"It Is Wrong To Believe That No Animal Is Killed With A Vegan Diet"

Claudio Bertonatti, former director of the Wildlife Foundation, the Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve and the Buenos Aires Zoo, denounces the confusion of veganism

one might think that environmentalists and vegans get along, united in the defense of animals. But ecological activism has more internal than the PJ.

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In an interview with LA NACION, Claudio Bertonatti, one of the most recognized naturalists in Argentina, criticizes what he calls "vegan dogma" and denounces "fanaticism and violence" with which he defends it.

In addition, the former director of the Wildlife Foundation, the Ecological Reserve of Costanera Sur, and the Zoo of Buenos Aires, affirms a thesis at least curious: that the vegan diet also kills animals.

- The vegan diet seeks to avoid the exploitation and suffering of animals. And he uses a seemingly effective resource: he doesn't eat them. You, however, argue that this diet does cause animal deaths. Why?

- Because a vegetarian or vegan diet requires the practice of crops (in general, of large areas). And to develop a crop you have to move the natural environment that occupies that territory. In these environments or wild ecosystems lives a huge diversity and quantity of animals. Modifying or altering that environment translates into the death of thousands of animals.

- In what way?

- Some die directly, crushed, burned, intoxicated, by the intervention of the ecosystem. Others flee to neighboring areas, but with little chance of survival. If these areas are wild, it should be considered that they have limited animal carrying capacity, because the resources (territories, food, shelters, etc.) are finite. And if the place of escape is not natural they will have no place. On the other hand, when the crops are already installed, they must be defended. No agricultural producer allows birds, insects, mammals and other living things to happily eat their fruits, seeds or leaves. They fight them, they chase them, they kill them. I've known places where colonies with parrots' nests with flamethrowers have been attacked. Having said that,

-Is it against veganism?

- No. I am against stupidity and fanaticism. When a vegan manifests as if he embraces an immutable and unequivocal dogma and defends it with violence, disqualifying anyone who thinks differently, I simply want to be away. Many who have tried to exchange views on this will know what I am talking about.

- Do you consider veganism a form of extremist activism?

- To veganism, no. To some vegans, yes, no doubt. There are many vegan and vegetarian people who know how to distinguish between veganism and environmentalism, and do not adopt violent or extremist positions. I have friends in that line of thought and action. But there are others whose confusion harms them.

- What are the obstacles for society to commit to the conservation of nature?

- I think that the distance of urban people with nature is such that they not only ignore it: they care for it and erect their gaze, attention and compassion on what they see, what they have nearby. We could ask in a bar, in an office, in a school, in a club: could you name me 10 wild animals and plants from the region where we live? I risk saying that the vast majority of respondents would not be in a position to comply with such a simple slogan. So, from what place and with what environmental knowledge can they take and defend a position?

By: Lucas Parera