Its funny how righteous vegans can be about saving animals, when the majority of them source their protein from soy products which are the largest mono crop in the world. They’re clearcutting in the Amazon and South East Asia, displacing tens of thousands of animals, to grow soy to make tofu and all other manner of products. So I don’t take vegans seriously on the topic of saving animals unless they know they’re sustainably sourcing their protein.

I am hoping to raise more awareness through my blog as well. Like you said, people can be doing a good deed while making money. Turing vicious circle into a virtuous one.

Thank you so much for bringing this up because as soon as I saw that the writer was consuming dead chicken flesh I had to comment. We as a society are outraged about the killing of a lion, the captivity of an orca and the riding of an elephant – all majestic and beautiful animals and absolutely worthy to be concerned and outraged about the mistreatment of them but what about the pigs, chickens, cows, ducks and fish billions of us consume – roughly 70 billion of them each year who are killed for food? In addition all of the animals we wear as clothing such as leather, fur, wool and silk; animal testing labs; abusive homes, etc – it’s all an injustice to our animal friends and all of these living beings deserve to be heard. I am a vegan animal rights activist and I wish more people would make the connection between who they are consuming and what is happening to those animals as well. Animal abuse should not be tolerated in any situation whether it’s a pig at a slaughterhouse, a dog from a dog fighting ring or an elephant being ridden – it’s all cruel and unnecessary. I urge you to go vegan, align your actions with your morals and choose not to exploit any animal with your purchases. Live compassionately! ??

I am a big fan of your blog and when I saw this post was pleasantly surprised. However, I am rather confused as to how you do not see the hypocrisy in your ways. You say that we should not lock animals up for our amusement.. therefore our pleasure; however the only reason people eat meat is for pleasure.

You justify your diet by saying cavemen did it and as do carnivores.. am I then to assume that we should have relationships with our own brothers and sisters because cavemen did? Or that we should lick our own bodies clean because lions do? The difference between cavemen and us is that they did what they had to survive; in our current situations, we do not need animal products to survive. Australia alone wastes 5 billion dollars worth of produce every year.

I have not travelled everywhere, but I have travelled all over Asia and to a few countries in Africa and I do not feel that being a vegan has prevented me from enjoying their cultures. One does not need to eat meat to enjoy the country they are visiting. Many travellers are vegan and we find a way to make it work, because the way you feel about tigers, elephants etc. Is the way we feel about all animals. When it comes to love, pain and fear, a rat is no different from a pig or a boy.

In your email you mentioned that when you bring up the atrocities of the animal tourism industry, some people don’t care or they don’t believe you, so you have taken it upon yourself to educate others. So with that in mind, I ask you to open yours and understand our urge to do the same when it comes to all animals, not just a few.

I want to acknowledge that this is not me putting down your blog and saying that if you eat meat you should go ride elephants and visit tiger temples, because every decision we make against animal exploitation is a step in the right direction and I commend you for taking a stand Matt. I also highly recommend ‘Earthlings’, ‘Conspiracy’ and ‘Forks over Knives’ for anyone who is interested in leading a compassionate lifestyle that is better for your health and the health of our planet. This is not me shoving it down your throat; just as Matt has done in his blog.. I am trying to educate you.

I think that\’s a fair comment, will keep this short because it\’s not overly topical to the article but is important to some of the comments. Regardless of what you eat, you are contributing to the death and displacement of animals. Soy has a huge deforestation issue, many oils like palm oil as well and other products. There are huge environmental and social issues attached to everything. Drive a car? That oil comes from somewhere. Drive an electric car, that electricity comes from a damn, or from fossil fuels. The list goes on. It\’s more important to focus on the ethics.

Ethically raised animals eventually cost more to eat, therefore you generally end up eating less of them. They are well cared for and do live a happy life leading up to their death (go visit a farm some day and help feed them). This article touches on many similar themes, the ethics in which animals are raised and treated. Those same issues are similar to ethical farming issues, pesticides and farmland use. There\’s common ground for everyone here to focus on and I applaud Matthew for writing this up!

After being part of Change.org for a while, I\’ve realized how many horrible roadside attractions and other places exist just to exploit animals for profit. I\’ve always been a big supporter of animal sanctuaries since here in Colorado we have some excellent examples of the right way to rescue and protect abused animals.

While planning a recent trip to Coast Rica with my sisters I found that even all sanctuaries are not to be trusted, as is the case of the Sloth Sanctuary facility on the Caribbean coast, where they are accused of hoarding sloths vs. returning them to the wild. Fortunately we were able to spend time at a reputable rescue facility and learn all about the hard work being done to protect the local wildlife. When we want on a mangrove tour, we made sure that it was with a company that did not feed the monkeys to draw them in.

I\’m also thrilled that Trip Advisor is going to remove all of these types of \”things to do\” from their site. That\’s a huge step in the right direction. So, again, thank you for bring up this very sensitive and important topic. Sorry you got so much flack about your diet, which is pretty darn judgmental and completely off topic in my opinion. Keep up the great work Matt.

As to the vegan argument side of things, I was also a vegetarian for about 7 or 8 years and now I eat meat. I think you can be aware of the mistreatment of animals and still choose to eat meat without being a hypocrite. I think a lot of the reason more people aren’t vegans is because vegans can be insufferable in their superiority.

Anyway, thanks again for this article, very important topic to shed light on.