Vegans: did you ever own leather items? Handbags, shoes, etc.? If so, how did you

[Flaxbee]

4. I don't like the animal-product industry. The animals are treated horribly, and I am definitely

an animal-rights backer.

But I don't mind people "using" horses to ride them, or "using" cows for dairy products if the cows are treated with love and care. Same with chickens and any other animals / creatures we source from. Wool is fine with me if it is derived humanely, or - as you noted - just gathered during molting. Or, if you use the hide of an animal after it has died a natural death. Fine. Well-produced wool is a much better environmental product than the majority of cotton out there, and far better than synthetic products that are produced using way too damn much water and polluting chemicals. Wool lasts longer and is really an excellent fiber IF the animals are treated not just humanely, as I've said, but with respect and utmost care.

I also don't really have a problem with people who want to eat meat, IF they buy from farms that raise their animals well and guarantee that their slaughter was immediate and painless. I won't eat meat anymore, but I won't argue with people who say that humans are omnivores. But that doesn't mean every meal needs to have meat, or meat should be eaten every day, and that doesn't mean animals should be treated hideously just so Person X can have bacon. The selfishness of it drives me insane.

Humans just eat way too damn much meat. There is no moderation. If there were, we could guarantee the world had plenty of food and materials derived from animals that had great lives and pain-free deaths.