Today, I have decided to present a very controversial topic, mainly to share my ideas and also to involve you, my readers! The question is, meat eater, or non-meat eater? Whether you are vegetarian, pescetarian, vegan or follow an average diet, I am sure this post will provide a view that you have never thought of before!
So I am going to start with the fact that I am actually a pescetarian which means that I eat anything, but meat (and products that involve anything to do with meat). The difference between a vegetarian, vegan and pescetarian is that vegans choose to not eat anything produced by animals or that involve animal products, vegetarians don't eat any kind of meat or fish and pescetarians choose not to eat meat, but do eat fish. You're probably now wondering why I choose to eat fish, but not meat? They're both killed right?
Personally, for me I hate the idea that many animals are bred for meat, and that is almost their meaning in life. I feel that fish are just nature's animals, they breed out of happiness, not because they're forced to. I have the view that it's by chance that fish get caught, it's not definite, and they live a genuinely happy life before they are killed. I still struggle to convince myself this, but I am not as yet prepared to give up fish due to dietary concerns. However, in the future, I do hope to do so.
So to start, I am going to begin with the whole reason that I actually transferred to pescetarianism. A while back, I was near a slaughter house near to where I live, and a carriage with a dozen or so cows inside appeared. The carriage was barred meaning that I could see the cows quite clearly. Among all of the adult cows, there was a little baby cow. It appeared at the edge of the carriage and looked out at me. It really upsetting me, knowing that they were going to kill the older cows, let alone the young innocent calf, and I actually welled up. Anyway, later on my way back through there, the carriage was on its way out, but this time empty. This may sound pathetic but I have always been weary about eating animals, not knowing how they were killed, etc. To me, this was very distressing and changed a lot.
As someone who hasn't ate meat for about half a year, and is perfectly healthy without it, it does agitate me that we are still killing animals, when meat just isn't essential. I feel that so many innocent animals are being killed, for no reason at all. Now you may disagree and say that we have to kill them, other wise there would be far too many. Or you may think that meat is essential because you don't like any of the other protein rich products which would be meat substitutes. That is your opinion and you are entitled to that. Of course, you have to do what's best for your health as well.
However, most vegetarians, vegans and pescetarians don't eat meat because they think that it is morally wrong. I recently watched a video called '
Meet Your Meat' (be aware of the explicit content) and for me, it just confirmed my opinion (and extremely upset and angered me to the point that I sat crying in shock). I am totally 1000% against ANY violence to animals, it is never condoned. It is just unnecessary. If the animals in that video were humans, the people would be labelled as psychopaths and imprisoned. If it isn't acceptable for people to be treated like that, it shouldn't be (and isn't) acceptable to treat animals like that. It is cruelty.
Animals like cows, pigs, chickens, and sheep are all bred to be killed for meat. They are often treated cruelly, and are very unhappy where they are kept. Animals are sometimes genetically modified before birth to change their characteristics, to make them better for meat. This can cause painful deaths in some cases, some are born with extra limbs, external defects, or internal defects because of this. Also, some animals live in severely cramped and unclean places, where some are so badly crushed that they die. Some animals are even over fed (in order to 'fatten them up') to the point that their little legs can't take the weight. Others have fatal heart attacks, and simply die.
Being a vegetarian, pescetarian or vegan doesn't just mean saving animals, it is also a lot better for the environment. It means less transport is needed to take animals to these slaughter houses, and less power is needed for those factories. You also help to reduce methane because livestock animals produce methane which is bad for the environment. It also has health benefits, meat tends to have quite high fat levels, meat substitutes are a lot healthier and vegetables, pulses, and lentils are even healthier again. If saving animals isn't a reason to transfer to vegetarianism or pescetarianism, then maybe your health is.
To conclude this topic, I would just say that animals are living things, they do have feelings and they do feel pain! Animals should have the same rights as we do as humans! The right to feel safe, the right to be happy, the right to have somewhere safe to live, the right to food and water, etc. Animals should be treated as humans must be treated, cruelty should never be present! It is possible to live without meat and thousands of people do every day! So why not just try it, see how you go? There's nothing to lose for you, but there's hundreds of animals that that you can save!
If you would like any extra information and this topic, or if you are thinking about transferring to vegetarianism, veganism, or pescetarianism, visit
www.PETA.org.uk for information and guidance.
What is your view on this topic? Are you or would you ever be a vegetarian?
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