What species of animals would you not eat?

Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
However, it appears that there is a fierce debate within the vegan community about whether doing so would disqualify someone from being vegan and just "downgrade" them into being an "ovovegetarian".
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Its partly this debate you mention that fuelled my question and also the obvious fact that a hen laying an egg is as natural and safe to her as a tree growing its fruit.

If a vegan eats vegetables grown by a farmer who also breeds cattle for meat is that immoral too, as this farmer is making a profit from the slaughter of cattle for consumption?
 
Pootle said:
Its partly this debate you mention that fuelled my question and also the obvious fact that a hen laying an egg is as natural and safe to her as a tree growing its fruit.

If a vegan eats vegetables grown by a farmer who also breeds cattle for meat is that immoral too, as this farmer is making a profit from the slaughter of cattle for consumption?
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I have no idea about the cow question but presumably yes it would make them complicit in some way of "cooperating with the enemy", vegans have very mysterious ontologies and I haven't been able to work it out.

I'm a conservationist so I do agree with some of the more reasonable arguments about reduction of consumption of red meat to mitigate environmental problems (emmanating mostly from Brazil) but much of the more fundamentalist suff I just sort of think it is all bull ****.
 
My rules:

- I will not eat anything that is endangered and is in serious danger of becoming extinct. The one and only exception to this rule would be tuna, but they are typically harvested legally and their populations are being closely monitored.

- I will not eat any animal that is poisonous or has a chance of poisoning me (ex: pufferfish)

- I typically avoid eating wild caught fish that have a large chance of being ciguatoxic, although I have eaten barracuda on one occasion.

- An animal doesn’t necessarily have to be farmed for me to eat it, but it has to at least be sustainably and legally harvested.

- I will not eat baby animals such as lamb or veal, since I think it’s wrong to cut an animal’s life short so early just so I can have a meal.

I wouldn’t call myself a picky eater most of the time, and I’ve eaten some pretty weird stuff (ex: frog, kangaroo, emu, crocodile, mealworms, escargot, etc.) I don’t have any objections eating specific animals, so as long as an animal is following all of the criteria above, I would be willing to eat it.
 
EternalPigeon said:
- I will not eat baby animals such as lamb or veal, since I think it’s wrong to cut an animal’s life short so early just so I can have a meal.
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This is a tricky one, especially with veal often. Producing veal, can give lives to many young bulls who are bred in dairy farming. Young bulls have often been seen as an unrequired bi-product of dairy farming and are often shot hours after birth. To farm these young bulls for veal production is giving them a longer life. It seems fairly accepted in parts of the UK and personally I see it as a plus. It's all down to personal choice and culture at the end of the day.

As for longevity, its about quality of life, not length of it, hence farming methods needing reviewing before animal longevity, again in my opinion.
Lambs are generally 6 months plus before slaughter, this is the same for pigs, cattle raised for veal is also 6 to 8 months.
Chicken however are slaughtered before 45 days usually....

Also, I choose not to eat farmed fish as much as possible, this is a personal choice as I am not keen on what they are fed and as 'you are what you eat', I don't want that in my diet, certainly not regularly.
 
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