6 Ways to be kinder to animals (without going vegetarian)

Not everyone is cut out to be vegetarian or vegan. Some people just can’t live without eating meat, or don’t think they should.

If that applies to you it doesn’t mean you can’t do your bit to make the world a kinder place for animals.

1. Don’t bet on or attend the Grand National. Between 2000 and 2011, 20 horses have died on the world famous Grand National course at Aintree in Liverpool in the UK.
2. Don’t eat Foie gras. If there wasn’t a demand for this ‘French delicacy’ ducks and geese wouldn’t be force-fed until their livers smell to several times their natural size. Imagine how painful that must be.
3. Eat free range wherever you can. This doesn’t guarantee that animals have lived a better standard of life than their caged counterparts, but there is more change than they haven’t lived their lives out in cramped cages in dark sheds.
4. Don’t buy fur. There is NO humane way to produce fur. Animals die in agony, without any pain relief. And it’s not just wild animals that suffer that fate: in China, dogs and cats are killed for their fur. Most of that fur finds its way to the USA and the UK.
5. Consider adopting a retired greyhound. Many greyhounds who don’t make the grade are killed. Animal rescue centres have the ones who are lucky enough to be given away.
6. Don’t get Botox. Every batch of Botox is tested on animals because it is treated like a medicine. Yet whilst medicine is essential, having a wrinkly free forehead is not. And, let’s face it, it never looks natural.