19 May 2006

MEAT EATERS CARE BUT CARRY ON REGARDLESS…

The fourteenth National Vegetarian Week, sponsored by Quorn, begins tomorrow and with research showing that meat eaters and vegetarians share many of the same attitudes towards animals, The Vegetarian Society is asking why some people commit to a cruelty-free lifestyle while others carry on eating meat.

Vegetarians are considered to be, variously, compassionate, squeamish and just plain fussy but surveys show that their attitude towards the rearing and killing of animals for food varies very little from those of the majority, meat-eating population.

Disgust at the treatment of farm animals was the number one reason vegetarians gave for both going and remaining vegetarian in a survey carried out on The Vegetarian Society’s website. Meanwhile, a GfK NOP poll commissioned by the Society showed that, despite 95% of respondents saying they were not a vegetarian, only 13% agreed with the statement “I don’t really care what happens to farm animals”. Half admitted to feeling sorry for farm animals, while 35% were horrified by the way they are treated. Yet the vast majority of these respondents continue to eat meat on a regular basis. The Vegetarian Society is now asking, why?

“The survey results are very comforting in a way, because they show that most people do care,” commented Tina Fox, Chief Executive of The Vegetarian Society. “However, they also show a huge gap between attitudes and action. It is hard to find someone who actually defends factory-farming practices these days, yet the vast majority of men, women and children in the UK still eat the results every day. I find it difficult to understand why.”

Alongside moral and spiritual beliefs, vegetarians also rated the avoidance of hypocrisy as an important reason for living without meat, agreeing with statements including “I wouldn’t eat cat or dog, so it makes no sense to discriminate against other animals” and “I couldn’t kill an animal myself so I can’t expect someone else to do it for me”. Concurring with this view, only 4% of respondents to the NOP poll would eat meat from a cat or a dog, while two-thirds (82% of women) would not kill an animal for their own plate.

The Vegetarian Society’s Head of Communications, Liz O’Neill, finds it hard to explain why some people believe that animal cruelty makes it wrong to eat meat, while others carry on regardless. “Vegetarianism is far more evenly spread throughout the population than many people think, so social, gender and age differences don’t explain it. We are the oldest vegetarian organisation in the world, but we don’t understand why so many people appear to share our views but not our commitment. If anyone can explain it to me, I would be happy to listen.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

• The Vegetarian Society surveyed 1,000 vegetarians on their website www.vegsoc.org to find the top ten reasons why people choose to go vegetarian.

• NOP GfK Telebus poll of 1,000 people was carried out in March 2005. Results were weighted in order to be nationally representative.

• For more press information, complimentary images and logos, contact Collette Walsh or Liz O’Neill in The Vegetarian Society Press Office on 0161 925 2012/3, 07973 108 165/7, collette@vegsoc.org, liz@vegsoc.org.