Pot Poodle on the menu for 4% of the population!

Kitten kebabs or a pot poodle would be perfectly acceptable to 4% of respondents to a GfK NOP poll commissioned by the Vegetarian Society. The poll showed that a shocking 4% of respondents would eat a dish made from Tiddles or Rover.

With the fourteenth National Vegetarian Week starting on Monday, The Vegetarian Society is taking some comfort in the flipside of this poll, which shows that meat eaters and vegetarians actually share many of the same attitudes towards animals. As a result, the Society is asking why some people commit to a cruelty-free lifestyle while others carry on eating meat.

In a separate survey on The Vegetarian Society’s website, vegetarians rated the avoidance of hypocrisy as one of the most important reasons 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, 96% of respondents to the NOP poll said they would not eat meat from a cat or a dog, while two-thirds (82% of women) would not kill an animal for their own plate.

Liz O’Neill, Head of Communications at The Vegetarian Society finds people’s reactions to the figures quite interesting. “A lot of people seem shocked that 4% said they would eat a cat or a dog, but with 95% of the population eating pigs, cows, chickens or sheep every day, you could ask what’s so different about that cute little puppy or kitten?”

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. Disgust at the treatment of farm animals was the number one reason vegetarians gave for both going and remaining vegetarian.

• NOP GfK Telebus poll of 1,000 people was carried out in March 2005. Results were weighted in order to be nationally representative. 95% of respondents said they were not vegetarian, but just 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.

• 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.