Guardian Unlimited
People have
been so traumatised by the distressing images of thousands of
animals being slaughtered and dumped in mass graves that they
are considering vegetarianism.
The Vegetarian
Society said it had been "inundated" by calls from people
across the country who have found the foot-and-mouth outbreak
"the final straw".
Thousands
of people ranging from children to a woman in her 80s had called
in the past two months asking for advice about a vegetarian diet,
said a society spokeswoman.
"We have
been very busy with calls, up 100% in March compared to January's
figures from members of the public.
"It is
mainly people who have made the decision to become vegetarian
on the back of the foot-and-mouth crisis. People have seen the
images of animals being killed, thrown around, left dead on farms
and put on to fires.
"Other
people just have a longer feeling of distrust with meat,"
she added.
Some calls
were from parents whose children have been so upset by the images
that they had asked to stop eating meat. "We had a call from
a woman in her 80s from Jersey who had become a veggie. Having
seen and heard all about this she decided she could never eat
meat again," the spokeswoman said.
The society's
statement came as members of campaign group Viva were set to dress
in lamb costumes outside one of the country's busiest railway
stations and unfold a giant banner saying: "If killing 'healthy'
lambs upsets you - don't eat them".
The group
will be urging Londoners at Liverpool Street station to go vegetarian
and offer free information to help them make the change. Spokeswoman
Juliet Gellatley said: "People have to ask themselves what
is it that upsets them about the killing of lambs. It certainly
won't stop when foot-and-mouth does. If they are genuinely disturbed
then they should stop eating them."
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