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It's their life to live and they have issues about some things just like everyone else. People vegetarian or not, complain about something all the time...

I doubt that they are complaining to you personally so what does it matter if they do?

The only reason we have a choice (as other people pointed out), is because we have decided that we are superior to anyone and anything in this earth and took over. We took over animals so we can eat them or we took over their land so we can build our homes and plant our precious foods. If we look at animals as equals and as "friends" , we would still be living in caves and our food choices would not be so diverse.

What a ridiculous debate topic. I assume this didn't come from a teacher. The deck is obviously stacked, since the question is not objective (it presupposes that the only objection vegetarians have to meat is that an animal is killed AND it presupposes that the way that predators kill animals is more cruel than the way humans do... that is certainly questionable).

Well, here's some ammo:

- Predators are obligate carnivores, meaning that they NEED meat to survive. Humans are not, meaning it is entirely possible for them to survive without meat.

- Predators do not raise animals specifically so they can be eaten. Because of this, they do not keep animals in unnatural and inhumane conditions for extended periods of time, nor do they feed them hormones and antibiotics to artificially speed up their growth.

- Most animals that are killed and eaten in nature are eaten in their entirety (first by the predator, then by the scavengers, and finally by insects and bacteria). There is a huge amount of waste with animals that are killed and eaten by people.

- Some other reasons go somewhat beyond the scope of your debate topic (the consequences of meat to the environment, to people, etc)... I don't know if I should go over them or not.

One important thing to know is that for smaller prey, death at the hands of a predator is usually pretty instant. Animals kill by snapping their prey's neck. It's a quick bite and shake. The Humane Slaughter Act, by the way, applies only to large mammals. Chickens, fish, and rabbits don't legally need to be unconscious before they are slaughtered. The same goes for kosher products. You'll find few people who think that hanging an animal up and slitting its throat while it's conscious is humane.

I am vegetarian and i think you make a good point about animals eating other animals. As said by other posts, animal don't know any other way to survive, we as human beings though have a choice. It's obvious how the meat is processed, and I think if you want to eat meat you should go out and kill it yourself like the animals do. Then maybe people can understand the pain and suffering that is involved. I don' t really try to push my vegetarian views on people, I'm actually kind of private when it comes to telling people I am veggie because then I get bombarded with questions. Well, I hope I helped a little bit, but heres a link for you to check out, it give alot of other opinions of vegetarians.

I am a vegetarian but my opinion may be very different to a lot of other vegetarians. I understand that killing and eating other animals is a part of life in the animal kingdom. I believe as humans we have evolved enough to make a choice. I would be totally OK eating meat if it was a matter of life and death, for example if I was stranded in the wilderness or something. I have a conscience though and decide that I have the ability to live without killing so that is how I am going to live. Tigers and lions and stuff don't have the ability to make that decision. I also disagree with you that animals kill in a much cruel way. The actual killing is probably painful with bleeding them out and stuff but humans are much more cruel with how we house livestock and pump them with hormones and stuff.

Other animals kill prey in a cruel way because that is what they naturally do to eat their prey. It's not like they have a choice to eat spinach instead.

But humans do have a choice. A recent study explains that humans can survive without meat. We can get protein from nuts, without eating meat. That is why vegetarians complain.

Most of the animals that hunt and eat their prey HAVE TO do that or else they would die, we can't change that. But humans don't need meat to live so some vegetarians think that meat-eaters are making a cruel choice.

Not all vegetarians believe in this because of the "killing" of the animal. Some do it for health reasons.

Also, a more convincing argument I've heard recently is that the energy and grain grown to PRODUCE meat (feeding it to cows, killing the animals, transporting it using trucks) actually uses so much energy that it is contributing to world hunger. In other words, we're feeding cows what we could be feeding people. While I eat meat, I think we as a society eat way too much of it and aren't mindful of what it takes to produce it.

Also, some (not all) vegetarians can be very judgmental about their belief on this. Some also are doing it for image-based reasons.

It IS cruel the way they keep animals, but the problem (I think) isn't just meat--it's the overall approach we take to food production and distribution.

I don't eat meat. I think it's different because as someone else said, animals have to survive somehow. So they have to kill each other. I don't think it's nearly as cruel to be killed suddenly by another animal when you've been able to have freedom, as it is to be held in awful conditions, tortured, and then slaughtered just for the enjoyment of others.

I'm not one of those people that tell everyone they shouldn't eat meat. While it's my personal conviction to abstain, it's a very personal choice.

I always tell people that think it's strange, to try it for a week, not to convert them, but to see that it's really not that bad. It's not that hard to go without meat, and I eat pretty normally, just by leaving meat out of things I would normally add it to.

The other animals do so for survival. It's not necessary for us to eat meat to survive. I'm not a vegetarian, but I understand their arguments.

Personally, I think if you're going to eat meat, you should go hunting or fishing at least once and have some first-hand experience of what it's like to take another life so you can eat.

Also have you ever been to a slaughterhouse or a place where they raise cows and chickens? It is pretty cruel and inhumane the way they keep these animals in little pens, up to their knees in their own waste in some cases, for their entire short lives. At least in the wild, an animal has a chance to outwit its hunters.

Animals kill animals because they have to in order to survive. We as a human society have many other possible alternatives that do not involve killing. We can just as easily survive on a vegan/vegetarian diet sans the cruelty and death. Why inflict pain and suffering if it is not necessary for survival??? Also, the manner in which animals are raised for human consumption that is concerning. Factory farms torture and restrict animals their entire life.