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Glossary of Animal Rights Terms

Discussing animal rights is a minefield of complicated terminology. You may wonder what on earth we are talking about when we mention ‘abolition’ or debunking the ‘humane myth.’ There is also a lot of confusion over what is meant by ‘animal rights.’ Even the term ‘vegetarian’ seems to lack a clear definition.

Elated Vegan is an abolitionist vegan. Here are Elated’s definitions of some of the terms used when talking about animal rights from an abolitionist vegan point of view.

Why This Glossary is Important

I’m not saying we need to impose our worldview on other people, but whenever we do speak about animal rights we need to clearly and unequivocally speak up for animals.

  1. Explain the plight of farm animals, which is that humans are enslaving them, exploiting them, and violating their rights.
  2. Define the solution, which is a vegan lifestyle and the abolition of all animal use.

Anything less is dishonest and a betrayal.

A

 

ABOLITION

Abolitionist vegans strive for the total elimination of all animal use. We believe that when you attempt to improve the system that exploits animals, then you further entrench and normalize the property status of animals.

No animal use is acceptable. All animal use needs to be abolished. Therefore we believe in the abolition of animal use.

“An approach to animal rights that (1) requires the abolition of animal exploitation and rejects the regulation of animal exploitation”
— Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach

ABSOLUTE RIGHTS

Due to the sentient nature of animals, they have certain absolute rights. A human example is the right to be free from slavery and servitude which cannot be limited in any way, at any time, for any reason. Not even by the state in circumstances that threaten the life of the nation.

Animals have the absolute right to life, liberty, and bodily integrity. We need to recognize and defend these rights within our moral and legal communities.

AHIMSA

The principle of non-violence towards all living beings. Philosophy of not harming others in thought, word, or action.

ANIMAL EXPLOITATION

Using animals in any way where the purpose is to satisfy our own needs and/or desires. Inflicting suffering or harm upon non-human animals for gain, profit, personal amusement, or any other benefit we may derive from it. This could include any use, even use which doesn’t inflict suffering.

The underlying premise is that animals are not ours to use.

Not all animal exploitation is illegal. Breeding animals for consumption is a prime example of legal animal exploitation as it necessitates the violation of all their absolute rights and then inflicts the greatest harm of all by killing them.

Animal welfare organizations regulate the exploitation of farm animals which results in the creation of oxymorons such as ‘humane slaughter.’

Animal rights proponents unequivocally classify all animal exploitation as being inhumane and unnecessary, even when no suffering is induced, and strive to abolish it absolutely.

ANIMAL RIGHTS

The animal rights movement maintains that animals have inviolable rights that need to be protected. These include the right to continued life, autonomy over their life, bodily integrity, and freedom.

The violation of an animal’s rights is not morally justifiable or excusable under any circumstances, even when it is legal.

ANIMAL WELFARE

Animal welfare standards regulate the treatment of animals, in order to reduce suffering and improve health.

They facilitate the system of animal oppression by monitoring, approving, and campaigning for regulations that enforce methods of mutilation and slaughter of farm animals.

Animal welfare organizations do not aim to end the exploitation of animals. In many cases, they are working together with the farming communities. They see nothing wrong with animal agriculture, they just want the industry to be regulated.

ANTHROPOMORPHIC

To safeguard the paradigm where it is acceptable to exploit, maim and kill farmed animals, society feels more comfortable characterizing animals as objects without the ability to think or feel. They prefer to believe that human traits only belong to humans.

As a consequence, animal behaviorists struggle to raise awareness of the sentience of animals. When we demonstrate those same characteristics or behaviors in animals we are accused of anthropomorphism which is ascribing human-like attributes to non-human animals.

The truth is there are many characteristics, skills, behaviors, and feelings that exist in animals too and it is a mistake to reserve them exclusively for humans.

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BODILY INTEGRITY

Animals have an interest in not having their bodies violated. This includes having their physical boundaries invaded, having injuries inflicted on them, or being forced into reproductive processes. It is in their interest to maintain the integrity i.e. the wholeness and undiminished state of their physical body and for that state to be unimpaired by others.

The violation of an animal’s bodily integrity is required on a routine basis in the animal agricultural industry in the form of artificial insemination, semen harvesting, branding, tail docking, castration, milking, and shearing, amongst other standard farming practices.

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COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

The anxiety and distress we feel when our beliefs, feelings, and behavior are not in alignment with each other. For example, when we eat farm animals but love our companion animals our rational mind knows that all animals are the same and we are aware we’re not acting consistently. This causes mental discomfort which is called cognitive dissonance.

