loving cats/dogs and veg potential (was RE: Harold Brown's Talk Last Night)

[Guest guest]

(I thought I'd change the subject line since the discussion had changed abit)

 

> I'm not so sure that pet owners can be convinced to> widen their circle, as you suggest. I mean, where does> the "chicken by-product" in Purina Puppy Chow come> from? ( url:> http://www.puppychow.com/Products/Detail.aspx?intProductID=7 ).

My perspective was not that people who care deeply for their companion animals would make those animals vegetarian. My perspective is more along the lines of what Thea and Karen said -- people who have animals in their lives and care deeply for them, can relate to them as individuals, and can see that they think, feel, and dream, are better able, I think, to relate to the suffering that factory farmed animals endure than a person who does not have any relationships at all with non-human animals.

 

That said, while I think those people are more likely, people who do not have animals in their lives are also capable of understanding and choosing to go veg as a way to reduce animal suffering and cruelty. I didn't have any relationships at all with cats, dogs, etc., but I did decide to go veg for that very reason.

 

I am personally convinced that if a person becomes veg for ethical reasons -- for compassion for animals -- that individual is more likely to stick with being veg than, for example, someone who goes veg for their own health. But that's only my antecdotal experience from meeting people doing tabling outreach who said that they used to be veg...

 

Who amongst us is a newly converted or aspiring vegan or vegetarian? What factors led you to make that decision?

 

I know the brochure "WHY VEGAN" is a hugely popular tool for veg advocacy; we use it a lot. You can find it online at

http://www.veganoutreach.org

 

Cheers,

Tammy

 

 

 

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