As a vegan who lives in the country, grows as much of her own food as she can, and works for Farm Sanctuary, which operates the largest rescue and refuge network for farm animals in North America, I find, "Notes on the urban chicken movement" deeply disturbing. To enter into the business of killing, and continuing to do so – fighting every natural repulsion – until one enjoys the process, is not a “movement.” It’s simply a microcosm of the cycle we’ve all come to see in agribusiness.

I see the point of the initial endeavor being an ecological one, lost along the way, in favor of a gluttonous, beat on your chest, embrace your inner predator attitude. I wasn’t born vegan. I ate meat with wild abandon and reveled in it for many years. I can understand the passion for culinary delights. But the fact remains that we do not need meat for survival, health or even a satisfying meal.

I chose to forego all animal products as one way to improve our evolutionary chances for survival on this planet. Honestly, I thought it would be a sacrifice when I went vegan and didn’t expect it to last. I thought I would give it a try, then revert back to eating meat, but less of it. What happened along this journey surprised me. I found myself to be more adventurous with my food, and my cravings for flesh went away with every chance I took to try something new.

I also found something truly remarkable. I am constantly reminded of the interconnectedness of all things in a deeper and more meaningful way, and I understand animals in a way I never thought I could. It certainly helps working at a sanctuary filled with 750 animals who were once considered “food” and now get a chance to live out their lives in as beneficial and natural of an environment as we can provide for each species.

I can’t accept the argument that they just aren’t as smart as us, so therefore, their life has no value. Comparing one species to another, is comparing apples to oranges…literally. When I stopped eating them, I grew to understand what I cannot put into words. You just have to see for yourself. Go to www.farmsanctuary.org.

Humanity has no "natural repulsion" to killing animals for food. What you are talking about is the willful suppression of humanity's innate instinct to get protein in the most efficient way possible. It's a mammal thing.

The only way to suppress that instinct is to create an artificial disconnect with the natural world. By training yourself to think of all animals as cartoon characters or fuzzy toys, you can accomplish this, and if you do it long enough, you can even convince yourself that this is a normal state of affairs. Rest assured, it is not.

The thing that I find most interesting is the rabid and somewhat desperate proselytizing that groups like yours engage in. Not content with making your own choices, you seek through guilt and self-righteous fury to force that same choice on others. This shows a basic lack of respect for other people that is in itself a disconnect with the "free choice" of morality that you claim for yourself.

It reminds me of the more rabid Protestant cults or the Jehovah's witnesses.

tbarry:

I can’t accept the argument that they just aren’t as smart as us, so therefore, their life has no value.

Then how can you kill and eat plants?

How dare you call us rabid! Animals rights activists/vegans are the most intelligent and compassionate people on earth.I would advise you to read the book WORLD PEACE DIET by WILL TUTTLE...Just maybe you will learn something about what most of us stand for.

I agree with T.Barry completely.There is a wonderful farm animal sanctuary in Michigan,SASHA FARM, it is just amazing to see the love and compassion and care these people provide for the animals.There is nothing better than spending a day there and learning about and enjoying all the beautiful animals. People like you should visit such a place, maybe it would open your eyes and your heart(if you have one).

I am a middle aged woman who has been a proud activist and vegan for 3 years and I have never felt better and so at peace in my life since embracing this very important cause.

ROFLMAO!!! @ "It's a mammal thing"

Wow the level of ignorance displayed by MessyONE is hilarious!

The vast majority of "mammal" species... are vegetarian (herbivores, granivores, frugivores) !

Have you ever heard of Zebras running down and devouring Gazelles? How about Buffalos? The scourge of the plains... maybe it was them that killed all the native Americans. Hmmm... I've never heard of people "daring" to enter the waters when Manatees were about. Maybe they used Manatee Proof Cages. And Squirrels! What about the squirrels? I hear they attack park goers like piranhas, leaving only bones...

As for your "innate instinct to get protein in the most efficient way possible" statement... INSECTS! Pound per pound insects have almost double the protein fowl or beef have. Also, they take up less space, are easier to handle and won't get you all bloody when you butcher them... ahhh, but for you people, like the author... the "bloodying" is where the fun is at.

ROFL! Again!

Sweetheart, your exclamation point proves that I am correct! That was hilarious. Oh, and I know that was completely inadvertent on your part, so do yourself a favor and let that go.

You also proved my point about your desperate efforts to convert people. Clearly you're of the school that volume counts for more than logic.

I grew up on a farm. All of our animals were treated with more respect and dignity than you aim at your fellow humans. We spent literally thousands on vet bills, the barns and sheds were completed, insulated and heated long before we had completed the house WE lived in.

I'll tell you what I do know. I went to a "no-kill" shelter once with a friend. She was planning to adopt a dog. I saw animals that will never be socialized and safe around humans. I saw animals that were either ancient or desperately ill going untreated because the shelter didn't have money for veterinarians.

There were dogs and cats literally starving to death because the silly bitch that ran the place decided that they needed to be on a vegan diet.

One stupid, cruel woman was trying to treat kidney failure in an ancient German Shepherd by feeding it nettles.

Another was "parenting" a diabetic cat while it died because she "didn't believe" in giving animals the human-based insulin that would have granted it a long and healthy life. She was willing to watch this creature die in agony just to make her point.

I cannot imagine a more hideous fate than those poor animals that the self-righteous prigs at that so-called "shelter" claimed they had "saved".

They wouldn't even allow my friend to get the dog of her choice to a veterinarian for an examination before she made a commitment to keep it. They said that that particular clinic didn't "support their ideals".

If I am ever as ill or hurt as the animals that those "no kill" assholes were pretending they had "saved", then God grant me a veterinarian so that I could have the quick, painless, dignified death that they were being denied.

You madam, are nothing more than an overindulged, overprivileged, self-righteous fool.