Why Vegan?

A Vegan is someone who, in addition to not eating animals, does not consume other animal products and by-products, such as eggs, dairy, honey, leather, fur, silk, wool, feathers, cosmetics and soaps derived from animals, and cosmetic or chemical products tested on animals. Veganism is more about what people choose than about what they avoid, because vegans choose to demonstrate respect for all life.  People may choose a vegan lifestyle for different reasons, but most importantly, veganism is about animal rights and taking the interests of animals seriously and not viewing them as property.

From the moment Donald Watson first coined the term ‘vegan’ in 1944, as a way to distinguish Vegetarian Society members who chose to consume absolutely no animal derived products, veganism has been about the rights of animals to be given equal consideration. To this day, veganism continues to be the only cogent answer that gets at the heart of animal exploitation. Being vegan is your everyday statement that things are not right as they are, that you are one more person who is standing up to be counted in opposition to the exploitation of animals. It is a refusal of a system that produces enormous profits at the expense of animals who are just as sentient as the family dog or cat.

Why being a vegetarian isn't enough:

Vegetarians only omit meat from their diet. It is a common belief that drinking milk and eating eggs does not kill animals, but this is untrue. Commercially raised cows and egg-laying chickens, whether factory-farmed or "free-range," are slaughtered when their production rates decline. Vegetarians who eat eggs contribute to the death of 200 million male chicks each year. Since there is no such thing as a "layer rooster," these animals serve no purpose in the egg industry and are killed shortly after hatching. Most layer hens are kept five to a tiny battery cage, where they must stand and sleep on a wire floor 24 hours a day. Living under these horrendous conditions, a hen needs about 30 hours just to lay one egg. Even though a chicken can live five years, most hens are killed before their second birthday, because their egg production declines with age.  With cows, the story is similar. Just as hens lay fewer eggs as they age, dairy cows produce less milk, as they get older. Even though a cow can live twenty years, most dairy cows are sent to the slaughterhouse at age five. Additionally, the veal industry could never exist in its present form without the existence of the dairy industry. Each dairy cow produces about five calves during her lifetime, only one of which on average will become a dairy calf. Male calves-since they cannot become dairy cows, are often sold to the veal industry for about five dollars each. The flood of cheap calves created by the dairy industry allows the veal industry to survive in its current form. Many vegetarians are not aware of these facts. Once you become aware of the truth, it is hard to justify consuming animal by-products even if you do not eat the animals themselves.

Unfortunately, eating milk and eggs, and using animal by-products all come down to the same thing: cruelty and death for animals. Many vegans started out as vegetarians, and became vegans because of this reason. A compassionate person, who does not eat meat because of ethical reasons, cannot avoid the reality of their other choices, and the consequences they have on the lives of animals. By refusing to purchase or use these products, we send a strong economic message that profiting at the expense of our health, our environment, or the lives of animals will not be tolerated.

If you care about nonhuman animals, you must stop eating, wearing, or using them and products made from them. If animals matter morally, we cannot justify treating them as resources. Becoming vegan is the moral baseline for taking those interests seriously.

Learn more about living vegan by visiting www.livevegan.org.