Who is Saving Animals?
Many vegans lament that there are dog/cat rescuers and other animal activists in their communities who are not vegan. I’m with you, believe me. I get it. It is shocking when humane societies serve animals on plates at fundraisers. It is a head-scratcher that someone who works to save whales would order sushi in a restaurant, failing to recognize he is destroying the ocean habitats and food chains that support those whales.
I understand your frustration that nonvegan companon animal rescuers don’t recognize that a pig is every bit as lovable as a dog, and a turkey can be just as cuddly as a cat. They work hard for one or a few species but not every species – just like there are people who feel called to get active on behalf of sea turtles, elephants, wolves, or other specific animals.
Although it would be wonderful if more dog/cat rescuers were vegan, I’d also like it if more vegans gave a crap, and actively helped animals in need. Not eating, wearing or exploiting animals is the absolute bare minimum a person can do. It is the default setting. It is the “moral baseline,” as some say.
Over the years I’ve worked with people and organizations who rescue dogs, cats, birds and other domestic pet species, those who are doing the dirty work of animal liberation. There should be much more respect, and less derision, for “dog and cat people” from the vegan community.
The animal rescuers I know do things that most vegans wouldn’t deign to do – such as run into traffic with a leash in one hand and a can of dog food in the other; wake up every two hours to bottle-feed kittens, crawl through mud to save a lost cat who scratches the hell out of them as a thank-you, cut the chain embedded in the neck of an auto yard pit bull who has never known a kindness from a human, pay their unemployed neighbor’s vet bill, not to mention clean up piles upon piles of shit.
Animal rescuers are willing to trap, trespass, surveil, steal, and otherwise do whatever it takes to do the right thing for an animal, right now, regardless of what the law says. As activists, most of us don’t hold a candle to these people. Too many vegans do very little to proactively help animals.
But what about the estimated 100 animals a year we save by being vegan? Let’s not strain ourselves patting each other on the back.
Going vegan doesn’t “save” 100 animals a year. 100 animals don’t go to sanctuaries or aquaria each year because you are vegan. In theory, you are preventing the future births of 100 animals a year. But with the realities of animal agribusiness, I’m loath to consider that anything more than theory. The minor losses the vegan population causes to animal processors are more than made up for by government subsidies and bailouts, plus exports to developing countries.
Ordering a pizza without cheese or buying cruelty-free makeup doesn’t make you a hero. Going to a potluck or a protest a few times a year is a nice opportunity to have your picture posted on Facebook so other people can congratulate you for changing the world. We should do those things. They feed us – literally and emotionally.
But there are no photo galleries for people who spend their entire weekend doing home checks to make sure that companion animals are being adopted by loving families instead of creeps. There are no awards for people who foster yet another animal because the “owners” are having a baby and don’t want him or her anymore, or people who go out night after night to trap homeless cats so they can be treated for mange, vaccinated, and fixed. They don’t get a prize for every box of starving abandoned kittens they find on the side of the road or every injured, bleeding dog they rush to a 24-hour vet. It is thankless, unglamorous work. It saves animals.
So be kind to dog and cat rescuers. Befriend one who isn’t vegan. Walk some dogs, scoop some poop, volunteer at an adoption event, help feed a feral cat colony. Buy them lunch and ask why, since they do so much for animals, they aren’t vegan yet. Give them a popular cookbook. Take them grocery shopping. Find out how you can be supportive and encouraging.
Then find out how you can do more for animals than signing a few online petitions and clicking ‘like’ to give a nonprofit a dollar.
A rescuer spotted "Reese" running across Exposition Boulvard in South L.A. near USC. She was one foot away from being killed by a van. When she got to campus, people helped catch her, but would do no more. To adopt Reese email SCAadoptions@yahoo.com.
Los Angeles area rescues with vegan cred:
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Luc
January 5, 2012
Thank you so much! I now know I’m not alone in having these thoughts!
