What are your vegan ethical dilemmas?

[louise987]

Ive been vegetarian for 3 years and vegan for 1, but certainly feel like I'm still finding my way. The ethics wasn't a huge driver for me but the more im learning the more I feel I agree with that side of the lifestyle choice. However, everyday things which cause conundrums, what are people's thoughts?

Pest removal (we often get wasps nests - which need removal, and get the odd rat in and around the place. We now have moles destroying our lawn... what to do!)

Animal parks, petting zoos, aquariums

Leather (!) in everyday items it's hard to avoid!

Horse riding

Keeping domesticated pets

If your vegan how do you navigate these type of things? Im really unsure but don't feel educated enough to know the for/against info and would love to know more

Sometimes it feels very hard doesn’t it? I’ve been vegetarian for 20+ years and progressed to veganism this year.
Zoos etc - didn’t really think about it until I had a veggie friend and his kids came to stay. Someone suggested the zoo and he was aghast. Made me think. Not an everyday decision but I’m thinking no. I freaking LOVE aquariums though so that will be tough....
Pests - the only rats and mice I see are dead anyway. I don’t kill them. But I do use fly spray. And then feel awful as it seems a terrible way to die.

Leather is really easy to avoid. Honestly it is.
Horse riding is a tricky one for me too. I loved it as a kid and as an adult when I got back into it. I have solved this by moving to a city where I’d have to drive about 1.5 hours to be able to do it.
I “keep’ a pet (cat) but I would only ever have a ‘rescue” - that sounds so wanky, apologies. I hate it when I stop to talk to a dog to be told “he’s a rescue” like it makes them a saint. I usually reply “is there any other kind?”. We got ours from the RSPCA, he was 4 years old and had been there for over 6 months. When I went vegan, I did some research and now feed him Open Farm pet food. Cats cannot be vegan, my alternative would be to kill him. Not going to happen. Will be a big decision for next pet though. will a rabbit be the same?
My biggest current dilemma is that I love sour beers and my boyfriend keeps buying me ones that contain lactose - he’s not going to drink them, and he’s being nice. Should i pour it away and have it go to waste?

My DH bought me dairy chocolate because I am a lifelong chocaholic. I told him I would throw it away - sadly - but I'd do it anyway. He bought it and he watched me bin it. He never bought it again.

Thankfully he took to buying me vegan chocolate - which wasn't easy to find then, but now there are some gorgeous ones around - Rhythm108 - Galaxy Vegan - Nomo - so many. (Oddly, I don't like the vegan Bounty but love the vegan Topic). I buy them for myself now 'cos he can't.

That was years ago and I can't believe how much the range has expanded - the Doisy & Dam maltesers are yummy! So many ......

For me it’s the transportation/importation of all the lovely vegetables and fruits I want to eat.

@Kintsugi16

For me it’s the transportation/importation of all the lovely vegetables and fruits I want to eat.

This is an interesting one, I try to eat as seasonally as possible but it’s really hard to get a good range of nutrients on things grown locally.

I wish I had more time to bulk buy and cook things when they are in season and freeze it.

I used to feel OK with killing flies (never bees, wasps or spiders), but now I can feel myself flinching from the idea and I open windows to shoo them out. I do laugh at myself as I do it though! My mum said that flies don't go in through windows where mint is growing on the windowsill. I have to say that I have a large pot of mint on the kitchen windowsill and don't get flies in there at all, where I used to get lots.

I blow the little tiny fruit flies off me if they land, and let spiders be - they need homes as much as anyone else.

I feel that I can't give these tiny beings lives back to them so I have no right to take them. And that applies to so many things with bits of dead animals in them - make up, toiletries, soaps (yuk - just wash yourself with these dead bits of body will you?) - so many things. Even cleaning materials - how can I clean my kitchen surfaces with fluids that have dead animal in them?

