Dear Editor,
I wonder if Mr. Blachuras [Vegans keep meat prices down, June 8 Letters, Langley Advance] and other hunters would hunt dogs? Likely not, perhaps because dogs are considered part of our human families by most dog-lovers.
Then why hunt other animals? They also are part of someone else’s family units.
In fact, animals that people hunt, and certainly farmed animals that people eat, are more intelligent than our family canines. There are scientific articles to indicate so.
All mammals feel pain, and they, too, treasure their own lives, just like our family dogs.
If you wouldn’t eat your family pet, why eat or hunt other animals who are more intelligent and just as sociable and loving as those arbitrarily labelled as pets?
Humans can get enough protein from plants, in the same way majestic elephants and mighty rhinoceroses obtain their protein requirements to grow to such formidable sizes. And elite athletes around the world are embracing plant-based diets for superior athletic performance.
As well, physicians and cardiologists are starting to recommend plant-based diets for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.
So if we don’t need to hunt for food in this modern civilization, other reasons would be tradition or sport.
As for tradition, humans have come to abolish slavery because we have deemed the practice to be unjust. Hence, there is no good reason to continue a tradition that is harmful.
And as for sport, natural non-human predators do an excellent job of keeping the natural ecosystems in balance. Humans are not required for conservation purposes.
If hunters are killing for fun, then it is morally unjustifiable.
Most vegans were not born vegan. But we have come to realize that killing other beings are not necessary for our survival, nor is it sustainable for our planet.
Since becoming vegan, the preaching of a former pastor, a hunter, on love, peace, and compassion of God, now rings hollow.
Here’s a quote from a current celebrity:
“I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it’s such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.†– Ellen DeGeneres.
Patricia Tallman, Langley