“If your dog tasted like pork, would you eat her?”
That quote came to me thanks to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
I am a vegetarian, and everytime I go out to eat with friends (all of which are ravenous meat eaters), I have to explain to them why it is that I don’t eat cute little animals. Usually, after arguing for a few minutes, one of them would say, “yeah, I feel guilty, but I just LOVE to eat meat.” At this comment, I usually respond with, “the only difference between pigs and dogs are the ways in which we treat them,” which also came to me through PETA. A few more tidbits of information I thought I would throw at you:
-”Pigs outperform 3-year-old human children on cognition tests and are smarter than any domestic animal, and animal experts consider them more trainable than cats or dogs.” (goveg.com)
-”Pigs are sociable. They like to cuddle and snuggle up, nose to nose, with one another as they sleep. ” (goveg.com)
-”As piglets, they are taken away from their mothers when they are less than 1 month old; their tails are cut off, some of their teeth are cut off, and the males have their testicles ripped out of their scrotums (castration), all without any pain relief. They spend their entire lives in overcrowded pens on a tiny slab of filthy concrete.” (PETA.org)
These, for me, are just a few reasons why I opt not to eat meat. Now, I realize that there are people out there who think PETA is a joke. They bash PETA and vegetarians because of their compassion for animals. They think that we’re all mal-nutritioned tree huggers. Well, I suppose I’d rather be a mal-nutritioned tree hugger than a meat-eater. And for those people that respond to facts about high blood pressure, obesity, and other health issues related to eating meat by saying, “well, people have been eating meat for years, and they’re doing okay,” I say this: I have been a vegetarian for years, and I’m doing okay, too…without having to murder defenseless animals.
Still craving that hamburger? Next time you take a look at little Fido, picture him skinless, castrated, and/or caged up. Does it make you uncomfortable? Now, replace him with an animal that’s been proven to be just as cuddly as Fido, and more intelligent than your 3 year old neice, nephew, brother, or sister. Now, look in the mirror.
