Start with the little ones!
For health and environmental reasons, we are often urged to
give up red meat and pig products. This advice, combined with our more
developed sense of connection with pigs and cows, leads many of us to give up
red meat and pork in favor of eating more chicken and fish. However, in doing
so, we may inadvertently contribute to even more pain and suffering. The lives
of farmed fish, chickens, and egg laying hens are filled with some of the most
extreme forms of pain and distress, and each animal only provides a small
amount of food, which means that pound for pound, we would have to kill a lot
more chickens and fish to obtain an equivalent amount of red meat. If we
are interested in reducing as much suffering as possible, the first, rather
than the last animal products we should give up are farmed fish, chicken, and
eggs. If we do give up red meat or pork first, try replacing these with beans,
rather than the smaller animals.
