Thank you so much for taking time of your day to come and
listen to what I have to say, let's do a quick show of hands to begin with
What am I going to talk about today? What's already been discussed?
Yeah
Veganism, okay. Great. Yeah, let's do a show of hands
Okay
And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna say an animal and I want you to raise your hand if you eat that animal
Okay. All right. Okay. This is-- I'm gonna start really really easy. Okay, I'm gonna say chickens
That's always the number one, chickens. Okay. All right. Okay Shh, okay
next one
all right guys, pigs
Yeah, who eats pigs, yeah, I don't know just a little bit just every now and then yeah, okay next one : cows, who eats cows
Okay, let's make it a little bit more abstract, okay ducks who eats ducks
Okay
Yeah
Okay. All right. Shh
Ready? who eat-- Yeah, who eats dogs
All right, stay with me, stay with me, shh shhh
Who eats cats
No one has like a cat steak for dinner tonight?
No?
Alligator! somebody will do. All right then. Okay. So now tell me, hands up, what's the difference?
What's the difference between a pig and a dog when it comes to why we eat them?
There is no difference. Okay, so, if there's no difference, why would you not eat a dog?
All right everyone. Shh
We do like dogs-- and why do we like dogs as pets?
Because they're nice right, and they're fun, and they're playful. Yeah?
It is illegal to eat a dog well--
No in some places around the world. and actually, I think in the UK, this might be wrong but
I think technically it's not illegal, but we just don't do it, right? because it's like a cultural thing
It is bad for their mental-- why is it bad for their mental health?
No, no, no, no, but that's what we say, isn't it. What does that mean then? Alright everyone listen up
Exactly, what does that mean? Right, okay
What- what would we say we've taken away from them? if we-- if they don't have a choice, What have we taken away from them?
Their life, and what-- what word we-- so if someone took everything from you, not-- not your life,
But took away your ability to make decisions, to do what you want, what would sort of taken from you?
Their will, yeah.. yeah?
Freedom. Exactly. We've taken away their freedom haven't we ? and
It's really interesting that the first thing you said was it causes problems for their mental health, their psychology, because that's so true
But it's something that we don't often think about them like suffering psychologically as well
Do you think that because something's legal that makes it acceptable?
No alright, so even if eating dogs-- just because it's illegal doesn't mean that it's okay to kill pigs just because it is
Legal. So should culture dictate what's right and wrong, on how we live?
No, no, I don't think so either. yeah?
You're absolutely right because we used to have them in our families
right
but do we think that there's anything-- like, let's say the reason that we like dogs and cats as pets is because they're playful and
They can show affection, they have personalities
Do you think that the pigs and the cows and the chickens can also show affection and have personalities?
Not really? why not really?
When you say "not really" what do you think is different then-- about why-- that's absolutely fine for you to say
But why do you think that?
The same personality, so what would that personality be? [laughs]
There's-- there's nothing-- there's no wrong answer
Well, there's a wrong answer right, but there's no-- it's not wrong to say what you think as well
But let's think about it this way ok
I had a little hamster, and he was called Rupert, right? and I really liked Rupert because he was my pet and I thought he
Was wonderful, but I thought that Rupert the hamster had-- had a little personality of his own, because he loved broccoli
But he didn't like kale which made him quite unique because a lot of hamsters love kale
But he was not a fan of it at all
Do you know of like hamsters, you get them the wheels and they're like supposed to run around in those wheels, right?
And they run for like days apparently, or you get them like the ball and they run around to the room and the ball, right?
well Rupert the hamster he would never run right and so I got him a ball and I put him in the ball and he
Would just sit and eat, you know, because they store food in their cheeks
So he'd take all the food from his cheeks and just eat it and he wouldn't run anywhere
but some hamsters would run for-- for miles and miles and miles and run wherever they could but Rupert wouldn't because that was what his
Personality was like and he was lazy a bit like me because I like eating rather than exercising as well
So we had that in common, right?
So if we think that like an animal like hamster has a personality so likes and dislikes things that make them unique
Then animals like cows and pigs and even chickens who are more intelligent than small little hamsters
Will also have these personalities that make them
Unique in a way, as well. Who here has a pet?
Yeah, so a lot of you right ok, great
And like
What would-- what would you feel like-- what would you say to someone if someone said they wanted to eat your pet?
What would you say to them?
You'd cry, you'd cry, right, let's say we're walking home after school and we come across someone who is killing a dog in the streets
Yeah
Exactly
So you'd try- so basically, fundamentally, we try and save the dog wouldn't we, right? that's-- that's what you said, you'd call the police
Maybe we try and get some passers-by to help. Now let's say it's the same scenario. We've left school
We're going home and instead of a dog. Someone's killing a pig or a chicken or a cow or a sheep
Do we still-- do we still try and save them?
No? you just leave them
That's interesting. But you'd feel bad. what about everyone else would most people try and save the-- the animal
Yeah, okay, because I think intrinsically we don't want to see animals in front of us being killed
Okay, so let's do a raise of hands as well and say-- Oh, you've had your hand up for ages. Sorry
Exactly! You're killing an animal. and who here wouldn't want to kill an animal themself?
Let's say you go home tonight
right, and you've got two options, and one of them is chickpea and sweet potato curry or
The other option is you have a live chicken that you have to kill yourself. Which one would you choose?
You'd choose this one. Right, ok..
Yeah that'd be horrible wouldn't it. Yeah.
Okay, so let's do a show of hands, who here is against animal cruelty?
Okay, what's that, right, okay, so that's a great question what does being cruel mean? Like if someone's a cruel person what's that mean-- yeah?
Yeah being mean and what would that look like being mean?
Stabbing..yeah.. [laughs] That would be pretty mean yeah exactly. Yeah? [abuse] Abuse. Okay what constitutes abuse?
Yeah, exactly right. Now do you think that what we do to animals gives them physical and mental suffering?
So do you think that what we do to animals is cruel
Right, but are we against animal cruelty
Right
Yeah
That's right
Yeah, so the other pigs don't bite off their tails
They'll also cut their teeth out so they can't bite each other because they're kept in such small areas that they become-
Mental health wise they become so angry and so frustrated
And they become so trapped that they actually start to do things to release like stress and--
What does the word "humane" mean
Let's open up like an imaginary Thesaurus and find the word humane. What other words are there alongside the word humane? Yeah?
Pardon?
Ethics, so like ethical, ethics yeah. What else?
Respect yeah, that's right. Yeah
Empathy yeah, this is good. So respect, empathy
Benevolence, which basically means being kind. So what would you say, is what we do to animals is not compassionate and it's not kind right?
But let's make a bigger question. Can we ever kill them compassionately if they don't need to die?