The meat trade has enjoyed this week, with people buying Easter lamb for a festive meal on Sunday. But many livestock farmers and butchers in the western world are becoming worried by a longer-term threat to their livelihood from the growing popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets, accompanied by a small but an increasingly militant anti-meat movement. While carnivores can dismiss the most aggressive vegan campaigns as counterproductive bullying, we should consider seriously the multiple reasons that people give for stopping consumption of meat or, in the case of vegans, all animal products.
肉類生意本周紅火，因為人們為了準備復活節周日的烤羊肉大餐而紛紛購買羊肉。但是，西方世界的許多牲畜飼養者和屠宰者正開始擔心，日益流行的素食和純素飲食習慣，加上小規模但越來越激進的反肉食運動，對他們的生計構成較長期威脅。盡管吃肉的人可以對最咄咄逼人的純素運動不屑一顧，視其為適得其反的霸凌行為，但我們應該認真考慮人們提出的停止吃肉（就純素者而言，還要不吃任何動物制品）的諸多理由。