Ending life as we know it – humanity on the edge of the abyss
Articles Reflecting a Vegan Lifestyle From All-Creatures.org

Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.

FROM There's an Elephant in the Room blog
March 2019

As advocates for the vegan world that has finally been recognised as the only hope for our species and the planet we share with all others, we cannot afford to relax for even a moment.

species extinction

Every day I see posts using fanciful estimates about the number of individuals our species slaughters each year. There are even suggestions (often circulated by those seeking to claim credit – and frequently, donations) that slaughter numbers are falling.

They are not falling. The slaughter of land-based species has actually increased by almost 700,000,000 since the last available statistical year. (Statistics by FAOSTAT)

The numbers above, which average at 2,374 individuals per second(!), do not include numerous other groups including:

  • Marine creatures – estimated deaths 2.7 trillion annually;
  • Male chicks killed by the egg industry – currently estimated at 7.4 to 8 billion annually;
  • Bees in the honey industry;
  • Silk worms;
  • Dogs, cats and other species slaughtered in ‘backyards’ or slaughterhouses not contributing to FAOSTAT;
  • Wildlife dying from loss of habitat and climate change caused by farming other species;
  • Laboratory test subjects.

Not one of these deaths is necessary. Not one.

Make no mistake. We are now in the midst of the fight of our lives; the fight for THEIR lives, and the fight for the very existence of our living world. We no longer have options. Anyone who tells us differently, has a vested interest in lying to us.

I should like to add one further point to ponder.

Every one of our victims is and was an individual. The world of pain and fear that was inflicted on each of them to fulfil the demands of nonvegan consumers was made no greater and no less by how many of their friends and family were suffering alongside them. To brutalise one defenceless and innocent individual without cause or conscience, is to brutalise one too many. Only by ending consumer demand for harm and killing can harm and killing cease to be profitable.

As advocates for the vegan world that has finally been recognised as the only hope for our species and the planet we share with all others, we can’t afford to relax for even a moment. We need to know the facts and we absolutely must keep our focus firmly where it needs to be; on our victims.

Be vegan.

Please read about our dying planet: Why is animal agriculture so bad for the planet?

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