“Who has not seen a child and an animal talking and understanding each other, sharing the same games and the same psychological needs (…) cannot understand that this mutual friendship is the cause of a child’s affinity for animal stories.” – F. Caradec.
People are always amazed when they find out that animals are intelligent. They are especially amazed when they hear that cows are even smarter than dogs, but sadly, these insights do not prevent them from eating these intelligent beings. They are stunned to hear that cows can talk, cry, and even travel, but that doesn’t seem to make these animals any less of a delicious lunch. Human intelligence is truly surprising! Can you imagine a conversation between two cows? Perhaps they are talking about the weather, food, annoying flies, a torturous life, or even planning an escape.
People don’t want to know much about pigs because they are aware that it could then be harder to eat someone you know. It could be difficult for them to eat a pig if they knew that pigs could be artists, therapists, detectives, actors, and finally, companions. It is impossible to imagine that pig flesh is found in more than 500 products that people consume and use. About 1.5 million pigs are killed every year, and some have been lucky enough to escape that fate and show the world that pigs are indeed amazing creatures. Let’s meet a pig artist, pig therapist, pig policewoman, and pig actor.
Humorous children’s stories are not intended solely to entertain the reader, but often contain sophisticated elements of satire, irony, and parody that make young readers think and use their imagination. What may at first seem like a simple, funny book may actually require the reader to think in a more complex and sophisticated way, considering the acts and emotions of characters in relation to their own experiences.
Vegan parents are faced with the task of choosing the best vegan picture books for their children. What are the criteria by which we buy particular vegan children’s books? The selection criteria for a vegan children’s book should not be different from the selection criteria for any other children’s book, that is books that do not contain violence, the language of adults, encourage consumerism, but have certain literary value.
There are many polemics between vegans and omnivores. One that appears more often than not is the claim by omnivores that humans have the right to kill animals because we are intellectually and morally superior to them. They also claim that it is fair that those who are stronger and more dominant survive in the food chain. Let’s take a deep breath and discuss these two “arguments”.
What do Nikola Tesla, Leonardo Da Vinci, Leo Tolstoy, Franz Kafka, Emile Zola, Mahatma Gandhi, George Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein, Pythagoras and Berta von Suttner have in common, except that they were geniuses in their fields? They were all advocates of animal rights. They had a great love and respect for animals of all kinds.
I was Nela, an intelligent, curious, affectionate, and sociable pig. Because of your decision to eat meat, I’m now a pork chop. By buying this product, you are supporting the torture and killing of animals, and endangering your own health and nature.
One of the provocative questions that meat lovers and vegan criticizers ask is: What would happen to all these animals if we all went vegan? Certainly, such questions do not arise from a great concern for animals, but they are easy to answer anyway. It would be wonderful if everyone stopped eating meat all of a sudden, but it’s also unrealistic to expect something like this to happen.
We have heard that you have been in lockdown in recent months because of some invisible enemy called coronavirus. It must be very hard for you to stay at home all the time. We want to tell you that we know how you feel. We tried to tell you this before, but you didn’t listen. Now you may have a little more time to read our letter, and now you may understand us better because you, too, have restrictions on your freedom.
‘Vegans say they love animals. So why do they eat all their food?’ You may have heard this popular joke about vegans before. There is no need to argue against jokes, even though Freud would agree that those who joke feel something deeper against the people they make fun of. However, it is often the case that this topic is brought up by omnivores: why is it okay for vegans to eat plants but not animals?
You know the famous story of The Little Prince a golden-haired boy who lived alone on the planet B612, caring for one sheep and one rose. It never occurred to him to bake his sheep and eat her for lunch. “Little Prince, why don’t you eat a sheep? The meat is healthy, and the mutton is delicious. Where do your proteins come from?” someone from the Planet of Carnivores asked him.