Where does the hundred animals figure come from....?

Question

I keep hearing if you become vegitarian you save a 100 lives a year.

Where does that figure come from????

And wouldn't that depend on what kind of meat eater you were before you went veggie?

If you eat only beef and pork at most you are saving a couple a year. Cows and pigs give a lot of meat, even the most hardy beef eater would take about a year to eat one cow.

On the other hand if you primarily ate sea food it could be in the thousands. Can of sardines at lunch is a dozen right there, shrimp loves delight for dinner another 20 or so. I had a friend who ate 46 steamers at a clam bake in three hours.

Hope - he had a hangover the next day, but i think that had more to do with the case of beer.

Eco-fem-vegan-guy

Answer 1

Well, yes, it's just an average. Someone who eats primarily chicken or seafood kills far more animals than someone who eats cows' and/or pigs' flesh. Ironic, isn't it? People transitioning to veg give up beef first, when really, they should stop eating the smaller animals.

Trace--I agree we should stop slaughtering animals for their fur--thank you for that--but really, even if you got rid of all the fur farms, all the circuses, all the zoos, all the animal testing laboratories, you would barely make a dent in the number of animals humans breed and kill. Over 90 percent of animals killed in the U.S. are killed for food.

Answer 2

The U.S. population is 300 million people. 3 billion chickens are killed every year in the U.S. alone. Divide the number of deceased chickens by the number of people in the U.S. and you get approximately 100 animals saved. That being said there are obviously even more than 100 saved because the number of pigs, cows, pigs, and mollusks are not factored in. Chicken flesh is consumed more than any other meat obviously. Why so many deaths? There are only two wings, two breasts, and four legs on each. That means a twenty pack of Buffalo wings contains 10 dead chickens. The numbers add up from that. So Peta is actually estimating on the low side and taking into consideration the habits of the average American consumer. Hope that helps.

Answer 3

detailed assesment in the 1980's. the figures are more detailed than that, give me a minute to go and get the book from my library...back in a sec....

....i'm back, actually the numbers i have are from 1998, so much more recent.

the numbers I have are based on the amount of animals that will NOT be eaten by a life-long vegetarian:

760 chickens
5 cows
20 pigs
29 sheep
46 turkeys
7 rabbits
half a tonne of fish

So, to decide how many animals per year you'd have to work out how many portions you got from a cow, pig, sheep etc.

Not exactly the 100/year format you were looking but at least they are real, researched numbers

The figures were based on meat industry statistics on sales to known population sizes across Europe, so like most stats and research, these are probably fairly reliable averages for a European diet. Research was funded by 6 Euro countries and implemented by 3 Universities - Stuttgart, Uni of Wales, and Munich

I suspect the USA beef figures would be higher.

Answer 4

Good question. Yes, I agree it def would depend on what type of meat eater you are. My family also used to buy half a steer every eyar and it would last entire year. As far as seafood I could eat half of shrimp tray at a party at any given moment. I htink I agree with Meg that amount is skewed and it probably did come from PETA. I think I would be more interested in how many animal lives can be saved by the senseless slaughter of animals for fur? It seems as if moe animal lives could be saved there then not eating a cow.

Answer 5

It's an average based on current omnivorous dietary trends. Being an average, it won't be accurate for everyone, of course.

Besides, the number isn't important. Reducing or ending suffering is a great goal to aspire to. Just know that by going vegetarian or vegan, you are helping immensely.

Answer 6

I've heard it attributed to PETA---So we know how seriously we should take that figure.

Your analysis is quite right, IMO. I came from a family of 4 and we would buy 1/2 a steer, and a whole pig and it would last an entire year. And that includes a rather frequent dinner party schedule our parents held. Fish, seafood, and poultry actually comprised most of the meat portion of the family diet.

Answer 7

That PeTA t-shirt says 83 but it doesn't really matter to me.

Answer 8

Michael H how do you know so much? You keep chickens on a farm that doesn't seem very animal friendly to me. Your numbers are not accurate and you are not very moral. If we quit eating animals then all of the animals can be freed. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Answer 9

46? did he get sick?