This post may contain affiliate links. Read the full disclosure here.
But how do vegans feel about animals eating animals? I’m going to preface this by saying that it ISN’T cool that lions eat meat. But, you, know, they need to do it. Otherwise, they’ll die.
Sure, I’ve watched lions take down elephants and giraffes and baby wildebeest and I am NOT ok with it.
It makes me cry.
But they have to do it, in order for them to survive. And that’s an excuse I can’t really argue with.
But meat-eaters do this thing where they think that if it’s ok for a wild animal to do something, then we can too, called…
Appeal to nature
Just because something is natural doesn’t mean it’s good. Just because something’s unnatural, doesn’t mean it’s bad.
Rape, incest, slavery, and infanticide are all natural, but not great.
Vaccinations, electric toothbrushes, and jam doughnuts are unnatural but incredible.So here’s the form this post is going to take. I’m going to outline all the reasons why it’s acceptable that lions eat meat.
I SAID IT.
I THINK IT’S ACCEPTABLE FOR WILD ANIMALS TO EAT MEAT.
EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES ME CRY ON NATURE DOCUMENTARIES.
Do you know what isn’t acceptable though? Killer whales.
They’re just glorified dolphins that are extra big and extra mean. I’m sure it’s lots of fun torturing penguins to death but STOP IT. For fuck’s sake.
Have you noticed how the cleverer something is, the meaner it becomes?
Anyway, let’s go back to lions.
Lions have to eat meat to survive
They’re obligate carnivores. Lions eat meat. Exclusively. Said meat can be anything from elephants to mice.
(and we’re not surprised that lions eat mice. Scar literally nearly eats one in the Lion King).
That’s what they’re designed to eat.
Everything about them from their teeth to their claws to their pride dynamics is about survival. And they survive by eating meat.
They have very acidic stomach acid and a short intestine in order to eat large volumes of meat.
A very vegan thing to say now is that humans have more alkaline stomach acid and long intestine to derive as much nutrition from fibrous food and plant matter, which is true, but only very broadly. In truth, the ph and quantity of stomach acid and the length of our gut varies quite a lot.
Because we’re not naturally obligate carnivores or herbivores. We’re opportunistic omnivores.
Our digestive system points to us being frugivores, but there’s more to survival than a digestive system.
Fun fact: because humans evolved to be hairless and run on two legs, it meant we could be awake and hunting during the hottest parts of the day when floofs like lions were sleeping.
Lions have no moral agenda
I’m not quite sure how to approach this.
TECHNICALLY lions don’t have the mental capacity to know right from wrong, but it’s not as easy as that.
Right and wrong is a human construct and only applies to us.
It may seem wrong for daddy lion to kill baby boy lion, but he’s not doing it to be a knobhead. He’s doing it because his instincts tell him it’s the best way to ensure his genes are passed on.
But instincts aren’t the same as actual thoughts. Daddy lion doesn’t know why he’s killing baby. He just knows it has to be done.
Humans aren’t lions
Sorry, that may have come as a shock to some of you.
But, more importantly, lions are not humans.
They don’t keep and breed animals in deplorable conditions to the detriment of the world in general. And if they did, humans would go absolutely mental and send the RSPCA down ASAP.
Lions don’t breed their wildebeest to be unnaturally heavy. they don’t put live male chicks into the grinder, they don’t cram thousands of terrified sheep onto boats to boil alive.
Lions are part of the circle of life. There’s a whole film on it. And trust me, if we were in the film, we would be below the lions.
Here’s my amended version:
The antelope eat the grass > the humans eat the antelope > the lions eat the humans > the lions live a long, full life, die and then become the grass.
My thinking here is that it’d be waaaay easier for a lion to kill a human because we can’t run as fast as an antelope and once the lion caught us we couldn’t use our strong back legs to kick ’em in the face. But we could plausibly set a trap to kill an antelope.
I’m confident in my assertions.
Final thoughts on how do vegans feel about animals other animals eating meat:
Kinda jealous of not having a moral agenda, if I’m honest. However:
- Humans aren’t lion and don’t need to eat meat to survive
- Lions aren’t wankers on purpose; humans are
- The Lion King is a stellar film, and we’re a bit worried about the remake
- Although we were worried about Beauty and the Beast, and we LOVED that
- It’s sad that lions eat baby elephants, but that’s nature
- It’s sad that humans eat baby sheep, but that’s arseholes for you
- Lions eating zebras won’t make the world end
- Humans eating cows will make the world end. We have 11 years, kids.
