Meat, the Humane Alternative?
S.L. Davis, Department of Animal Sciences, Oregon State University, points out that according to the least harm principle, the numbers of animals killed is higher in a heavy ag production of soy beans and wheat for a vegan diet than in ruminant-based ag for meat eaters. His basic argument is that one must discount the relative size of an animal when considering its "rights." He writes: "Accurate numbers of mortality aren't available, but Tew and Macdonald (1993) reported that wood mouse population density in cereal fields dropped from 25/ha preharvest to less than 5/ha postharvest. This decrease was attributed to migration out of the field and to mortality. Therefore, it may be reasonable to estimate mortality of 10 animals/ha in conventional corn and soybean production. There are 120 million ha of harvested cropland in the US (USDA, 2000). If all of that land was used to produce a plant-based diet, and if 10 animals of the field are killed per ha per year, then 10 x 120 million = 1200 million or 1.2 billion would be killed to produce a vegan diet." This compared to 41 million are ruminants (cows, calves, sheep, lambs) killed each year for food.
Food for thought, I guess...