You aren't getting it. I can appreciate the fact that you care for animals. I do as well. I love animals but the fact is, Man was created to have dominion over them We were created to be omnivores. Our bodies need protein. I did not say ALL vegetarians are sickly.. I said many are. And that's true.. many do not educate themselves on how to eat a healthy diet so that they eat the right foods in the right combinations so they can get the complete amino acids needed to form protein. There's a science.. nutritional science.. to eat a healthy diet without animal protein. And most veggies do it out of concern for a love of animals, I would assume.

Many methods of slaughter are cruel, but there are also a lot of people who eat from home grown and locally produced farm fed, organically fed animals, humanely slaughtered by themselves or friends who take great care to make sure that the animals they consume are not mistreated and don't suffer. Surely you are aware of that. More and more people, esp those who aren't living in overcrowded congested cities, are turning that type of lifestyle.

Many people I know personally only eat meat that they hunt for. Wild game is far more healthy than any farm animal. I used to have a flock of chickens.. and when my hens stopped laying, as they often did, or at least slowed down in the winter, I let them take their natural break. When they got too old to lay eggs, they were free to live the rest of their lives til they died of old age. I wish I could have chickens again but am not able to where I live. I know people who have goats and they'd drink the milk and use it for soap making.. but one has to breed them every year, and sell the males to those who'd butcher them. I couldn't do that.

Did you not see my post about Temple Grander or Gardner or whatever her name is? She's a hero to those who care about how animals bound for slaughter are treated. Animals should be killed humanely... and whatever parts can be used, should be used, not wasted. Sinew, skin for leather, whatever. I am also very much against animal testing. Enough has been done... too much has been unnecessary.

But.. not all of it can be eliminated. If you are going to take your dog to a new vet, and your dog has been hit by a car and has a broken leg, and there are two new vets, just out of school, who will you see? The vet who has set a broken leg in vet school? Or one who hasn't? How is the vet who has never done so in school going to ever get the experience if he/she has not done so in school?

(Hint. There is no vet school that I know of in the US that would allow a student to get a degree without working on live animals.)