- Lions are designed to kill and eat animals
- Imagine lopping a dead antelope on the dinner table and your kids getting stuck right in.
- I mean, that would be classed as child cruelty
- They’d be traumatised for life
- You’d probably have them removed from your care
- That’s just another day for a lion
IN SHORT
It’s ok for lions to eat meat because it’s necessary to both their health and the health of the ecosystem in which they live.
(even though I wish they didn’t have to, and all the animals could just eat grass and live a long healthy life and no one would get overrun and it would just work, as if by magic. I appreciate that’s not realistic).
It’s not ok for humans to eat meat because it’s bad for their health and the health of the ecosystem in which they live.
If you like this whole moral veganism debate stuff, I have an article on whether it’s ethical for vegans to keep pets (it which I came to a rather strange conclusion), and also one on whether it’s ethical for vegans to keep pets.
You should mention more clearly, that predators, such as the feline group, always exists in nature in small numbers, and they are there to clear out the sick, the old and the unfit of their pray, and that way keeping the population healthy. It has also good effect to the ecosystem, as there is limited amounts of food for the prey animals too, and this stops them to outnumber the resources. The group of where our fellow canines fall, are more to the scavenger side. They thrive on many sorts of food, and do not necessarily need meat in their diet.
Definitely- predators are a necessary part of keeping the ecosystem in check, however brutal it may seem. Kinda like wasps – we need them to keep the balance healthy, whether we like it or not.
You are a sad human being, imagine crying at watching a lion rip open an elephant carcass after it took it down but it is still alive. Then after the lion and it’s cubs have been feed, a pack of hyenas come over to rip and tear at its flesh eating and chomping as blood bursts out. Then finally vultures will come and feast on the remains of that elephant’s carcass as it becomes nothing but bone and torn flesh, as it decomposes to become nothing.
Hi John! Obviously I had to delete your other comment because it had a word I don’t like in it – not the swears, but I think you know the one.
I honestly don’t know what to say to you. Like…why are you here? I have 0 problem with animals eating animals. Do I wish they didn’t have to? Sure! I bet they do too – hunting elephants looks hard.
It’s a bit weird that people like you that ‘stumble’ upon my website (that I don’t share on social media, meaning you must have searched for this) and then leave troll-like comments. Did a vegan hurt you? Or do you just hate animals (or vegetables)?
Well I found your website because I Googled, “What do vegans think about lions eating gazelles?” So I don’t think it’s weird that people “stumble” upon your site. It was a question I googled because I genuinely wanted to find an answer but instead found your website calling rape, incest, and slavery “natural.” You are a sick sick person. I understand you can now try to backtrack and say you meant those things were natural in the Animal Kingdom, I’ll remind you that a.) Humans are part of the animal kingdom and b.) saying you were talking about Ants is a bit of a reach. I won’t even continue as to other things that bothered me about you and your website. There is more but your belief of that is natural is disgusting enough.
But…it IS natural. You’re confusing natural with nice and/or right. Nature is cruel and hard. Those worms that burrow inside kid’s eyes and eat them? Nice? No! Natural? I’m afraid so. I suggest you google naturalistic fallacy.
Sure, humans are part of the animal kingdom.
But we have increased cognitive function that tells us what’s right and wrong, and we (mostly) have the ability to meet our needs without harming others.
Animals don’t have that luxury.
I applaud you for your patience, it takes a lot of it to deal with sad trolls who have nothing better to do than search out vegan content and vomit words of no consequence.
Haha thanks. Excited to find a good anti-vegan argument so I can go back to eating cheese but it’s been a few years and nothing!
Technically speaking, it’s natural for humans to eat meat, we evolved to do that. Without meat-eating, we wouldn’t have become as intelligent as we are today. This also means that without our intelligence we wouldn’t have developed our great sense of morality as well. I think the better point to argue is the fact that we’re no longer in the circle of life, which is due to us being overpopulated.
We did increase our brain size by eating meat but…that’s fine now. Our brain is big. We clever. Clever enough to learn how to get nutrients from plant sources (and farm them so we have plenty). A lot has changed in the last few thousand years. I’m glad our ancestors persevered and ate meat, and I bet they’re happy we don’t have to (because killing animals is dangerous and difficult).
Maybe we should throw you to the lions, for being stupid.
Wow, sick burn mate