The same sad comments about my snakes... (vent)

[distaff]

Had an older friend over for coffee the other day. (She is maybe in her mid/late 60's?) We normally stay in the kitchen, but she saw my giant Monstera deliciosa (not exactly sure) plant at the far end of the house, making the place look like a jungle, and wanted to see it. Well, since we were then in a room with tanks, I HAD to show her the kingsnakes!

She said she wants one. I sent her off with a scrap of paper and a couple of YouTube web sites jotted down. I thought she might esp. relate to Carla, at 1SoftKiss. (My current favorite snake videos are Reptile Reality, DMexotics. Just discovered those, and watched everyone I could find straight through over the course of a couple days.)

[Crowfingers]

I realized that my lip always quivers (in alertness) when people ask me more in-depth things about my snakes/snake info now, because I get on high alert if they're going to insult me again/make fun of me/make another pointless joke about putting my snakes with my birds to see what will happen. -__- ??!?!?

Why would anyone think this is funny to me? What do they expect me to do, be like, "OH HA HA YEAH, THEY'LL EAT THEM!!! HA HA HA!"

I not only get these questions about my snake, but since I work at a wildlife rehabilitation center and do education programs with some of our permitted 'animal ambassadors'; I get these kind of rude insulting questions all the time - especially when I am working with our opossum. People come right up and interrupt whatever question I'm answering for an honestly interested person and say things like:

"Eww, it's so ugly!" or "If I see one of those in my yard I shoot it, or let my dogs out so they can chase it away / kill it" or the always fun "I've hit a bunch of them with my car" (sometimes people admit that they even do it on purpose)

The worst is when people stand through our entire presentation (which usually contains selected patient stories, what are goals are as a veterinary facility, and then the stories of what ever education animals we have with us that day) then afterwords say things like "I wouldn't help so injured snake / hawk / opossum. It's nature, things get sick and die" or "Why bother, they're just animals".

And through it all I have to maintain a professional demeanor, it can be really hard. Especially since 90% of our patients are sick or injured directly because of people like that. I get really defensive when people talk like that about our animals (or any animal), and it does hurt when it's directed at something you love, so I know how you feel 100%.

[Crowfingers]

Well, today a vegan/vegetarian coworker finally gave me the cold shoulder... maybe that's an understatement. She looked thoroughly disgusted/angry at me, stood up and walked as far away from me as possible mid-conversation after another coworker started asking me about how my snakes eat and how people euthanize rats for snakes. I wasn't given time to explain the topic further. We were all eating lunch, she was sitting next to me- and she stood up and walked away from me so fast and didn't look back, I thought I had said that I illegally hunted down an endangered species.

I think I deserve a gold star. I officially got the vegan seal of hate.

:\

It felt like she was abruptly angry/disgusted with me for the fact that feeder rats are bred and euthanized for snake and other reptile consumption. Ugh.

(more vent thread, but I didn't want to make a new thread just for this squeak)

I have been a Vegan Gold Seal of Hate honoree for some time now, long before I had a snake I was stopped a year or so ago on campus by some vegan group who were giving out pamphlets on how awful it is to eat meat, since it's killing an animal. When I tried to polity decline, one of them angrily accused me of being an animal-hating meat-lover. I calmly (but through gritted teeth) replied that:
1. I worked a veterinary hospital
2. when not working I volunteered caring for animals
3. had pet cows and chickens that I loved very much and spoiled rotten
and 4. would still have turkey for thanksgiving

she was in 3 of my following classes that next semester, two of which were ethics based. It was a looong semester

[distaff]

I call those types the militant Care Bears.

[gameonpython]

I like to respond with rude comments about their own pets.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[se7en]

I wonder why vegans are so in denial about the fact that homo sapiens has evolved as an omnivorous species.

but that does remind me that I need to stop at the grocery store after work and pick up some chicken.

[Galaxygirl]

I wonder why vegans are so in denial about the fact that homo sapiens has evolved as an omnivorous species.

but that does remind me that I need to stop at the grocery store after work and pick up some chicken.

My sisters don't eat meat because of the horrible conditions we keep our factory farm animals in, what it's doing to the environment, and you don't need to eat meat to maintain a healthy diet (if you're educated.. Don't listen to the vegans saying they stopped because their hair fell out.) After watching an undercover factory farm video and witnessing the horrors that some of the terrible workers do to the animals for fun, I have a hard time eating meat. I'll probably be vegan some day.

[blbsnakes]

My sisters don't eat meat because of the horrible conditions we keep our factory farm animals in, what it's doing to the environment, and you don't need to eat meat to maintain a healthy diet (if you're educated.. Don't listen to the vegans saying they stopped because their hair fell out.) After watching an undercover factory farm video and witnessing the horrors that some of the terrible workers do to the animals for fun, I have a hard time eating meat. I'll probably be vegan some day.

You know, we all can vote to make sure we have people in power who can create and draft laws that would benefit not only us but the animals currently kept in deplorable conditions. Are you or your sisters doing that? Or are you just giving up and accepting of the situation we see ourselves in? Do you feed your snakes tofu?

[redshepherd]

Oddly, I can understand the side of vegans when it comes to feeding rats to our snakes (well... only slightly more). If they're already against the entire concept (chickens, cattle, pigs included) and add rats to the list of raising to feed to animals... fine.

What I'm angry with are the omnivores who chow down on meat from the market that come from inhumane meat farms, feed their dogs cheap dog food made up of other euthanized dogs and cats and butchered cattle, watch their cats hunt and torture wild rodents and think that is all totally A-OK, because cats are cute and fluffy and it's "normal" for cats to do.

And then come back around with, "No, not rats! God almighty, don't you dare raise and euthanize rats to feed to snakes, even though it's literally their exclusive food source! How absolutely disgusting and inhumane!"

Do they want me to feed my snakes lettuce? Do they also think that people who raise their own chickens to eat are inhumane and disgusting? Nope, it's just snakes. Only snakes.

[SCWood]

I have a vegan friend who OWNS snakes and a dog who eats raw so I'm laughing at this 😂 we need more cool vegans like her