A group of activists, led by electronic music star-turned-professional environmentalist Moby, are trying to convince the Los Angeles City Board of Animal Services Commissioners to turn all of their shelter dogs vegan, replacing their regular dog kibble — which contains turkey, chicken, and lamb — with a "plant-based" formula.
The idea is the brainchild of Commissioner Roger Wolfson, who claims that he's "researched" vegan diets for animals and that restricting dogs and cats to consuming only plant-based material "eliminates" certain behavioral and digestive issues. He also claims that the city of Los Angeles, in order to be truly considered progressive, needs to rethink the ""the ethics of feeding animals to animals," The Washington Post reports.
“If we adopt this, it’s one more thing that proves to the world that Los Angeles really is the progressive capital,” Moby testified at a recent meeting of the Board of Animal Services.
“We have to embrace the fact that the raising and killing of animals for food purposes must only be done if we have absolutely no other choice,” Wolfson added. “This is about the long-term survival of every man, woman and child in this room, and all of the people in our lives.”
Lisa Bloom, the notorious "feminist" attorney who disappeared from the public eye after defending alleged serial rapist Harvey Weinstein, and reportedly suggesting that Weinstein smear his accusers in the media to delegitimize their stories, is also a supporter of the measure.
According to PetMD, and veterinarians consulted for the Post's article, the idea of feeding dogs only plants is less "progressive" and more "harmful and insane." Although some privately owned dogs can thrive on vegan diets, Dr. Jeremy Prupas said in his report to the commission that shelter dogs are often injured, undernourished and have special needs, and require their food to contain enough protein, calcium and other vitamins and minerals to help them heal and thrive.
PetMD is more blunt, claiming that it is "inappropriate" to feed a pet a diet that ultimately forces them "to eat something that it isn’t designed to handle." Dogs and cats can't manufacture some of their own nutrients like humans can. Denying them meat can lead to everything from cardiomyopathy to fatty liver disease.
But it's more important to people like Moby that L.A. be "progressive" than that homeless shelter dogs be given proper nutrition, apparently.
Thankfully, the Los Angeles shelters have other issues to contend with, specifically the cost of food that would make moving to an all-vegan shelter difficult. But "pro-vegan voices" are reportedly prevailing at shelter commission meetings, so perhaps it might be time to adopt some sweet animals from L.A. shelters before they're all forced to go meatless.