Does being an animal activist means you got to be a vegetarian too?

Question

I was having this argument with a friend of mine today, I was saying I want to fight for animal rights one day. If I ever have the chance that is... Then she said if I love animals so much, why am I still eating meat?

So that got me thinking... Does being an animal activist means you have to become a vegetarian too??? Do animal activists all over the world still take meat???

Please help me clarify this!!!

Oh and what does an animal activist really do anyway? What do they do to help the animals? How do one start off?

Answer 1

The question is whether you want to fight for animals' rights, or for animals to be treated as if they were human. Because some of the people in animals' rights work do treat it like that, and they tend to be vegetarians, to the extent they are consistent. The obvious alternative, if they are to be consistent, would be to accept cannibalism. If you are going to treat all animals as if they are your brothers and sisters, well -- guess who's for dinner tonight?

Seriously. There was a time when "animal rights" meant the Humane Society, by whatever title. People who recognize that animals have a right to be treated humanely. And their debates centered around research animals and other extreme situations. There, the decision was, sadly, if it really is necessary, then better it be a monkey than a human. And lab scientists are really quite respectful, on the whole, of the animals in their care. They do their best out there at the extremes of necessity, and they have review boards and inspectors of all kinds.

That is a far cry from the Green's vegetarian or even vegan attitude that all animals are brothers and sisters, and none of them should eat one another. Nature is red in tooth and claw. We cannot change that, we can only civilize it. If you care, eat only kosher meats, which are slaughtered by extremely high standards of respect for the animal. Personally, I have no qualms about accepting the standards of industrial meat slaughterhouses. They are inspected and very, very clean and high technology, at least in the US.

But that's because I accept the fact that animal life is organized such that we could not support our superior brain development if we were not strongly meat-eaters throughout our history. We were hunters and gatherers, but believe me, the survivors were the bands of the hunters, and later the shepherds and cattlemen and so on, who could support herds that fed a great many more than their own family. When we are talking how our current bodies developed, we have to talk about protein.

Doing it without killing animals is an unnecessary limit, in my opinion, but if your spiritual development seems to require it, so be it. Learn how to cook tofu well, as you will need plenty of soy to make up for the loss of meat.

Answer 2

That's a good question. I heard the quote "you can't be a meat-eating environmentalist." I think there's a lot of truth to that. I'm an animal activist myself, but I'm also not a vegetarian. I've cut down a lot from meat, though, and I only eat meat when I know it's organic and free range. I think in a way you can still be an animal right activist but not a vegetarian, but it's a tough call.

Answer 3

www.animalactivist.com -
www.animalactivist.com/clothing.asp -
animalactivist.vview.org -
www.veganactivist.net -
www.geocities.com/jillserena/Speakup4AnimalRights.html -
animalliberationfront.com/Practical/Shop--ToDo/.../Activist Card.htm -
www.animalrights.net/1549 -
animalsvoice.com/.../editorial/essays/activism/anonymous_activist.html
www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/LifeOfActivist.htm - ce.com/.../editorial/essays/activism/shell_overwhelmed.html

Answer 4

AS A HUMAN ACTIVIST--WOULD YOU BELIEVE IN THE DEATH PENALTY?