Differing criteria for animal lovers
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Updated: September 11, 2009 4:43 PM
Re: Truly loving animals, The News, Sept. 1
Until now I would not have hesitated to call myself an animal lover, to an extent. I won’t claim to enjoy the company of moths, or that I don’t relish a delicious hamburger. However, just because one eats meat does not mean one doesn’t love animals – I am disgusted at the frequent mistreatment of animals on farms, or in labs, but if an animal is raised happily and healthfully until the day of its demise (which would have happened in the wild regardless), I feel no shame in partaking of its succulent flesh.
To claim that zoos are purely exploitation and that any visitor is not an animal lover is a bit of a stretch; what about animals that would have been extinct, if not for a safe habitat? Or the whales that are rescued from certain death in the ocean to be given a longer lifespan entertaining and educating children?
A few questions, out of simple curiosity, for Ms. Schneider: do you drive a car? Or fill a garbage bin every week or two? Both of these things harm animals. Just because there is not an obvious dead cow as a direct consequence does not mean that our pollution and waste and general existence are not harming them every day.
Also, as an aside, I would like to point out that veganism and vegetarianism are not, in fact, “similar.” Vegetarians still consume animal byproducts, and even fish for some. Essentially, they just don’t eat meat.
Vegans, on the other hand, avoid anything that could’ve possibly even touched an animal. Very different lifestyles, in my opinion, but I digress.
I may eat meat, and I may enjoy the occasional trip to the zoo, but I also hesitate to kill any spiders or bugs. I love dogs that are close to me as though they were dear friends, and the sight of a kitten really will make my heart swell. But, I guess that does not fill the rigid criteria so, alas and alack, I do not truly love animals.
Jill Olfert
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