Mark
February 19, 2014
I can’t help but feel you’re missing the point here, and as someone who has worked with cats and dogs AND wildlife for many years, whilst being vegan, I’m astounded at the complete indifference and downright offensiveness of many of these people who think they’re the ones being amazing to animals, whilst not caring a jot of what you say. You are utterly demeaning and wrong when you say vegans do the “bare minimum”-how sodding dare you! Bare minimum, my butt, if everyone was a vegan, animals wouldn’t be being bred like seeds just to be thrown out and treated like rubbish. Don’t you kid youself rescuers are great, they pick up the pieces of an industry that shouldn’t even exist, because keeping animals as pets is an open invitation to treating them how you want to treat them, use them as status symbols, give them a poor diet and worse. Most people act like to give up meat, not buy animal-tested products, not support culling etc. is an extreme breach of their human rights, and I’d add the obsession with pets is completely screwing with what wildlife we have anyway. There are more ‘pet’ animals around than there would ever be naturally (which is wrong) therefore the typical human response is to treat them badly. Don’t you dare go round insulting vegans for this, they are the best people out there, sounds to me like you could be feeling guilty.
And guilt is something that makes people irrational and I’m telling you now that no matter how “little” you may think vegans do, they will ALWAYS be doing more than most people for ALL animals, even meat-eating cat and dog rescuers, okay, and if we didn’t insist on keeping them as pets and had better laws and were a better species, they wouldn’t need all this rescuing cos a vegan lifestyle wouldn’t allow for these animals to be treated this badly in the first place.
Veganism saves lives and promotes decency-and that’s something that most people will never want to face and understand, and I’m not suprised with an attitude like this. If veganism is the bare minimum, then that means 98% of the world’s population at least are doing so much for-in the worst way-for animals and the planet. Good for them. Where the hell does your logic and compassion come from-or is going to? I haven’t heard such unbelivable cack in ages. Truly.
Amaridis
January 5, 2012
Ouch- and thank you.
Syl
January 5, 2012
Perfect!
Mary-Anne
January 6, 2012
I’ve never encountered this attitude from any vegans I now, in fact many of myself included, would be quite insulted by this generalized accusation. We are all active in the “activist” role and in no way dismiss or downplay the hard work behind cat and dog rescuers. I’d like to think we would all run into the street to save an animal vegan or not, but I know that’s not the world we live in. Vegans who preach one thing and live another, are simply hypocrites that make the rest of us look bad. We are the silent ones, not looking for pats on the back or accolades, but quietly going about our daily lives living our core values of compassion for all living things and promoting it to those we meet and who want to know more. We are all in this together and working towards the same common goal. You are heading down a slippery slope when you diminish any work that is done for the greater good of the animals or promote one group over another. It doesn’t matter if you eat meat or not being kind to animals is just the right thing to do and all work towards this cause should be congratulated!
Amy Guidry
January 6, 2012
I am new to this blog and have to say that I love this post. Sure I would love it if everyone was vegan, but I certainly appreciate anyone’s contribution to helping animals. And I agree that in some ways a non-vegetarian/vegan animal shelter worker is doing more than a person that simply follows a vegan lifestyle. That work is commendable, and who knows, maybe they would eventually become a vegan. Being a judgmental jerk certainly won’t influence them, though.
Tania
January 6, 2012
“Photo galleries”? “awards”? “get a prize”? “glamorous work”?
Why do the vast majority of animal rescuers and vegans constantly search the cameras? the pat on the back? The photo, flashes and recognitions? the greatest adjectives and names to be said to them? to be called heroes? the popularity?That resumes in one word: EGO. It’s a pity that some people don’t get it…it is NOT about YOU and your egoes, it is about THEM, the animals, get it? Why do we have to see some rescuers searching for the camera and AFTER that getting the beagles out from the van as it happened during the last rescue we’ve seen on TV??
Wendy
January 6, 2012
I agree with Mary Anne. You must know some pretty awful vegans, maybe the kind who are also misogynists?, to feel compelled to write this post. I have tremendous respect for the work that cat and dog rescuers do. I have tremendous respect for the work of rescuers of other animals. I have tremendous respect for people who have to fight the vegan-bashing by their own families and who find the strength to live vegan anyway. I have noticed the opposite, actually, of you, I suppose. I have noticed that when I suggest cat and dog rescues hold fundraisers at at least vegetarian restaurants the reply is “we need the money.” I have tabled with animal rescuers who think nothing of going to get a hot dog while asking people to give money on behalf of canine dogs. I have known dog and cat rescuers who work tirelessly, and I have known vegans who work tirelessly. I have over the years stopped in traffic, picked up totally unknown dogs, I engage in TNR in my neighborhood – (look, I even got in trouble for holding up traffic when trying to rescue a snake, which I had a hard time with because I didn’t know if he was poisonous or not). It’s not an either/or and I wish the folks in dog and cat rescue could be just a bit more open to recognizing that dogs and cats are not the only animals worth saving, particularly when being vegan can be easy (partly it depends on where you live).
