Vegans turn into cyberbullies, threaten high school students with pictures of dead animals

Tuesday, May 14, 2013 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: cyber bullying, vegans, dead animals

(NaturalNews) Having personal convictions about not eating meat is one thing. But forcing those beliefs on others in the form of aggressive bullying and persistent harassment is completely unacceptable - and it is exactly what a group of militant students who identify as vegan are being accused of doing to their fellow classmates at a Northern California high school.

As reported by KTXL FOX40 in Sacramento, students studying agriculture at Elk Grove High School (EGHS) have had to deal with repeated intimidation and threats from other students who choose not to eat meat and other food products derived from animals. Much of the controversy involves vegan students posting allegedly hateful messages online, as well as inappropriate pictures accusing their school's agriculture program and its students for animal abuse.

"[One student] keeps posting about goats and sheep and pigs and dead pictures and them being slaughtered," said Katie Velon, an agriculture student at EGHS, to FOX40. Other students in her program say vegan students have been passing out flyers across campus, and have even drawn the attention of other animal rights groups that have dubbed students who eat meat as "carcass crunchers."

"I don't think it's fair for people to be saying that because they don't understand the work we put into all these animals," added Miranda McCurry, another agriculture student. "And it's something we voluntarily do."

Using social media to harass others a growing problem

According to several students at the school, the issue arose out of a debate that began on the popular, picture-based social media site Instagram. Some of the agriculture students became targets of vegan students, who apparently tried to get their point across by posting pictures of animals being slaughtered. Other posts detailed how some animals are drained of their blood while their hearts are still beating as part of the slaughtering process.

"It's depressing," added Velon to FOX40 about what animals raised for meat eventually have to endure. "But it's still fun to work with [the animals] while they're still alive."

One of the vegan students who refused to speak on camera to FOX40 allegedly told reporters that none of her fellow vegans at the school called anyone a "carcass cruncher," and that the term had arisen outside the school when other vegan groups got wind of the matter. She also said she did not personally pass out any flyers on campus.

As of this writing, EGHS has not responded to the incident with any sort of public comment, which may mean that it has already been dealt with and settled.

Sources for this article include:

http://fox40.com

http://www.latimes.com

http://www.wnd.com