Dear vegans and vegetarians,

First of all, I understand not all of you are this way; this is just for those who are insistent on telling me I am living my life wrong. I am not writing this letter to bash, criticize, or tell you to change your lifestyle in any way. I am merely asking you to calm down and stop screaming at people who eat meat, hunt, trap, and raise animals for food. I respect your life choices and just ask that you respect my choices, too. You do what you want to do and eat what you want to eat, but please stop criticizing people who eat meat. My family has hunted, trapped and raised animals for food, and it’s a little disturbing how some of you are very extreme about going against my way of life. We are not heartless animals, we don’t just kill things for the sake of killing them.

My dad traps and has been trapping for over 20 years. He traps muskrats, beavers, raccoons and mink for their fur, as well as the fact that they are a nuisance animal. They destroy crops and property. We get permission from farmers (who grow plants that you eat) to trap these animals before they destroy crops, but we get backlash from vegans and vegetarians telling us we should stop what we do because it is barbaric and there is no need for it. What do we do, then, to keep animals out of the crops and from destroying property? Putting up a fence is not a logical answer.

My family pretty much lives off venison as our form of protein. We do not go out and shoot any deer that moves on the first day of the season. We limit ourselves to just the amount we need and most people that hunt deer are the same way, they eat what they kill and don’t just kill for the sake of killing. Hunting deer in Michigan helps the economy grow and keeps people safe. People are killed and injured by deer every day. Hunting also keeps the population sizes down and keeps the herds healthy and from starving. Over population means more deer collide with cars, destroy crops, as well as more starvation and diseases spread through herds.

And finally, my brother and I have been raising livestock since we were little, but we were taught livestock are not pets. I know many of you may not understand how we can raise an animal from a few months old then be OK with selling it at an auction. We understood that an animal such as a pig or a beef cow is not a pet. We knew very well when we got them that we were selling them and raising them to be someone’s food. It takes hard work and dedication to raise a livestock animal and work with it so, that you can ultimately sell it at the end of the summer. I raised it and fed it so it would be good quality for someone to eat, they lived a good life while I had them, but once I sold it it was out of my hand what happened to it. I understood that. Maybe it’s just from being raised in the Midwest, but I was raised knowing that some animals are pets and some are merely livestock. I am not a heartless person, I just knew that was a way of life.

So please before you take to social media about my way of life, take a moment and think that maybe we were just brought up differently. I am not some heartless human being, not a monster, and not someone who enjoys killing things. I just understand that is how the world works. I am not criticizing your way of life or asking you to change your ways. I am not shaming you on social media, or calling you a monster for the way you decide to live your life, I just ask that you show me the same respect I have shown you.

Thank you. Sincerely,

A proud meat eater.