Kezia
January 6, 2012
Amen to Mary-Anne, Amy, etc. I’ve had a lot of comments and private messages since this post, both pro and con.* One woman who started out as a rescuer and is now vegan was driven crazy by vegan “AR activists” who would drive by a dog on a freeway because the dog “was better off free” or even kept their dogs outside 2/7 because “we shouldn’t force a dog to live our lifestyle.”
Another vegan wrote to say that a friend of hers who is not vegan feeds and cares for 50 cats and dogs on the daily…practically running her own sanctuary, if they were all in one place. Yet because she’s not vegan, she gets guffaws.
Wendy, I totally get it about the vegan-bashing we endure. Part of what prompted this post is that the cat/dog rescuers are bashed by the mainstream as “crazy animal people,” and they’re also bashed by vegans as “crazy cat/dog people!”
I think it’s entirely possible that living in LaLaLand as I do, I know a bigger number of vegans/activists who are ego- and acclaim-driven. On the other hand some of the “actor-slash-activists” who are truly doing the dirty work, like hands-on rescue, don’t fit the stereotype at all. Like Elle at Strangest Angels, linked above.
* By the way, my sense is that if you’re offended by the generalized accusation of AR activists not doing enough to help animals, then it might be worth asking yourself if that generalization applies to you. It so does not apply to the people who have responded in agreement. They are putting in the work and then some!
It’s also worth asking if eating an omnivorous diet, or feeding omnivorous/carnivorous animals an omnivorous/carnivorous diet negates the sincere efforts of rescue workers. I honestly don’t know. I’m a cat person (although I have two dogs now) and my cat is a carnivore, as are so many cats rescued and kept by vegans.
Kezia
January 6, 2012
Up above I said “2/7” instead of “2four/7.” The number four on my keyboard no longer works, and I forget that when I’m typing quickly. My bad.
Malvyn
January 7, 2012
I do agree with the article. I am a vegan, and an activist, bur that does not mean we are heroes and the other rescuers are shit, we all fight for a better world. Of course I do not agree with eating innocent beings while savind others, it is weird but I respect their work with dogs and cats. And being vegan is not enought, we shall open jails every night, direct action!.
TaVe
January 7, 2012
I would never bash someone for caring about others. I think some have never considered being a veg*n and all they need to change is a little nudge of support and information- not bashing.
Amy Guidry
January 9, 2012
Kezia, wow, I cannot believe that someone actually thinks a dog is better off left on the freeway. A vegetarian once gave me a hard time about my rescued dog living with me as opposed to being “free.” What on earth is that supposed to mean, anyway? Sick and starving to death are okay as long as you’re “free?” What?! My dog was days away from being killed at the pound until I got him- what kind of life is that? I’ve also taken in 9 stray cats, two were Hurricane Katrina victims (BTW, all on a carnivorous diet- though I don’t give them beef or tuna since those are some of the “worst” environmentally-speaking, etc.). If I had the slightest doubt that they weren’t happy and preferred to be “free” then I would stop saving animals, but I can say that they are completely and utterly content and are very attached to us.
Trine
January 9, 2012
Interesting article. I’m a vegan and a crazy cat lady (by-product of doing TNR). I would have to say that doing TNR and taking care of all my cats is much, much harder work than simply being vegan. That is why I don’t understand why more people, and especially cat and dog rescuers, aren’t vegan…as far as diet goes, it’s not very difficult at all IMO. Finding a good “cruelty-free” deodorant on the other hand IS;-) My current pet-peeves are people who say they are animal lovers but eat meat AND vegans who only have one or two rescue animals (but have the ability to take in more..excuses are plentiful!) and last but not least vegans who keep popping out human kids — why isn’t this addressed more? Really, if you are opposed the cruelty that mankind afflicts on animals, why create more people? Baffles me…
Mark J.
January 12, 2012
If I was trying to think of an argument that damaged our fight to end speciesism, I don’t think I could do better (worse) than “Adopting a vegan lifestyle doesn’t save any animals”. That aside, it is not true.
Most non-vegans are consuming animals or animal-derived products from outside of the systematic breeding and killing of animals for food, mainly the ocean. The average non-vegan is estimated to eat 170 fishes per year, many of whom were not purpose bred into existence. A non-vegan might also be eating animals, mainly birds, hunted from the wild. At any rate, by going vegan, the average non-vegan is saving the lives of many fishes each year. Then there are the animals that non-vegans enslave and murder in laboratories to test their products, etc. for them; let’s not forget them, please. What about all the animals that non-vegans cause the enslavement and death of for zoos, circuses, “sports”, movies, and other “entertainment”. We can’t forget about them either.
