Per the title. If an animal dies out in nature without any human involvement, shouldn’t it be considered vegan to harvest any of the useful parts from it (not nessicarily meat, think hide), since there was no human-caused suffering involved?

Similarly, is driving a car not vegan because of the roadkill issue?

Especially curious to hear a perspective from any practicing moral vegans.

Also: I am not vegan. That’s why I’m asking. I’m not planning on eating roadkill thank you. Just suggesting the existence of animal-based vegan leather.

  • Ephera@lemmy.mlEnglish
    39·
    1 day ago

    Veganism isn’t a hivemind. We’re all individuals that came to similar conclusions. And we will have different opinions on the details.

    Some folks will say consuming those that died naturally is a-ok. Others will argue that it incentivizes creating conditions under which animals die “naturally” to harvest them.
    Personally, I’m part of the group that is probably the largest by a long shot, whose opinion is: Why are we even thinking about that?

    The vast majority of vegans find corpses gross, much like anything you might derive from corpses.
    It also seriously does not happen often, that animals drop dead in front of you. And there’s nothing on an animal’s body that you can’t find a different alternative for. So, it really just is not a relevant question in our lives…

      • Ephera@lemmy.mlEnglish
        3·
        7 hours ago

        Well, I hope you are happy with the answers you already got, because my answer is that I personally don’t care to keep these items, so I don’t have much of an opinion on it. 😎

        That’s kind of the point I was trying to make up there, that I don’t have to be the arbiter of all morals, just my own morals…

        But if you want to keep such trinkets and you feel like you’ve informed yourself enough to know that no harm is done to these animals, and that makes you decide that it is moral, I will gladly accept your decision.
        If I learn that it does harm in some way, I would let you know, though. Not to attack you, but because I would assume that you want to do no evil. And that you don’t subscribe to the horseshit belief that your own ignorance of evil makes it moral.

        I feel like I really need to drive home that veganism is when you care, but you’re also lazy. I don’t want to have to inform myself about every supply chain for my food and every possible moral effect that my actions might have. So, I just nope the fuck out of a large chunk of that by not dealing with animal-sourced products.

        Like, yeah, if a bird drops a feather in front of you, the supply chain is quite obvious and I would hope you don’t set off a trend of enough people wanting feathers in their homes for there to emerge an industry.

        So, it’s almost certainly fine. But if I myself don’t actually want a feather, you can bet your ass that I will gladly stop thinking right then and there.

        If these were not just random examples and rather genuine questions, then I would try to help you reason through it, but ultimately the decision is yours…

        • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
          1·
          3 minutes ago

          They’re not just random examples for some people though. For some indigenous peoples these items are a foundational part of their cultural practices.

      • Ogy@lemmy.world
        7·
        23 hours ago

        I find corspes yuck because it feels the same as cannibalism to me. I have no issues with touching human hair or fingernails, but I wouldn’t eat your arm, spleen or eye. Does this help?

      • blackris@discuss.tchncs.de
        3·
        1 day ago

        Speaking for every single vegan on the whole world: If you fancy that stuff, go for it. We won’t deny you our universal seal of approval for that.