On Christmas Eve 2010, Douglas Batchelor, head of The League Against Cruel Sports, wrote a blog post entitled “An Ethical Christmas”. In this post, he addressed why he himself and many other meat eaters as a general rule, are against blood sports such as fox hunting, but still continue to eat animal products. It was written in response to criticism from Alice Bernard, the Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance. She asked those who oppose hunting for sport to justify why they feel shooting/ hunting a “free-range” wild animal is morally wrong, but killing a farmed animal is fine; and why they would rather eat an animal who has no doubt endured a life of suffering and a painful death in the industrial farm system, over one who has been shot by a hunter (which she deems to be “humane”). She is not the first to do so and won’t be the last. Sarah Palin, Republican politician and hunting advocate in the US has also accused the anti-hunt “carnists” of hypocrisy.
As an ethical vegan opposed to all use and abuse of animals, I never thought I would see the day when I actually agreed with something someone from The Countryside Alliance, or the hunting community, said...But in this instance, I must agree with the hypocrisy in logic.