COMMODIFICATION

When we dismiss the inherent value of living beings and treat them as products (commodities) that can be bought and sold.

Instead of seeing animals as living beings, we objectify them, reducing their status to objects and viewing them as body parts or production units, which we name in such a way as to further distance ourselves from the knowledge that they belong to living beings.

COMPARTMENTALIZATION

A coping method to alleviate the discomfort we feel due to cognitive dissonance. We disassociate conflicting beliefs, feelings, and behaviors, which enables us to apply different moral value systems to different scenarios.

For example, it is uncomfortable for us to love and respect animals, while at the same time being aware that we are causing them untold suffering and violating their rights by killing and eating them.

So we separate our love and respect for animals and assign those feelings and beliefs exclusively to animals we know. We then create a totally separate belief system for the animals we eat by denying they are sentient beings and categorizing them as objects, resources, and property.

These belief systems are part of our survival strategy, so when somebody questions them our world-view is threatened and that makes us defensive, aggressive, fearful, and/or angry.

COMPASSION

Feeling strong empathy for the suffering of another and demonstrating a strong desire to alleviate their suffering. Considering the impact of our actions on others and discontinuing activities that would cause them suffering.

True compassion toward animals protects their rights to life, freedom, and bodily integrity absolutely. There are no compromises and there is no betrayal of their trust.

Compassion is not an insincere or condescending notion of offering a lesser being mercy. It is a skill that needs to be practiced where we give of ourselves for the benefit of others.

CRUELTY-FREE

When products are certified as “cruelty-free” they are certifying that neither the product itself nor any of its ingredients have been tested on animals.

Cruelty-free products are not always vegan.

If we applied the term literally then a truly cruelty-free product would be free from all animal use ie: no animal products, animal byproducts, or animal testing. However, this term is often misused and applied to animal products, which is self-contradictory because exploiting an animal is cruel and does cause suffering.

Be sure to check whether the product is also vegan.

D

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ECONOMICS OF ANIMAL EXPLOITATION

Animal products are produced in order to fulfill the demand for those products. Suppliers operate as businesses that are motivated by turnover and profit.

If the demand for a product declines and all marketing efforts fail to increase demand, they will diversify into producing products that will yield a higher turnover.

This is why abolitionists focus on reducing the demand for animal products. We believe that demand drives supply.

When more people demand vegan products, more companies will either be created or switch to producing vegan products.

ELASTICITY OF DEMAND

An economic term that describes the extent to which the demand for a product changes when the price of the product is altered. This is affected by the availability of satisfactory substitutes for that product.

For example, the demand for eggs is relatively inelastic as consumers will continue to purchase the same quantity of eggs even when the price rises. Whereas, the demand for beef is relatively elastic as consumers can switch to another animal product like chicken and pork.

Bringing substitutes into the market that satisfy consumers’ needs will change this. For example, the growing number of egg replacers on the market are making the demand for hens’ eggs more elastic as consumers can switch to egg replacers if they are cheaper.

ETHICAL

Ethical decisions are those that adhere to a person’s accepted moral code of what is right or wrong.

If we believe that it is wrong to exploit and kill animals then an ethical decision is one that does not cause an animal to be exploited or killed.

As soon as we start justifying why killing and exploiting animals would be acceptable in certain circumstances, then we are going against our moral code.

That is called compartmentalization where we have different and often conflicting moral codes for different situations. This causes cognitive dissonance.

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F

 

FACTORY FARMING

To meet the excessive demand for animal products, the animal agriculture industry has instituted intensive farming practices which meet the very lowest welfare standards they can possibly afford without negatively impacting profitability.

Unfortunately, many animal activists focus exclusively on abolishing these factory farms. Yet all animal farming requires gross violations of the animals’ rights to life, freedom, and bodily integrity. This includes invading their reproductive processes, mutilating their bodies for purposes of identification or more efficient confinement, confining them in enclosures unlike any the animal would choose in the wild, destroying and depriving them of all social or familial bonds, and killing them which is the greatest harm you could inflict on a sentient being.

Factory farms are not the problem. The problem is the excessive demand for animal products.

Factory farms provide the solution for meeting the public’s excessive demand for animal products. We need to direct vegan education efforts at the public in order to eradicate the demand for animal products. Only then will there be no need for factory farms.

