ask original questions.”

“Oh yeah? Well, does any non-human species demonstrate self-awareness?”

“Dolphins pass the mirror test without training.”

“Pfft. How about problem-solving?”

“I can’t keep squirrels out of my bird feeder no matter what I do.”

“Aha! Bet you can’t think of a species that possesses all these traits! Only humans! We’re No. 1! We’re No. 1!”

“Crows.”

“LALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOOOOUUUUUUUUU…”

[pom-seedss]

Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are? by Frans de Waal explores this exact question and its a fascinating read.

[nelkitty]

Humans had enough trouble seeing other humans as human. We are not even remotely smart enough to know how smart animals are. We would have a huge existential crisis if we realised other creatures are as sentient and aware as we are.

[vegan-memes-ftw]

[emmamothman]

i guess im not a real vegan cuz i would, and will, eat the rich

[wlwellbutrin]

why are gays so much better at loving animals than hets

[e-seal-deactivated20210319]

gays invented love in all forms so jot that down

[katelouisepowell]

gay vegans have infinite animal compassion

[opinionatedvegan]

Reblog if you’re a gay vegan with infinite animal compassion

[gayplanteater]

Oh oh oh! Me!! I’m a gay vegan!

[negasonicteenagevegan]

Gay vegans unite!!!

[lisasimpsonwannabe]

it’s just… it’s really just ridiculous how we spend so much of earth’s resources to mass breed and then kill so many beautiful animals… i just don’t get it. i feel guilty even as a vegan because there’s migrants who have no hope of employment past working in slaughterhouses… yet we all very much could reduce the amount of animals killed… and people decide not to, even when they could? life is full of dichotomies, but it’s just tiring living in it sometimes when you remember that this is the reality, and that you can’t save everybody. humans and animals. why is it this way, when we could avoid bloodshed, fear and trauma? idk