in one of the strangest (and yet hugely widespread) contradictions i'm aware of, it is the truth that a large percentage of vegans are also cat owners. how does a vegan co-exist and care for an obligate carnivore without imploding into a mess of speciesist contradictions? and, yet, it is an easily observable condition in the actual universe that we exist within, thereby demonstrating once and for all that there are no underlying rational laws of physics underpinning the universe we inhabit.
i'm an ideological vegan. we need protein, but we should grow it using animals that don't have brains. so, i'll break on strict veganism by interjecting some actual real science - it is true that the animals that we enslave for our consumption are too cognizant of their own existences to justify that kind of treatment and that farming as we understand it should be abolished. a caterpillar, on the other hand, does not have a discernible brain, and consequently has no ability to understand it's own struggle. but, this is an empirical observation backed up by repeatable experiments, and not a claimed dictate by an entity that doesn't exist - or a rule determined by a committee that has given itself the task of distributing the earth's resources.
an economy of scale around insect production would actually solve a myriad of problems. it's something that should be actively worked towards.
as an ideological vegan roots their ideas in science rather than religion, a sympathetic attitude towards abolishing factory farms doesn't extend to non-violence towards all animals. we don't need to talk about mosquitoes and malaria; again, mosquitoes don't have brains. let me ask you this question: what makes the life of your neighbourhood feral cat more valuable than the life of the bird that it killed this morning, or even the rat that it killed last week? how can you stand up for the cat's violence while condemning the human's?
"a cat is being a cat" may be true. but, a human is being a human. and, yes: humans are animals, too.
nor is the premise that cats reduce pests thought out well, as the cats themselves are riddled with diseases and leave feces everywhere. humane rat traps are a better idea.
what would you do with a human that came back every day and took a shit in your garden? you'd probably kick the shit out of that human, if you got the chance, right? or, at least institutionalize them. you can't fine a cat. it doesn't give a fuck about your fiat monetary systems. it's just something else to poop on.
we don't need to torture them. but, we need to control them.