When I was leafing through our local newspaper the other day, I came upon this obituary, and it jumped off the page at me because – well, it’s not often you seen an obituary for a pet in amongst the obituaries for humans. What a wonderful way to remember a loved and missed animal companion, and what a wonderful way to get people in the mainstream thinking about the fact that animals are individuals too – ones who are missed greatly when they are gone.
It got me thinking about something else as well. In the vegan movement, we often lament the fact that while we (as a species/culture) treat some animals with the deepest respect – revere them enough, for example, to place an obituary in the newspaper when they die – we mindlessly eat and wear others. This beautiful obituary made me wonder what the impact would be if each vegan took it upon him/herself to place one obituary in their local newspaper for a non-human animal friend – especially if those friends were cows, pigs, chickens, rats, or other animals humans don’t “traditionally” consider pets.
Now THAT’s Food for Thought.
Emma Levez Larocque is an author and photographer living on the west coast of Canada. She has been veg for 18 years, vegan for 3. Her passion is working to make veganism mainstream to promote a better, kinder world for all beings. 