Putting fishes, hunted animals, and animals in laboratories aside, and I hope you don’t, and focusing on animals bred, enslaved, and murdered in facilities meant for food production, the argument still doesn’t hold water. Yes, the subsidies and large numbers of animal-derived products that are thrown into landfills each year and other confounding variables make the “numbers of animals saved per vegan per year” figures of 198, 100, etc. an overestimate. If everyone was not vegan we would have a number slightly higher than we have now of animals being killed, if everyone was vegan the number would be zero. Surely, then, every person is a step toward zero and has some number that could reasonably be attached to their decision. Remember, we are talking close to 11 billion animals (still turning our backs on including fishes) each year in the U.S. alone, 60 some billion worldwide.
Additionally, there are several ways each person helps – as far as progress in society and law goes – if you believe in majority rule or a population large enough to counter the corporations profiting off speciesism, every person is a number towards that goal. Only when enough people live by vegan ideals will society at large change and the laws that reflect society will change. Again, every person who goes vegan is a step toward that reality. Every person adopting a vegan lifestyle brings us one more step to animal liberation and the ending of speciesism.
Considering animals that are enslaved and killed for food, I think that there is a lag time in “saving” animals. However, restaurants and grocers, because they are all about profit, monitor the demand closely to provide the correct supply, so the lag time might not be that long, when taken in the aggregate. Even though there are subsidies, etc. people are in it for profit and don’t like to “waste” feed, etc. on a “product” that does not make it to market. As a matter of fact, the stores and restaurants throwing out the animal-derived products, etc. are legally bound to minimize it (they are legally bound to maximize profit to their shareholders).
And why downplay the animals “saved” from being bred into existence to be enslaved and killed? “Saving” future lives from being disrespected, dominated, enslaved, and killed is a pretty great thing to do, even the people that just care about dogs and cats recognize that through spay/neuter campaigns.
And then there is the assumptions being made about Animal rescuers, they “are willing to trap, trespass, surveil, steal, and otherwise do whatever it takes to do the right thing for an animal, right now, regardless of what the law says.” Really? All these non-vegans you are calling “animal rescuers” are willing to put on the mask, get out the bolt-cutters, and “do whatever it takes”? This is not the image I have in my mind, or the experience I have had, with non-vegans that focus their time on dogs and cats. Certainly the people I have worked with that have this focus seem to be overwhelmingly law-abiding citizens in every way. A lot of the dog/cat rescue stories I hear about are completely legal in every way.
And then there is the same question of who is being “saved”? Are the numbers of dogs and cats being killed each year in the U.S., or the world, going down? Last I heard it was still at about 4-7 million per year in the U.S. (murdered by euthasol or die in the streets, etc.) and going up.
I fully support people rescuing dogs/cats (and everyone else, too!), non-vegan or vegan, but to think they are doing more to bring down the numbers of animals being killed each year than someone who stops consuming animal-derived products seems full of holes. The fact is, a person doing such is very inconsistent (speciesist) and so selfish in their regard for non-dogs/cats that they see them as food/clothing/entertainment/test subjects. I, for one, won’t be spreading this theory that non-vegan animal rescuers are doing more in the fight against speciesism or (same thing) saving animals. Go Vegan. Rescue Animals.
clementine
May 4, 2012
I love this post. I often feel guilty for eating meat. I am also proud to help save animal;Caring for them and help finding them good home.
Greg
May 6, 2012
Exactly, Mark J. The math is extremely straightforward: being vegan saves vastly more animals than spaying a dog or fostering a few kittens. And yes, if those dogs and cats are fed the bodies of tortured/killed chickens, fishes, etc., then it’s likely that the dog/cat rescuers are harming MORE animals than they ultimately help. It does come down to speciesism: why does a stray dog deserve a loving home while dozens of birds and fishes deserve torture in order to feed that dog? (Let alone the thousands of animals that die to feed that nonvegan human)?
