Question for all Vegans?

Question

What are the purpose of animals? Are they put on the earth for our (humanity's) benefit? I am all for animal rights and their ethical treatment, but doesn't meat help us survive? I am trying to become a vegan based on ethical concerns, and I'm having a hard time with this. Any answers?

Answer 1

I don't think there is a reason for animals being here on earth, just like there is no specific reason for people being here. Everything is here for one purpose, and that is to live. I have never believed that there is any greater, spiritual reason for something being here.

Animals certainly are not here to be exploited by people. Peoples reasons for the purpose of things being here changes. look at slavery, it used to be said that slaves purpose was to serve and nothing else(just because that is what ignorant people thought, it didn't make it any more true).

Meat may have been used for survival at one point, but it was nothing like today. People no longer hunt or scavenge for food to survive, they have created a mass production of slaughter. Intentionally breeding and pumping animals with hormones, etc is not how people used to survive. If there was a purpose for animals I highly doubt that it was to be dominated and brutally slaughtered so that JoeSomebody can enjoy his potroast.

Answer 2

I don't believe that animals need to have a purpose. They are just like us. Yes meat does help us survive, but what makes animals any more important than us? I don't eat red meat. I wish that I could be a vegetarian, I really do, but my dad won't let me because I am too young. Many people have a hard time as beginner vegans. I think that maybe you should start being a vegetarian and eating only organic milk, their cows get the best treatment. If you can handle that for a year than transition into being vegan. Also if you don't like soy products, being a vegan won't be easy. Don't let anyone talk you into doing this or not though. It is comepletey your choice.

Good luck!!!!

Answer 3

Each animal plays a vital role in it's ecosystem. For example earthworms irrigate the earth, bees pollenate flowers, squirrels are natures seed planters, cows fertilize the earth as well as eat grass which allows water access to soil and allows the grass room to grown preventing a canopy effect that would prevent plants from getting sunlight. Chickens use dead plant material as food. By digesting the food prior to bacteria breaking it down it reduces the spread of infections bacteria. Fish help fertilize underwater plants that oxegenate the water. These are only a few. Each animal has it's own way of contributing to the environment. Oh, and brosie, just to put your mind at ease Mussolini wasn't a vegetarian and Hitler was only recommended by his doctor that he become a vegetarian which he did not follow.

Answer 4

First, I am a vegan. Since I do not believe in intelligent design, fate, etc, I do not think animals were "put" on earth for a purpose. In my opinion, animals evolved for thousands of years and then those most suitable were domesticated by humans. Now, certain types of animals are raised to be eaten, but that does not mean that they SHOULD be eaten.
Meat does not necessarily help us survive, but it implements valuable nutrients into your diet. However, vegans can get these nutrients from other sources, though it is sometimes tougher. I think that this is a sacrifice worth making for all the animals going through the horrific conditions to give us our meat/dairy/leather, etc, and I'm glad you are trying to be vegan...good luck!

Answer 5

I'm not sure you're getting any of the answers you seek, so I'll just throw my 2 cents in as someone who hasn't eaten meat in 35 years...
I made my personal choice for ecological reasons...Most corns, soybeans meals, barleys, oats and sorghum crops are fed directly to animals... if these grains were fed directly to humans, there would be much less land wasted and more food could be produced...
animals eaten per person in a 70-year lifetime?
12 sheep
14 cattle
2 calves
23 hogs
880 chickens
35 turkeys
(ref: The People's Almanac)
Aristotle was a vegetarian, as was Plato & Buddha; Horace Greeley, John Harvey Kellogg & Richard Wagner...Mahatma Ghandi & George Bernard Shaw...)
let's not discuss Hitler & Mussolini... God only knows what their reasons for being vegetarian were...lol
it's a personal choice... like birth control...and never let anyone insist you talk about your decision...

Answer 6

We don't really know the specific purpose of animals on earth. Come to think of it, we don't really know the purpose of our own existence on earth either. Some religions say it's part of the grand scheme of God, but we can't understand it scientifically.

However, we know intuitively that we should not harm animals just like we should not harm other people.

Answer 7

What's the purpose of people? They are animals too. They all exist and wish to survive, that's about it. If you wouldn't eat a cat or dog, then you may understand why you would choose not to eat other animals (this assumes you are in the US or Western culture).

Answer 8

I believe Animals evolved just like us.

I dont think they have a 'purpose' and even if they do have one, i doubt its to live entirely to feed us.

maybe biodiversity of the planet is healthy for the overall ecosystem?

Answer 9

Animals were not "put on Earth".

They are just here, the same as us.

Were we "put" here to torture and murder each other until we end the world?

We don't need meat to survive. That's the first thing you'll have to learn if you want to be vegan.

Answer 10

As Alice Walker said, the animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for man anymore than blacks were made for whites or women for men. I'm paraphrasing it here, but that is the essence of what she said.