Letter to a vegetarian

Dear Fiona

I was very glad to read your article in Saturday’s Mirror exposing the cruelty involved in the meat industry. 

However, it has to be said, all the cruelties you describe in your article apply equally - if not more so - to the dairy industry. Every cow or calf in that industry finishes up in a slaughterhouse, enduring the same appalling conditions. Indeed, I would argue that dairy cows suffer much more than animals raised for beef, since they endure forced pregnancies, separation from calf at birth, and constant over-milk production for the few - 4 or 5 - years they are allowed to live. Then they are killed - 15 or so years before their natural life span. Their male offspring are either dispatched immediately or they are kept a few short months for veal. The dairy industry underpins the beef industry!

So, if I am to believe your horror and disgust at the cruelty you describe so graphically, logically you should go a step further and advocate a vegan lifestyle.

Anything else, Fiona, I’m afraid, is hypocrisy!

BTW, I didn’t join the dots immediately, it took me 2 years to transition from vegetarian to vegan - but it’s the only moral choice.

(This is to leave aside the benefits of becoming vegan, both to your own health and the health of the planet.)

Yours sincerely, Paul