fiona
June 22, 2012
“But what about the estimated 100 animals a year we save by being vegan? Let’s not strain ourselves patting each other on the back.” I found your article to be a bit on the negative side to be honest, but I totally agree- if you love animals- if you work with anials etc.- you shouldn’t eat them or use their products. To address the other issues highlighted in this piece, (like the qoute I included)- I’m a vegan but I’m not an animal liberationist or animal resucer. I do other forms of volunteer work in the community as well as working a number of jobs, and unfortunately, I just dont have the time. Does that make me a bad person? I’d like to think not! I love animals, just as much as anyone else, and I support organisations and groups who are actively involved in animal welfare and animal resuce, thats how I show my support, and thats how I get involved- by donating, attending events, sharing articles on social netowrking sites, signing petitions and talking about issues with friends and colleagues whenever I get the chance. Encourage people by all means- but-Like the comment highlighted above- don’t ‘bash’ vegans way of life or their personal lifestyle choices if they are vegans but not out ‘scrapping up shit’. Like I said, I 100% commend people who take the time to help others- people and animals- but we need to encourage others, applaud individuals and organisations who are doing so much and changing perceptions… pointing the finger and creating a ‘guilt scenario’ won’t neccsarily get you anywhere.
Bec
January 27, 2013
While I do agree that the tone of this piece may cause a few to become (quite rightly) defensive, it has made me realise that I’ve become slowly but surely silent about the thing I care most about. When I first went vegan you couldn’t shut me up about it. In fact I influenced a good many people to turn vegan/veg in those first few years, a good percentage of them still are and have in turn influenced others. Eventually I didn’t like the thought of being one of those “pushy vegans”. In fact I rarely think about it anymore because being vegan has become so normal to me. Thank you for making me see that I’m not content to go quietly about my (cruelty free) business. I despise the thought that this is who I’ve become; someone who has the knowledge and means to help but does nothing (well, does little – simply being vegan is not hard work anymore). Thank you for helping me remember my passion – saving lives.
cath
March 15, 2014
It sounds more like a vegan bashing exercise…than a raising up of people that do hands-on work. If more people would work at stopping the surplus of companion animals being born…we’d be getting a bit further than rescuing and rehoming the ever burgeoning numbers that need rescuing and rehoming…but very few want to work on that end of it. I started down the road to veganism by having an ‘epiphany’ about animals that society says it is ok to eat and then very quickly got involved with a cat/dog group …I left when myself and several others were openly condemned at a meeting and told we should not talk to anyone about fur coats…go figure. There’s shit-slinging on both sides. And for the record, I think it is great that people do ANYTHING for animals, when most of the world could care less. All, and i mean all, the Vegans I know do much more than go to a few demos – their entire lives revolve around doing whatever they can to move the cause along (including rescuing).
Mary Whitmire
May 2, 2015
I have many friends in dog rescue and many more who are vegan friends. Because my friends are vegan they would as easily rescue a dog off the street as they would a chicken that fell off a chicken truck on it’s way to slaughter. More importantly they are rescuing animals EVERY minute of EVERY day by not eating them, buying products that are tested on them or contain their parts. They make a choice to do the work of being INFORMED about how their choices affect both animals AND humans every day. If being vegan is the “easy way out” to rescue animals…then why do those in dog rescue constantly tell me it would be too hard to give up their cheese and BBQ? I refuse to go to a fundraiser where the money I donate to alleviate one animals suffering is being used to support an industry that horrifically abuses another by the BILLIONS. To people that say you can’t raise money unless you have meat and dairy, you are wrong. I live in the South and am friends with a woman who is building a farm sanctuary. She has organized vegan bakes sales and raised $1600 at one sale, right smack in the middle of BBQ country. And here is a thought…if you can’t go without meat and dairy for one afternoon, you are there for the WRONG reason. I respect all my friends who do rescue and I donate to vet bills and have even fostered and adopted. I’ve been out with friends trying to catch a starving dog off a highway while thousands of birds stuffed in filthy cages in the dead heat of summer drive by me in giant trucks on the highway (this actually happened) on their way to slaughter, and not one truck but three in less than an hour! Those trucks are carrying suffering animals that will end up as a food at rescue fundraiser! I understand what they do is tough…but this isn’t about us, it’s about ending cruelty, cruelty to ALL animals. Being vegan isn’t a diet for me. I watched what what happened to the animals raised for food and decided at that very moment it wasn’t in line with who I am or who I want to be. I’ve been shunned and ridiculed by dog and cat rescues and yet I still support them…or should I say, I support saving animals from pain and suffering. I’ll continue to donate at the vet. But I WILL NOT buy a ticket to help pay for the suffering on your plate. One of the rescues where I lived even sold donated fur coats at their fundraiser! As for no photo galleries for those in rescue…maybe you should check out a few rescue websites and FB pages. I spent countless hours listening to my rescue friends talk about the monsters that participate in animals abuse and ask, “HOW can people still buy dogs at pet shops when they KNOW how abused they are”…all while eating a burger and telling me they don’t want to hear why I ordered a veggie sub. People who do dog rescue get plenty of kudos and pats on the back. They get it because America doesn’t EAT dogs and because we treat our dogs like family. In the mean time Vegans are ridiculed, mocked and sometimes rejected by family and friends for making a moral and ethical decision to no longer knowingly participate in cruelty.
