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And Those Blessed Canines
by John Darmanin
John is the Chairperson for the Vegetarian Society of Malta.
For many people, the main reasons why we should eat meat is that we have canine teeth as it has been pointed out to me often times by the critics of vegetarians. It seems that some people never smile in the mirror because if they do they would immediately realize that their canines are almost inconspicuous and nearly in line with the other teeth. To my memory, among the modern human species only the legendary Dracula could boast of an extraordinary set of prominent canines similar to those of the big wild cats. I cannot imagine any one turning round a chunk of sirloin steak to bring it under the exclusive use of his canines.
Our canines are rudimentary ones, vestiges of more developed canines possessed by our distant evolutionary ancestors. Even the denture of a male horse has similar rudimentary canines, yet horses are obligate herbivores. Our canines are not the only rudimentary organs in our body, we can mention besides other things the coccyx the last bone in the human spine which is also the remnants of the tail. In the words of Charles Darwin,
“rudimentary organs may be compared with the letters in a word still retained in the spelling, but become useless in pronunciation, but which serve as a clue in seeking for its derivation” .
Rudimentary organs like our canines remind us that long ago they may have been fully developed but they have fallen into disuse over historical eons. Our canines do not prove that we have to eat meat more than the canines of a horse make him an omnivore. The possession of pronounced canines is not absolute proof of omnivorism or carnivorism. There are quite a few animals which are dedicated vegetarians yet possess more than a pronounced set of canines. gorillas, panda bears, hippopotamus have large canines yet they are obligate vegetarians.
Canines in the carnivores serve more to grasp their prey and prevent it from escaping rather than to chew food. In fact most carnivores prefer to gulp chunks of food with little or no chewing. Humans chew their food extensively more like herbivores. Among the early hominids Australopithicus species, robustus and boisei were probably herbivores according to anthropological conclusions from the examination of jaw fossils which suggest an adaptation for heavy chewing. But along with the robustus and boisei there roamed other hominids like the africanus which, are considered omnivores. Along with these species there
appeared the early Homo species. Unfortunately the vegetarian species became extinct and their line came to an end. Our species has therefore descended from the more omnivore types. So should we be vegetarians or not?
Certainly our tiny canines are not the reason for us to eat meat. But unlike other animals herbivores or carnivores which are obligate in their diet, we have a choice. And this is more in line with our higher capabilities of reason, intellect and consciousness which make us aware of our responsibilities towards preserving the resources of our planet and to avoid human and animal suffering. It is therefore our higher moral and ethical obligations that should nudge us to choose to be less cruel.
We know the suffering that reigns in the animal kingdom where predators kill their prey, and we realize that we can do a lot better. Yet man is the greatest predator of all time, and killing 50 billion animals annually for food alone is even more cruel than the crude rule of the jungle that drives the food chain. Modern animal husbandry deprives these sensitive creatures from even the basic qualities that define life itself. Animals are turned into food machines. This is reason enough to abstain from meat. Living without cruelty lifts up the human spirit. To assent to compassion and abstain from killing animals reflects on the nobility of the heart and soul of mankind. “We are life that wills to live amongst life that wills to live” becomes a virtue. Vegetarianism becomes one of the higher virtues required by a loving and caring human spirit.
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