FARMED ANIMALS

Is it ‘farmed’ animals or ‘farm’ animals? This distinction is a way of making a point about animal rights and animal sentience. 

When animals are farmed they are being exploited and killed. So, does that define who they are? If you think so then you would call them ‘farm’ animals. In other words, they are products of the farm. How they are being treated is defining who they are.

But if you see them as still being animals with absolute rights and unique identities who are being exploited then you would call them ‘farmed’  animals. As they are the victims of an action taken against them.  They are animals who are being farmed.

The standard use of the term ‘farm animals’ is to distinguish between different types of animals and means animals who live on farms. So, to avoid confusion, Elated uses both terms.  

FLEXITARIAN

Flexitarians will switch between various diets and are happy to continue eating this way. They follow a vegan diet occasionally, on certain days, at some meals, or at specific times of the day. A well-known example is ‘Vegan Before 6’ created by Mark Bittman.

FREE-RANGE

Free-range farm animals have access to the outdoors but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have the ability to actually go outdoors. This usually takes the form of a door at the far end of a large shed, leading into a small caged area without food or water, thus offering no motivation for the animals to make use of it.

In the case of chickens bred for their flesh, they have been bred to grow so quickly that often their young bones cannot carry them that distance. They have also been bred with insatiable appetites so they have no motivation to leave the food dispensers in the shed.

In every other way they are treated the same as any other farm animal i.e. as resources for the benefit of humans. They are still subjected to forced breeding programs, mutilations without anesthetic, and slaughtered for human consumption at the end of their profitable lifespan.

Portrait of a red hen - dundanim | 123RF

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H

 

HAPPY MEAT

The term ‘happy meat’ describes the incongruous nature of the humane farming myth. If the treatment of animals is humane, then the assumption would be that the animals are happy.

This is obviously not the case. They are not queuing up at so-called ‘humane’ slaughterhouses and saying “Please kill me here!”

Many animal products are adorned with images of happy animals. Milk cartons with happy cows, boxes of eggs with happy hens etc. The farm animals are depicted in expansive green fields. Some supermarkets even have huge banner images on their walls displaying these scenes.

People who eat animal products and byproducts find this happy meat concept comforting because it alleviates their cognitive dissonance.

HUMANE MYTH

Animal welfare organizations aim to regulate the humane treatment of farmed animals. Even slaughterhouses are often designed according to so-called “humane” standards.

The Humane Myth debunks the claim that it is possible to raise animals for food in a compassionate manner, or slaughter them in a humane way. It makes the statement that the exploitation of animals and the violation of their rights is the antithesis of being kind.

The sad truth is that humane labels do not protect animals, instead they make people feel more comfortable with exploiting and killing animals so they buy more animal products.

I

 

INCREMENTAL WELFARE IMPROVEMENTS

New regulations that may or may not reduce the suffering of animals, but in no way challenge the property status of animals.

Incremental welfare improvements specifically legalize methods of mutilation and slaughter of farm animals for the purposes of human consumption.

 

INHERENT or INTRINSIC VALUE

Animals are sentient, they experience and value their lives. Therefore their lives have value whether we value them or not and it would be wrong for us to treat them like objects that do not experience or value their lives.

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J

 

JUSTICE

Adhering to the moral principle that animal rights are inviolable.

K

 

KILL SHELTER

Most animal shelters are kill shelters where the animals have at best 2 weeks, but the average is closer to 72 hours, to be adopted before they are put down. Hundreds and thousands of healthy domesticated animals are killed at animal shelters every week.

L

 

LEGAL PERSON

The animal rights movement strives to upgrade the legal status of animals from property to that of ‘legal persons’ for limited legal purposes. This will ensure that animals are recognized as legal entities having distinct identities, legal personalities, and rights. Furthermore, it will be possible to pursue legal action in order to defend these rights.

The laws surrounding personhood are a social justice issue that has previously been debated during the abolition of slavery and the fight for women’s rights.

M

 

MAINSTREAM VEGAN

Being vegan while living and interacting in society. Striving to normalize vegan food and principles so that they become the dominant trend.

Introducing vegan products and services into society in such a way that they are easily accessible and appealing to the general public.

Encouraging Multi-National Companies to produce vegan products, thereby utilizing their economies of scale to produce vegan products more cost-effectively, and applying their large marketing budgets to successfully promoting vegan products to a wider market.

MEAT-FREE

A term used in place of ‘vegan’ by many welfarist organizations as it is considered to be more appealing than the ‘V’ word. Many of the public interpret this to mean free from red meat i.e. beef so they replace red meat with chicken, lamb, pork, eggs, dairy and other animal products.

