A lot of the focus of veganism these days is on farmed animals – or animals used for food. And it’s true that billions of individual sentient beings are killed each year for food – over 70 billion, in fact, which in part explains the big emphasis on food. But as we have discovered, veganism is a philosophy or a position we take against the use of all animals, be that for food, for clothing, for entertainment, for testing or for any other purpose. At the heart of veganism there is a demand for animal liberation – for all animals to be liberated from the shackles of commodification for human gain, and not just those used for food purposes.

 

An estimated 1.4 billion animals are used for their skins every year across the globe. Products like leather & silk involve the destruction of individual animals, often combined with the most appalling cruelty too – crocodiles are literally skinned alive for use in clothing and accessories. And with this trade comes a multitude of human rights violations and negative environmental impact too as well as the negative impact on animals.

 

Nowadays there are plenty of really good vegan options when it comes to clothing and accessories – from traditional garments revising the use of linen, hemp and bamboo (all scoring high on sustainability) to the latest developments in vegan ‘leather’ involving plants such as mushrooms and pineapple. It’s now possible to find a vegan alternative to just about every single animal-based clothing, fashion and accessory items.

 

Animal used for entertainment are still staggeringly high in numbers, and although there is some progress in areas such as Greyhound Racing (which is very close to ending in the UK now, with only one or two tracks still open), there remains much to be done. Over 200 racehorses die on UK racecourses every year and rarely does a big race meeting go by without the tragic news of deaths on the course. And it’s not just at the races – an average of one horse a week is killed on UK roads in the pursuit of pleasure. Routinely we expose animals to the most appalling conditions in the name of entertainment. Still we have the outdated ‘sports’ of shooting, hunting and fishing, all of which cause animals the most unimaginable level of terror and suffering, and whilst as a society we may occasionally rail against the most extreme levels of animal torture (bullfighting for example), we are more than happy to bet on horses being raced to their deaths in the name of pleasure. 

 

Veganism is as much opposed to animals being used for entertainment as it is for animals used for food, and where animals are used for entertainment, that’s often where we see the most protests from animal rights activists. One day our society will evolve from using & killing animals for entertainment, and it’s one of the biggest driving forces in why people choose to live vegan.

 

Further Reading