Last year I woke up and opened the curtains to find a homing pigeon in our yard that had become lost, exhausted and unable to fly. Worrying about the local cats getting to it, my partner and I decided to take it into our home to keep it safe and well fed. After eventually getting in touch with the owner, I was shocked to hear that due to the distance the owner would need to travel, he decided that he just didn't want it anymore. It's not that it was an impossible distance to travel to collect the pigeon, the owner just wasn't bothered enough to do so. "How heartless" I thought. Instead, I contacted our local bird sanctuary who are skilled at taking care of injured birds.
During the 2 weeks we looked after the little guy, we grew increasingly attached to it. Eventually it became more alert and active, walking around our home and looking at things that it had likely never seen before. I started to become attached to the point I was sad to see them go, even though I knew it was best for the pigeon. This is when I was struck with a conundrum.
If I were to take in a pigeon, and worry so much about its health and well-being then why would I then turn around and start cooking and consuming meat? If I had found an injured chicken in my yard, would I have thought "wow free food!" and then killed and eaten it? No, of course not. I would have taken care of it in the same way I cared for the pigeon. So then, why does one animal get loved and cared for, and the other get killed and eaten? If I'm not ok with killing and eating an animal myself, then why should I pay someone else to do it? How could I justify these thoughts? I couldn't. This started me on the path of researching veganism. Hell, I didn't even know why the dairy industry was so bad. I assumed vegans simply didn't consume eggs and dairy out of principle, completely unaware of how atrocious these industries really are. I was so naive.
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