Well, just that, really. I know that (most) don't wear leather shoes, obviously you can only get leather from a dead animal (ooh, just thought, they could have garments made from snakeskin, providing it had been shed/sloughed)
It is very easy to find non leather shoes and handbags that are beautiful and produced ethically. They are not cheap - but worth it in my opinion. I’m not saying I take such a hard line as many vegans (I’m veggie not vegan, and I do have animals in my life) but I gave up using leather a long time ago and now I can’t bear the feel or smell of it. It smells to me of death.
Some vegans consider it unreasonable to take animals into our homes, train their natural behaviour out of them, and chop their bits off in order to pander to our need for a "pet".
Likewise, you take honey which is intended for the bee children and replace it with sugar. polyester57 I do eat honey - but again, produced by a local beekeeper - but I also think that we take too much from the bees and that replacing it with sugar could be reason why we have a bee population problem and why bees are succumbing to disease.
I am not sure why a vegan would not wear clothing produced from wool which has been ethically produced. The sheep would be kept just for their fleeces which would need to be shorn to keep the animals comfortable in the warmer months.
Bizarre indeed Luckygirl - or over-thinking. I bought some lovely yarn spun from the fleece(s) of well-cared for sheep which will never be slaughtered for meat. It was so expensive I am nervous about knitting it.
Keeping dogs or cats as pets could be considered to be exploiting them too - so would a vegan not keep a pet animal?
I'm interested in the answers, too, Eglantine. A friend of a friend has a daughter who lives with her partner on the west coast of Scotland. They are vegan but also spurn anything man-made so no plastics or anything. I can't imagine how hard that must be!
I'm still fretting about the clothes. Cotton won't keep you warm. Canvas shoes? Or do they use artificial fibres and plastic shoes. Why won't anyone answer?
It’s a lifestyle choice and the vegans, vegetarians and pescatarians I know are not out to preach and convert. They simply state their case if asked. Granted there may be a few who are more evangelical but I’ve not met any.
Like phoenix, I'd heard the saying before. I'm in a book club and KH's book was on the optional reading list and we were given excerpts to read to decide if we wanted to group read it. Oddly enough, no one wanted to! Wonder why? ?
I doubt it. They're bred today for specific purposes and need looking after. Also, people probably wouldn't be happy about things like feral cows and bulls in their midst!
Another thought, we wouldn't need vets any more, would we?
Interesting thoughts here! I live in rural Scotland where much of the land cannot support arable crops, it's so thin. Grazing is all it can provide.
I drive from Scotland to London several times a year and am trying to envision a 500 mile journey where I saw no animals, no sheep or cattle or even horses. I guess it would be like a trip we did across a desert in America one time. In that case, the novelty of cactuses worse off after about two hours.
What crops do you grow on hilly mountain pastures like the upland moors of the north of England and Scotland? Unmanaged these will revert to scrub and woodland. Good things in their way, but destructive of other wild habitats and their flora and fauna.
Here's a quiz question. Gold star for the first person to guess correctly who said it. If you already know, whisht! and let the others have a chance first. You can have a gold star too.
My son has been a vegan for over ten years. I am not, but do support him in every way. I do not think that life saving drugs have animal by products in them. He is on the whole so healthy that he does not take "normal" drugs. A lot of normal medicines are made with animal collagen. If it came to the crunch, he would take anything that made him well again.
I've been told that a vegan may well take life saving drugs that had animal by products. There is only so much they can do, and that happens to be a lot, and fairly easily.
What about drugs/medicine? I know that vegans, and many others that are not, refuse to take anything that has been tested on animals, but does that extend to animal products being in the drugs/medicine too? And would a vegan refuse to take a life saving medicine that has animal by products in it? Genuine question.