Vegans Actually Kill More Animals Than Meat Eaters

At a networking event, I was asked what my favorite restaurants are. I replied with, “I’m vegan, so I love Green, the pizza at LGO, and The Coronado. What are yours?”

He went full attack mode and rebutted, “You know that veganism kills more animals right? The trucks run over mice and snakes for crops.”

This was early in my veganism journey, and I was not used to people getting defensive so quickly. I said OK, and then asked him what he did for work, so I could run from the uncomfortableness of it all.

Veganism is Not Entirely Bloodless

Small wildlife indeed dies in the process of harvesting crops. Field mice are run over, pesticides kill insects, fertilizer runs into the water and kills fish, and bird habitats are destroyed. Rough numbers put the total killings at 7.3 billion field animals a year in the U.S. (so rough that it seems there are calculation errors). If it is 7.3 billion animals, a very large number, it still doesn’t rival the 55.4 billion animals killed a year directly for food just in the U.S., 70 billion worldwide.

Are Vegans the Only Ones to Eat Plants?

We need a food revolution within animal agriculture and plant harvesting, but the argument that vegans kill more animals due to the farming practices of crops is simply ludicrous. Aside from the difference between 7.3 billion and 55.4 billion, this would also assume that meat eaters do only that. Eat meat. Unless you’re Mikhalia Peterson, someone who thinks she’s a lion, then you probably eat vegetables along with your protein. Therefore, you have directly killed animals, and indirectly killed animals for your side dish.

Buying Free Range Beef Results in Fewer Deaths

If you’re not feeling bad yet as a meat eater, it gets worse because the animals you eat also eat the harvested crops. This means you’re now killing animals to eat, animals for your food to eat, and animals for your side dishes. 70% of the grain in the U.S. and 75% of soy worldwide, is being used to feed cattle, pigs, and chickens. Non-vegans have caught on though, and say, “No. No. We eat free-range, grass-fed, and organic products that don’t consume the crops that kill the field animals. While the organic meat market continues to grow, only 1.4% of all meat sales are organic and only 4% of meat sales are grass-fed. Someone is lying.

A Moral Dilemma

Veganism by definition is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practicable — all forms of exploitation. When we eat meat, we knowingly kill an animal. It was directly slaughtered to be chopped and placed on our plate. When field animals are killed for crops, it’s not so black and white. In Earthling Ed’s free e-book, he compares this to running over a dog with our car. Does it make a difference if we purposely run over a dog or accidentally run him over? Of course, it does.

It’s hard to trace where this argument started but Steven L. Davis seems like a likely suspect or at least someone who planted the idea in a lot of heads. He wrote a paper titled The Least Harm Principle May Require That Humans Consume A Diet Containing Large Herbivores, Not A Vegan Diet, and it was supported by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station where Davis worked in the Department of Animal Sciences. This professor worked within a college major that teaches students how to produce meat. They even have a Meat Science Center. Controversial opinions create a lot of buzz which this article did and has done. Meat eaters have long complained that vegans act like they are superior because they are above killing animals. I am only one vegan, but whether or not I come across as superior, my main mission is to help and save as many animals as I can. When a meat eater tries to diminish that with a poorly researched argument, I try to divert the upset feeling I have with the understanding that this person is trying to find any way to feel ok with directly killing animals for their enjoyment. At the end of the day, we all know the right answer, and it’s to stop eating meat.

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