This does not reduce animal suffering, in fact, since a cow is the largest farmed animal, replacing it with other animals results in a greater number of animals suffering and dying.

MORAL COMMUNITY

Accepting animals as full members of the moral community requires moving away from the speciesist limitations of our society. Animals qualify for moral personhood.

MORAL PERSONHOOD

As sentient beings, animals have an interest in not being used as resources, they have an interest in not suffering, and they have an interest in continuing to live. Just as these fundamental interests are protected for humans, so too should animals have the right to moral personhood and the right to defend these interests.

Sentience is sufficient reason to include them as members of the moral community. Requiring a cognitive ability that is similar to humans is speciesist and inconsistent with our practice of awarding moral personhood to all humans, irrespective of their cognitive abilities.

MORAL SCHIZOPHRENIA

A term coined by Gary Francione which means being inconsistent with our value judgments and personal belief structures around animal use. It means we have double standards, arbitrarily deciding that certain treatment is not acceptable when applied to animals we know, but is acceptable when applied to animals we don’t know.

Or believing that we have a higher moral obligation to animals of one species and not another. Loving your dog and considering him to be highly intelligent with human-like characteristics, but eating a pig who has been scientifically proven to be of higher intelligence than a dog.

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N

 

NEW WELFARISTS

This is the name abolitionists use to describe animal advocates and organizations who claim to uphold animal rights, but in practice, promote welfare reforms. They claim to fight for the liberation of animals in the future, while further entrenching the property status of animals in the present. They are opposed to factory farming but promote the humane mutilation and slaughter of animals.

They may be vegans themselves, but feel that veganism is too extreme for other people. They ask people to stop consuming some animal products, but not all animal products, by promoting meat-free and vegetarian diets. They ask people to oppose some animal use, but not all animal use, by promoting single-issue campaigns. They form partnerships with animal welfare organizations and the animal agricultural industry, in order to promote their campaigns.

NON-DEROGABLE RIGHTS

Due to the sentient nature of animals, they have certain non-derogable rights, for example, the right to life which may not be compromised. Not even by the state in circumstances that threaten the life of the nation.

NON-HUMAN ANIMAL

Humans are merely one species of animal. We call all other species ‘animals’, whereas, the correct term is ‘non-human’ animals. We also tend to forget that humans are mammals, just like cows, goats, dolphins, and sheep who are also mammals.

NON-VIOLENCE

Refraining from infringing on the rights of others. Respecting another’s bodily integrity. Respecting another’s property rights. Harmonious co-existence that is beneficial to all. A core tenet of abolitionism is non-violence; towards animals, people, and property.

Violence is the problem, it is not the solution. Veganism is a peace movement.

O

 

OMNIVORE

Eating all types of food, including plants and animal products. Humans are omnivores. Our bodies are very adaptable. But we have the intelligence to optimize our health and raise our consciousness to respect all life on this planet. We achieve both of those goals by being vegan.

OPEN RESCUE

Animal activists who rescue animals and embark on exposés openly. 

Animal rights advocates view animals as moral persons and the act of extracting them from abusive environments, and saving their lives from certain death, is a rescue mission.

In the eyes of the law, animals are classified as property. Removing an animal from its ‘owner’ constitutes theft resulting in prosecution. The tide is turning in favor of animal activists and society is beginning to agree that they are in fact rescuing the animals, and not stealing them.

On a practical level, the act of rescuing farmed animals makes a huge difference to the rescued animals themselves, but the industry merely replaces them, which serves to speed up the production line and does not reduce the number of animals exploited and killed.

However, these open rescues encourage public discourse and raise awareness for the plight of farmed animals. They also shame and expose the organizations responsible for abusing the animals.

ORGANIC

A method of animal agriculture that is more appealing to humans as it is kinder to the planet and healthier for humans. The animals are not arbitrarily dosed with antibiotics, as all usage has to be recorded and unnecessary growth hormones are excluded from their feed.

However, it does not mean the animals suffer less. It does not mean the animals are free-range and if antibiotics are withheld when they need them this causes them more suffering.

Standard farming practices still apply, the animals are artificially inseminated, confined, separated from their families, mutilated, and slaughtered just like other farmed animals.

OXYMORON

A term that contradicts itself. For example: ‘humane slaughter.’ An act of cruelty cannot be kind.

