Vegetarianism/Veganism

[Smartie]

Maybe I'm being dim but why would anyone have an issue with wool?

If a sheep lives a good life (outside, able to wander free, munch what it wants, some protection from wild predators) but has its coat cut off once a year after it no longer needs it so that can be used by a human, where is the problem?

I'd have thought this would be very different to animals whose very existence is to live for slaughter, or to have their reproductive functions messed about with to provide eggs, milk and various other products.


As an aside, I wonder how much impact this thread is having on folk? I raised the question with my Mrs yesterday and she said she thought it was a subject I'd never raise. We're unlikely to go full veggie, but we've vowed to cut down our meat intake to a minimum, eat more fish and have a certain number of veggie meals a week.

One of the main drivers for me is that I have an adorable 18 month old daughter. She loves to eat chicken, and she has a little squirty chicken toy for the bath that she loves. Somewhere down the line we're going to have to have a conversation about "chicken" and how the "chicken" comes from the "chicken", and it doesn't sit all that comfortably with me at all.