Why Animal Rights Supporters Need to Be Vegan

Anyone that supports animal rights should seriously consider becoming vegan. I am convinced that this is the only way that we can bring about any meaningful change for animals. Many of us have become vegetarians and continue to eat dairy products and eggs. This is hypocritical as we are still supporting animal suffering as much as ever. I will show you in this article how eating dairy products and eggs causes just as much suffering as eating meat.

Imagine how powerful it would be if we all become vegan. What if we suddenly refused to buy or eat animals, eggs, dairy products, honey, fur or any product that involved the torturing of animals? The animal exploitation industry would come to a glorious screeching halt. Becoming a vegan is the most powerful and effective act to support animal rights. It is more effective than fighting for legislation, signing petitions, or raising money. Adopting a vegan lifestyle will help more animals than anything else that you can possibly do for animal rights.

Why is eating dairy products and eggs wrong? First of all, eggs and dairy products are not designed for human consumption. Milk is designed for baby calves. Eggs are designed for chicken reproduction.

In the dairy industry the calves are taken away from their mother soon after birth. After all, they do not want them drinking the milk that they plan on selling to you. The male calves are confined to a dark stall that prevents them from moving around. The dairy industry feeds them an iron deficient liquid that causes malnutrition and then kills them at a few months old. This is called veal. Veal is a baby calf that has only known a frightening and unhealthy existence. The cows are kept pregnant so that they will continue to produce milk for you. They are pumped up with so many hormones in order to produce more milk than that they often suffer from a painful condition called mastitis. A cows normal life span uninterrupted would be about 25 years, but after all this abuse their bodies are too tired to go on. Typically they are put down at 4-5 years of age and sold for meat production.

In the egg industry, on average 5-11 hens are kept in an 18 by 20 inch cage. These cages are all stacked on top of each other allowing all the excrement to fall in lower cages. With the overcrowded conditions and anxiety it is normal to burn a large portion of their beak off so that they don't start pecking at each other. No anesthesia is provided and many stop eating after the procedure and are left to die. Due to the harsh living conditions, most can only live approximately 2 years. At that time they are killed for the meat industry.

People concerned by animal rights are in an uproar over dog fighting, stray animals, animal neglect, etc. Where is the uproar over the inhumane way that cows and chickens are treated? Are they not cute enough to deserve our compassion? Many of us that become vegetarians want to believe we are making a difference. The sad truth is, we are not making that much of a difference if we continue to eat dairy products and eggs. How can we have integrity in the animal rights movement if we continue to eat eggs and dairy products? We cannot. That is why I have made the decision to go vegan.