Anupriya
May 15, 2015
True that Whitney. I am a new vegan and it’s not easy.. If I were a dog / cat rescuer people would happily support me. But by making choices everyday about what I eat and how I live my life I have to fight for my way everyday. It’s not appreciated at social events, I am somewhat of a social misfit. Its frustrating to family and friends because I feel like we have very little in common. I used to rescue animals all throughout my childhood. I was the one called if a puppy fell into a drain or an animal was dying on the side of the street. I got bitten by a dog while trying to vaccinate him and I stayed up at 3 pm in the night caring for puppies who were half dead lying outside sneaking out of the house at night. Everyone would say she is an animal savior. As I educated myself about the horrors of farmed animals , I could no longer participate in it. And once you question one thing, you question everything , from cosmetics to clothing to where your tax dollars are going. I have to say it hasn’t been easy. But the thought of animals keeps me going. Their eyes, when they go in slaughter, I feel their despair… It’s no different from seeing a video of Isis beheading people. I feel every sound , every moan in my body and soul. As a vegan what has changed for me is that I feel like a hippocrat if I save one and served another at dinner. I cannot unknow what I know . I have the same amount of stress if I see an animal in pain whether it’s a cat or dog or chicken.. The cruelty overwhelms me . I think we are in different stages of evolving consciousness… Saving animals could be a start for many. It was for me. There are also people out there who club seals in the head and feel nothing or hunt for the fun of it. Their conciousness hasn’t woken up. And maybe it never will because their minds and hearts are so closed. When you open up, you open up to everything, to the pain, the despair.. But also to their joy to their love .. You are everything and everything is a part of you. There is obviously physical barriers to that kind of evolution at every stage. If it were so easy we would be walking in a world of saints. It takes a lot of strength as a person to continue keeping an open mind and agree that we might be contributing to this cycle of misery. So most of us draw a line and say no more because it causes us inconvenience. We are conditioned to defend our conveniences. It takes a strong person who can look deep into themselves and question their choices even if it means redoing what we have been doing our entire lives. I would take up any chance I can of helping an animal in suffering dog or bunny or goat.
It’s very hurtful to hear we are doing the bare minimum when basically our entire day from getting ready in the morning to putting food on the plate to going to sleep at night is caught up in that one thought.. I hope I didn’t cause suffering to another living being today..
Lisa
June 8, 2015
I’m taking off my vegan goggles and putting on my non-vegan animal rescuer goggles while reading this and to me (a pretend non-vegan for a moment) it looks like I got just the justification I need to stay non-vegan, even a vegan doesn’t think that being vegan helps. You’re saying yeah, I should go vegan, but I’m already doing so much more than vegans are doing, vegans aren’t even doing anything, my rescue work more than makes up for me not being vegan.
From a vegan perspective I understand and agree with some points, I just think it’s dangerous because to me “vegans don’t save any animals” has a completely different meaning than it would to a non-vegan. It can and will be so misinterpreted. Also, I think it’s far too much of a blanket statement to say that most vegans aren’t willing to do the work that non-vegan animal rescuers are willing to do, or don’t help animals as much as non-vegan animal rescuers do. Do we have statistics on this? Because that’s not what I see. I think it’s a bit reductive to say the least. Even if a vegan doesn’t do anything except simply be vegan, they are rejecting speciesism which contributes to the new paradigm of a world that recognizes all animals as having rights over their own bodies, whereas a non-vegan actively works against the new paradigm, actively contributes to speciesism and the existing model that reinforces the idea that animals are here for us to use. I wouldn’t say that helps animals more.
I’ve never met a vegan who thinks that not being vegan negates the work someone does to save other animals. What I do hear are vegans saying that the work people do to save other animals doesn’t make up for the fact that they are still contributing to animal violence through their daily consumer choices. That’s different.
Alex
July 3, 2016
This is the most arrogant thing I’ve ever read.