From Bridget Murphy
ALAS, Ramsay Cudlipp’s articles (JEP 17 and 18 July) were not those of an informed journalist, and certainly not those of a hopeful vegan practitioner.

Mr Cudlipp joked that the vegetarian should go ‘the whole hog’ and become vegan. Most of us have done that, and those who haven’t are making a large contribution to animal welfare, not to mention a better health diet.

Veganism is the summit of vegetarianism. Although the vegetarian eats no animal products, some do eat dairy products like cheese, eggs and milk, unlike the vegan, who does not eat, nor wear any animal products.

Animals are sentient beings with much in common with the human species. Flowers, plants and vegetables have some life, but they are not sentient. Empathy and will are essential qualities in embracing the vegetarian-vegan lifestyle.

My own vegetarianism began at the age of five on my father’s farm, without any guidance, instruction or modern-day facilities and provisions, leading eventually to veganism. These lifestyles are a commitment, to respect the well-being of animals.

Mr Cudlipp was eager to assure readers that provided animals are well cared for, their lives are happy ones and that slaughter is humane, because he knows that, prior to slaughter, they are kept 24 hours in holding pens to relax, before getting the chop. But he doesn’t seem to know that animals, with their strong sense of atmosphere and smell, however clinical the slaughterhouse appears to the human eye, smell the blood and fear of those animals gone before them.

I am reminded of the condemned human the day before the execution, transferred to the condemned cell, and the unseen executioner peering through the spyhole, sizing up his client.
In the case of the animals, they are not guilty.
La Corbière,
5 St Clement’s Road,
St Helier.