Written by PETA
treehouse1977/CC by 2.0The average meat eater eats a half a pig a year.
We have some good news and some bad news. First, the good news: The total number of land animals killed and eaten by Americans decreased by 300 million between 2008 and 2009 and by 600 million between 2006 and 2009. Americans also ate 500 million fewer fish in 2009 than in 2008.
The bad news is that Americans are eating more shellfish—the average American ate about five more crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and oysters, than in 2008.
These figures come courtesy of PETA member and mathematician extraordinaire Noam Mohr, who has studied government and industry figures and compiled a report on the number of animals served up on American tables. You can read his entire report here.
Based on these figures, Noam calculated that each year the average person consumes:
Since vegans eat no animals, each vegan saves nearly 200 animals per year. Of course, these are animals who won't be torn out of their ocean homes or confined to cramped, filthy barns, cages, and pens before being hung upside down on the slaughter line and having their throats cut. Yay, vegans!
So the next time someone asks you why you're a vegetarian, tell him or her that you have about 200 really good reasons.
Written by Alisa Mullins
There is one crucial point that is always lost in these calculations. Supply and demand. If the supply goes up and the demand goes down, that means a mean shift in the price of meat, not an alteration to the actual meat consumed. The typical consumer will purchase their food on a basis of quantity for price. If the price goes down, the quantity goes up. So in the end, the amount of meat actually consumed stays the same, while the price goes down, and it just means meat eaters get to buy more meat. No cows, no chickens, and certainly no pigs are "saved" as one would expect. Additionally, if the demand drops low enough, the numbers of "saved animals" turns into a quantity of animals that were simply never born. Since the farmer would be unable to sell as much meat, his supply would dwindle and he would not have his cattle reproduce the same amount. Our economy will ensure that all those tasty animals are still eaten.
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