DEAR DR. FOX: I am an ethical vegan. I do not eat meat, poultry, eggs, seafood or dairy products. We don't need to kill or exploit animals for food, at least in areas where we can get good plant-based diets.
You are a veterinarian, and I wonder about a possible conflict of interest in your profession: What about veterinarians who heal animals, then go home and eat other animals? Do you? If vets really care for animals, should they not be vegans? -- D.K., Fort Myers, Florida
DEAR D.K.: You raise a pertinent -- and perhaps to some, an impertinent -- question. I do not know how many veterinarians are vegan (substituting plant proteins and fats for those from animals) or vegetarian (perhaps eating eggs and dairy, but no meat). I cannot disagree with you about a seeming conflict of interest, and this is currently being debated in the British Veterinary Association. An association of vegan veterinarians has been established in the U.K., and their colleagues in the farm animal sector have taken issue with this question even being raised.
The ultimate resolution must be not to impose one's values on others, but to openly confront and consider one's own. It is true that a life unexamined is a life unlived, and we must all examine our dietary choices and related personal and family health, professional and planetary responsibilities.
Many of us are very fortunate in being able to choose, and afford, to eat what we want. But millions of people have virtually no choice, and an ever-increasing number have no food at all, under the juggernaut of climate change-induced disasters.
Indigenous peoples, like the Ojibwe in Minnesota, revere the land and seek food self-sufficiency through horticulture, rice harvesting, fishing and raising (and, on occasion, humanely killing) bison. They have a sound ethical basis for consuming animals because they are assuming their sacred duty of land stewardship and careful regeneration. But the global populace is simply too large for everyone to live this way and, in my opinion, we have an ethical imperative to become vegetarian -- ideally, vegan.
DEAR DR. FOX: When I lived in Florida, people routinely used glue traps to catch palm rats by putting then outside in bushes and trees. This resulted in birds, lizards and other small animals being trapped and dying horrible deaths. Since the traps were outside, many people just put them up and never bothered checking them.
If we hadn't unbalanced our natural world so badly, we wouldn't need all these traps and massive amounts of pesticides. I fear we are past the point of no return. -- L.D.R., Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
DEAR L.D.R.: I appreciate you adding to the discussion on glue traps for catching rodents. It is a tragic fact that, out of ignorance and indifference, humans continue to harm other sentient beings and fail to find ways of peaceful coexistence.
PET FOOD MANUFACTURER SUPPORTING FARM ANIMAL WELFARE
Readers may find this press release from Earth Animal, whose products I have periodically recommended in this column, of interest. From EarthAnimal.com:
"Earth Animal is taking yet another step in its commitment to animal welfare by signing The Better Chicken Commitment (BCC), in cooperation with international farm animal welfare organization Compassion in World Farming ... Earth Animal joins 220 companies in the human food space and is just the fifth signatory in the pet food industry to commit.
"'We believe that all animals deserve to live a good life, and therefore we have a fundamental responsibility to protect and advocate for the animals in our families and those that are born, raised and slaughtered for our pet foods and other pet products,' says Earth Animal co-founder Susan Goldstein. 'We adopted the pet industry's first comprehensive Animal Welfare Framework in 2022, where we committed to setting objectives and targets to improve the welfare of animals in our supply chain. Because chicken is our most used protein, the BCC is the logical first step in actively promoting animal welfare throughout our source ingredients.'
"The Better Chicken Commitment is a science-based chicken welfare policy developed by a group of animal welfare organizations ... The standards address animal welfare issues related to breeding for fast growth and high yield, housing conditions, stocking density and slaughter. ...
"'Chickens raised for meat, also known as broiler chickens, make up approximately 95% of the farm animals in our food system. Over 9 billion are raised and slaughtered each year in the United States,' said Julia Johnson, Senior Food Business Manager, Compassion in World Farming USA. 'By announcing their pledge to the Better Chicken Commitment, Earth Animal is demonstrating that they care about the quality of life these chickens have, as well as transparency to their customers about their own elevated sourcing standards.'"
(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.
Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)