A woman reaching out to a cow in a green field

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PARADIGM SHIFT

When the belief structure of an individual or society is so drastically altered that previous assumptions need to be reassessed and all future decisions are made from a different perspective.

A paradigm shift is required to move society away from the belief that animals are resources at our disposal, and towards viewing animals as sentient beings who qualify as members of our moral community.

People who go vegan for ethical reasons do so because they have experienced a paradigm shift.

PLANT-BASED DIET

One would think this means a person only eats plants, but that is not the case. A plant-based diet is a way of eating that generally means eating mostly plants. It does not exclude animal products.

Plant-based is not a synonym for vegan. It only describes the basis, not the entirety of the diet, and it can include or exclude animal products depending on who is discussing it. 

If a product is described as being ‘plant-based’ then you will need to investigate further to find out if it is vegan.

PROPERTY STATUS OF ANIMALS

Animals are currently classified as objects, commodities, resources, property, and even described as machines in some agricultural textbooks. This disregards their sentience, disqualifies them from being members of the moral community and their needs are subjugated to those of humans.

This legal status is at the core of how animals continue to be exploited. It facilitates the use of animals for food, clothing, scientific experiments, entertainment, etc.

Animal rights advocates strive to change the property status of animals and have them legally declared as legal persons.

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RAW FOOD DIET

Eating natural foods that are not cooked at temperatures higher than 46°C. Not all raw foodists are vegans. Their diet consists predominantly of fruit, vegetables, sprouted grains, and nuts, although animal products may be included, such as eggs, fish, dairy, honey, meat, and seafood.

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SENTIENCE

Signifying that a being is conscious, self-aware, and has the capacity to feel emotional and physical sensations. A being who has the ability to subjectively and consciously experience pleasure and pain, joy and fear.

Animals are sentient beings. Although this fact is self-evident to anyone who has ever known an animal, it has also recently been scientifically proven.

The fact that animals are sentient discredits the current property status of animals.

SINGLE-ISSUE CAMPAIGNS

Speciesist in nature as they focus on certain types of animals, single-issue campaigns are also often racist, classist, and nationalistic when they focus on actions by other races, classes, and nationalities.

They are welfarist as they focus on a certain type of treatment and do not bring us closer to the abolition of all animal use.

For example, petitions to end the consumption of dogs in Asia. Indian nations could just as well launch campaigns for people in the west to stop consuming cows. 

Most people who get involved in single-issue campaigns are not vegan and are only championing a cause because they feel an affinity for this specific species of animal or are enraged by this specific cultural practice.

SPECIESISM

The discrimination and oppression by humans of a group of sentient beings dependent on their species. Humans are also animals. The species we refer to as ‘animals’ are in reality ‘non-human’ animals.

The large majority of civilized society no longer tolerates discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, abilities, or race. The next step is to end discrimination against other species.

The mere fact that a being is sentient, qualifies them as a moral person and entitles them to be a full member of the moral community.

SUFFERING

The mental anguish that is caused by physical or mental pain and discomfort. Farm animals suffer in many ways, the very least being their confinement and the obfuscation of their natural desire for autonomy over their lives.

Despite the fact that suffering is a highly subjective concept, animal welfare pragmatically quantifies the suffering of farm animals into necessary and unnecessary suffering.

Considering that animal welfarists accept the consumption of animals as being morally acceptable; then mutilation, isolation, artificial insemination, and slaughter all fall within their definition of necessary suffering.

SUSTAINABLE

A viable solution for human lifestyle requirements that will ensure the health of our planet’s ecosystem and its ability to support plentiful life on Earth indefinitely.

The term has nothing to do with the treatment of farm animals.

T

U

 

UTILITARIAN

People who believe that animal use is acceptable if it serves the greater human good. Most often they are preference utilitarians, believing that death is not a harm for animals in the same way that it would be for humans, and as long as the animals have not suffered unnecessarily, then they believe it is morally acceptable for a human to kill and eat them.

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VEGAN

A vegan refrains from the consumption and use of anything that is derived from animals. This includes meat, eggs, dairy, seafood, and honey; as well as leather, wool, fur, and silk. Vegans avoid products that have been tested on animals.

Ethical vegans do not view these choices as a diet, but rather as a lifestyle that demonstrates their belief in non-violence and animal rights.

The Definition of Veganism

“The word “veganism” denotes a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.”
— Donald Watson, founder of the Vegan Society 1944

VEGAN BY ACCIDENT

Many foodstuffs and other goods are vegan by accident. This means that even though the product was not created for vegans specifically, and is not labeled as vegan, or vegan certified, it does not include any animal products and is, therefore, suitable for vegans.

