One of the arguments against veganism that for me requires the most mental gymnastics to follow is the premise that if we don’t eat animals they will go extinct. It implies that the only way to save farmed animals is to continue to use them for our consumption. It further implies that we are doing these animals a favor.
Who comes up with this stuff?
However, since a lot of people believe this, and several foodies push this idea (think Michael Pollen), let’s take a closer look at the claim.
Many in the foodie movement like to assert that if we don’t eat these animals then there would be no need for them and therefore they would go extinct. Looking back at the success of the campaign “Eat Koala nuggets, Save a Koala bear”…wait that never happened. Well, what about the time everyone was encouraged to “Spot an Owl, Make Soup”? Actually, that may have been the anti-spotted owl people. This never happened either. In reality NO animals have ever been saved or brought back from near extinction because we started eating them. Yes, I can hear those of you shaking your head, yelling at the computer “Farmed animals are different. You are conveniently leaving out the American Bison (Buffalo)!!” Nope, I’m not.
Bison were not saved because we eat more of them. They were FIRST removed from the endangered list by way of conservation efforts. Once the animals were considered safe from extinction, people were allowed to kill them. Does anyone else notice the sick logic in that plan? Do we have more of them now that they are being farmed? Yes. But farming did not save them from extinction. Conservation saved them, and now greed has sadly increased the numbers even more so people can consume them.
But as vegans we like to try and build bridges to find common ground with meat eaters. So let’s, for the sake of argument, concede that eating farmed animals will somehow keep them from going extinct. My response is, for the love of God please knock it off and let them go! It is the kind thing to do. We have wild pigs and even feral chickens. Let them live in peace. But do not continue to bring into the world animals that suffer every day just by being alive. Consider the following:
Broiler chickens: Chickens have been “genetically manipulated to grow much larger and more quickly than their ancestors. Modern broiler chickens also experience crippling leg disorders and lameness because their legs are not capable of supporting their abnormally heavy bodies”
Pigs: “pigs often have short life spans because their genetically-altered bodies cannot handle the strain of their massive weight on such frail legs. They were never meant to live “normal” lives and must endure bodies manipulated by science and greed”
Turkeys: “commercially raised turkeys have difficulty flying or running, and they CANNOT reproduce naturally”
Considering how horribly we have altered these innocent beings, how can we imply that continuing to reproduce them for our own pleasure is in any way helping them? It isn’t. The claim that eating them is the only way to save them is nothing more than an attempt to justify killing animals for human pleasure. Nothing more.
Go Vegan!
Theories such as “saving by eating” are the sad and illogical justifications of addicts. Heroin addicts, alcohol addicts, tobacco addicts, cocaine addicts, crystal meth addicts, and others will also all have equally illogical ways of supporting their habits. Those truly addicted will have put as much thought as they are capable of into the justification of their habit, and amazing theories will be created.
At times like these extend your compassion to the meat eaters too. Their addiction, like any other, brings complications to their lives and obstructs their physical and mental evolution. For them I recommend “Omnivores Anonymous:” http://knowthankyou.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/omnivores-anonymous/
By: Rob on September 16, 2011
at 4:57 am
Love your “Omnivores Anonymous” post!
By: Debbie on September 16, 2011
at 6:48 pm
I hear ya. I don’t understand that argument at all.
By: Have Gone Vegan on September 16, 2011
at 1:10 pm
“But as vegans we like to try and build bridges to find common ground with meat eaters.”
Your not doing a very good job of building bridges when you use derogatory phrases like “Who comes up with this stuff” etc.
“So let’s, for the sake of argument, concede that eating farmed animals will somehow keep them from going extinct. My response is, for the love of God please knock it off and let them go! [...] do not continue to bring into the world animals that suffer every day just by being alive.”
Your argument only applies to those meat-eaters who wish to keep farm animals in bad conditions (e.g. to keep meat cheap). It does not apply to those meat-eaters who confine themselves to eating well looked-after animals that eventually succumb to non-painful death (e.g. by electric shock). Such meat-eaters, believe that a meat-eating society that enables the to-be-eaten animals to live happy and flourishing lives, is a better society (morally and rationally) than a society of vegans that sentences such species to effective extinction.
Certainly, if I found out tomorrow that my (and others) enjoyable life is entirely dependent on the appetite choices of non-vegan martians, who have thought through the moral implications of their actions, and who will ensure my inevitable death will be painless; then I would not for a moment wish for the extinction of my entire species, I would just enjoy my life.
To build the sort of constructive bridges your hoping for you need a logically sound and empirically motivated argument against the latter kind of meat-eater.
By: KJ on September 1, 2012
at 12:34 am
Thank you for your comments KJ. And you are right, if I really want to build bridges with meat eaters then I shouldn’t be so flippant about such an important topic. And I probably should have included more information on why I believe that even a life filled with good treatment is not preferable. I’m not always the most articulate. However, one of my favorite blogs is written by James McWilliams who wrote about this topic back in June. Following is the link to his article. I am also going to start working on a better post on this topic.
http://james-mcwilliams.com/?p=1717
Again, thanks for your comments.
By: Debbie on September 1, 2012
at 12:14 pm
“requires the most mental gymnastics” You have got to be kidding me! What we don’t eat is going extinct. One man in Ireland saved over 600 different types of sheep by raising them for slaughter…..He simple idea saved the genetics that would of been lost. We don’t have an extinction problem with cows and chickens or horses for that matter. I know it’s twisted logic until you think it through.
By: Loren on January 3, 2013
at 8:24 am
If we didn’t eat meat animals would likely be just fine, minus the case of the domesticated turkey which can’t even reproduce by itself anymore. However, if we also didn’t use animal byproducts, e.g., wool, milk, eggs, etc., their numbers would certainly decline significantly. While we see many instances of pigs escaping and quickly turning feral in the wild, we don’t see too many cases of that happening with cows. And in the isolated cases that we do see the feral cow it is genetically dissimilar to the domesticated cow.
So the bottom line is that “extinct” would be a strong word, but a massive reduction in population would be an appropriate word with an eventual possibility of going extinct without human intervention.
By: Bri on February 18, 2013
at 6:38 am