I don't like zoos or keeping small animals in cages or tanks that don't live that way naturally. I'm torn about doestic cats and dogs - does the fact that some are so loved somehow negate how many are horrifically ill treated? If no-one kept pets none of them would be hurt since they'd never exist but then so many of us for whom our dogs and cats are our loving companions would be so very lonely.

It is difficult.

As for food I try to cook from scratch where I can but sometimes I'm so very tired that a bought pie is a godsend. I have a DH who literally can't do anything without being helped (he had a stroke) and I wfh, so time is precious.

Kids school shoes! I bought DD 3 non leather pairs last year that all fell to bits and ended up in landfill and I felt terrible about the waste. I keep thinking that one pair of leather shoes would be the lesser of two evils. She isnt vegan anyway but its my money that pays for them.

More frivolous: I cant find a cruelty free and vegan hair removal cream that works nearly as well as Veet or Nair

I epilate for pits and legs and use a smaller epilator for my chin (I get the most terrible witches' whiskers!) It honestly doesn't hurt after the first couple of times. I barely notice it now.

I've given up doing my eyebrows but used to pluck out stragglers with a pair of tweezers.

My DH bought me dairy chocolate because I am a lifelong chocaholic. I told him I would throw it away - sadly - but I'd do it anyway. He bought it and he watched me bin it. He never bought it again.

I can understand why you would not want to eat the chocolate as it contains dairy but surely rather than bin it, your DH could have eaten it instead, gifted it to someone else or refunded it to prevent waste? All of the Earth's resources put into making that chocolate and its packaging - seems a shame to throw it.

Similarly, I am gradually transitioning towards vegetarian and eventually vegan (I don't cope well mentally with sudden changes), and I understand some vegans will have the ethical dilemma of not wanting to use items made from animal products at all e.g. leather sofa and would probably replace their current furniture and clothes for plant based.

However some, like myself, are very environmentally minded and have the view that to replace this stuff that has already been bought and used before would be wasteful - unless given away and reused second hand by someone else.

There is also the dilemma of whether it would be ethical to buy second hand leather products and furniture made from animal products in keeping with waste reduction. Some may find this too much and feel grossed out by it. Personally, my choices to eliminate meat, dairy, animal products etc are primarily for health and the environment, with the added bonus of avoiding animal suffering and death. So I view using the leather handbag as yes, an animal died for this at some point but it would be a waste to that loss of life if this bag was not used again and again - and not directly contributing to the death and suffering by buying a brand new leather handbag where yet another life was lost.

That said, although I still use my old leather boots, bags etc., anything I have to buy new I opt for vegan alternatives (though I try to buy second hand where possible).

To add to the above but isn't my own opinion... Some dilemmas I've read some vegans have are how comfortable they feel wearing faux fur, faux leather etc. With the argument that although it is fake and isn't made from animal products - why would they want to wear a product that has even imitated the product of animal suffering/death?

I suppose we could think of 1000s of dilemmas but we can only do our best and not be too hard on ourselves for at least trying to do good :)

Footwear my size is 5.5 E and its just so hard trying to find half sizes in a wide fit and vegan. I am crippled if I don't have the right size.
Cat food. I rescue sick old cats that nobody else wants and they can only eat meat.
My job, I'm an NHS professional and I know nearly all the products we use have been tested on animals.

I ordered a jacket in the sale that I had been waiting to get reduced
It arrived this week ,I was thrilled to get the last one
Sadly it’s 2% wool
So now I’ve got to track in to town to get my money back
Sad ,because it was lovely

I find palm oil to be an ethical dilemma, as it’s in SO many products, including vegan products. I know palm oil itself is vegan, but I’d like to be able to avoid it due to concerns about deforestation and destruction of animal habitats.

I’m vegetarian rather than vegan but share some of your dilemmas. With leather I don’t wear or use it - adidas does very good vegan trainers which I have a few pairs of. Lots of other brands are offering vegan alternatives too - I know doc martens are.

With medicines or pest removal our thoughts are ‘as far as we can.’ So although we try to eat ethically we do kill pests when necessary.

Well done on going vegan, I’m hoping to soon.