The company may be targeting people who are allergic to eggs or dairy products, or the kosher community. They may also be catering for raw food or plant-based diets, neither of which are necessarily vegan.

VEGAN DIET

The vegan diet is growing in popularity. It refers to what people eat on a vegan diet.

To be clear: All vegans are on a vegan diet. But not everyone on a vegan diet is vegan.

The distinction relates to a person’s belief systems and behavior for the rest of their lives. Questions to ask: Do they wear animal products? Are they motivated by reducing the use of animals? Do they occasionally ‘slip up‘ and eat animal products?

If someone is choosing to go on diet and chooses the vegan diet but does not apply vegan principles for the rest of their lives, then it is better to call themselves flexitarians or as being on a vegan journey as this will protect them from criticism for any actions or beliefs that do not align with being vegan.

VEGAN EDUCATION

Promoting veganism as the unequivocal baseline for animal rights. Raising awareness for the oppression of animals and presenting the abolition of all animal use as the solution. Discussing the property status of animals and stating the case for their right to moral personhood. Distributing literature that assists people to follow a vegan lifestyle. Sharing vegan food and recipes to demonstrate how easy it is to be vegan.

VEGAN-FRIENDLY

Vegan-friendly is the same as vegan by accident. The product excludes animal products so it is suitable for vegans to use and/or consume, but it wasn’t specifically created for vegans.

VEGAN JOURNEY

Calling ourselves vegan when we are just starting on the path toward being vegan will expose us to criticism. But if our ultimate goal is to be vegan, then saying we are on a ‘vegan journey’ honors our intention while at the same time explaining any inconsistencies.

We live in a non-vegan world and will continue to discover animal exploitation that we weren’t aware of before. So, there are no perfect vegans. As long as we continue striving to align our beliefs, thoughts, and actions with the desire to end the exploitation of animals then we are all on a vegan journey.

VEGETARIAN

Vegetarians do not want to directly contribute to the death of an animal, but they are not concerned with benefiting from the death of an animal if someone else is responsible. A vegetarian usually doesn’t eat anything ‘with eyes’. So they do not consume the body parts of most living beings. However, some vegetarians do eat oysters, fish, and even chickens.

Vegetarians will eat animal byproducts that include eggs, dairy, and honey. They do use wool, silk, and leather, but not fur (which is a precursor to leather).

A Note on Vegetarianism

When a person replaces one type of animal product with another type of animal product, this results in the suffering and death of more animals than before. 

For example, replacing meat with dairy swaps the death and suffering of a beef cow, with that of veal calves and their mothers. Dairy cows suffer more and for longer, and they are all killed and eaten at the end of their useful life when they are still very young, but spent.

The same applies to swapping chicken with eggs. In the egg industry all male chicks get killed at birth, the mother hens experience incredible suffering and physical complications, for longer than broiler chickens. And the hens are all killed and eaten when they are spent and no longer productive.

VIOLENT DIRECT ACTION

Illegal and anonymous methods of liberating animals from exploitative industries. Economic terrorism that is directed at the perpetrators in the form of property damage. This is the reason animal activists are classified as terrorists in some countries and it serves to generate negative sentiment toward the animal rights movement.

Participants keep their identities hidden in order to evade detection and thus extend their ability to continue with their mission. Their attention is focused on the supply chain and not the consumers and their campaigns are single-issue in nature. Not all participants are vegan.

They fight violence with violence, which could undermine ethical veganism which is a peace movement.

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WELFARE REFORMS

Animal welfare reforms aim to reduce the suffering of animals. In reality, they legalize the breeding, confinement, mutilation, and slaughter of animals. They further entrench the property status of animals and perpetuate the humane myth.

Karen Johnson - The Elated Vegan

Author Karen Johnson
Karen is passionate about vegan education, health, nutrition and fitness. She is a Nutritarian Coach certified with Joel Fuhrman M.D. Karen founded Elated Vegan in 2007 to raise awareness for farmed animals, and added the Elated Vegan Health marketplace in 2020 to source vegan supplements, and help people be healthy vegans.

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Elated is an affiliate marketing marketplace.
When you buy, you support my vegan mission as I may earn commission, but it won’t cost you a penny extra. You can access the Legal Docs for more information.

The statements on this website have not
been evaluated by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA). These products
are not meant to diagnose, treat, prevent
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