After forty-some years in the business, fourth generation Montana cattle rancher Howard Lyman finally saw the light. Now, the author of the bestselling books, Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won’t Eat Meat and No More Bull: The Mad Cowboy Targets America’s Worst Enemy: Our Diet, spends his days promoting veganism.
For the sake of our health and humaneness, for the planet and for the wolves, adopting a cruelty-free vegan lifestyle is a challenge we all must face together. As Mr. Lyman tells us: “The question we must ask ourselves as a culture is whether we want to embrace the change that must come, or resist it. Are we so attached to the dietary fallacies with which we were raised, so afraid to counter the arbitrary laws of eating taught to us in childhood by our misinformed parents, that we cannot alter the course they set us on, even if it leads to our own ruin? Does the prospect of standing apart or encountering ridicule scare us even from saving ourselves?”
As I pointed out in an earlier post: if you really want to save the wolves, go vegan. And urge your friends and family and neighbors and co-workers to do the same. Tell it to the world—eating meat is killing the planet, one wolf at a time; one species at a time; one ecosystem after another.
Every time you order a steak or grill a hamburger, you legitimize wolf-culling for the sake of livestock growers. And every time you purchase a hunting license, you validate wolf trapping for the sake of elk hunters. To game managers, every action, right down to your purchase of ammo and cammo at Outdoor World is a show of support for their policies.
By now, you regular readers of this blog are probably thinking to yourself, “Well, duh…tell me something I don’t know.” But you might be surprised just how many people who advocated for the reintroduction of wolves eat meat like there’s no tomorrow. Comfortable in their justification, they reason that cows are “domesticated” and therefore bred for slaughter.
But rather than continually trying to revise your rationale, wouldn’t it be easier just to remove yourself from the equation and leave the predating to the predators? Human beings can live much healthier on a plant-based diet, like the primates we undeniably are. True carnivores, such as wolves, coyotes, cougars, marine mammals or members of the weasel family have to eat meat to survive. If you’re not willing to go vegan for the sake of the animals you eat, maybe it’s time to think of the other animals affected by your bill of fare.
Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2013. All Rights Reserved
Exposing the Big Game 
God Bless Howard Lyman. What a fine man! My family were cattle barons in Oregon. They were cowboys. And I managed to become vegan. I did not have to accept their ways. The ranches are all deserted now and the people dead and gone. And I say good riddance. Let ranches be grain ranches. Fruit and vegtables and nut trees. No more this idea that we have to raise cows to sustain us. We know we do not. No more “honor” killing of forwst creatures and the excuses that we must feed our families with bloody corpses/ Hurrah! Howard Lyman!
Denderah than you!!! You are amazing. I hope more follow. Good for you!
You give me hope, God Bless.
Thanks, you too.
I was raised by cattle ranchers too. My dad owned/operated 1,000 acre cattle ranch in Southern Oregon and later a grain-fed beef farm in the middle of the dairy industry in Southern California. My heart and my soul was in constant trauma. Now vegan, I do not experience the sense of direct harm to the animal spirits. However, I will forever feel ashamed of the years I turned my eyes therefore my back on the suffering inflicted by humans onto innocent, sentient living beings.
Yes, that’s one of the hidden benefit’s of going vegan–we don’t have to feel like we’re betraying ourselves and the animals anymore.
This is the crux of the whole problem! Bravo Mr Lyman ….
I stopped eating meat as protest to the wolf killing and I will never go back .. It is killing everything and everyone .. Literally !
Please get more of these courageous heroes to speak up get on talk shows like Oprah .. Exposé the livestock industry for the cruelties to the earth and to all the animals! .. It’s a nightmare in reality… Knowledge is POWER !
People ask, “What’s the connection between saving wolves and my eating meat?” usually quite angrily. The connection is glaringly obvious to those who face the truth, as Howard Lyman and you and others make so clear. The vegan thing will work amazing wonders if only almost everyone (preferably everyone of course) will get on board and never go back. Then animal “growers” will not exist and wolves and nature will be left alone to get back into balance and live their lives in freedom. Thank you Jim for another excellent piece.
Thank you Laura, and thanks for backing me up on this “vegan thing.” It really is the only way to solve so many issues.
I like what i am reading,I just hope there will be more PPL like MR.LYMAN,and i pray that our beloved WOLFS will have a chance.
I asked for help or suggestions before on a Vegan website on how to go from a meat eating diet to a Vegan diet. GOT NO REPLIES. I mean I know not to buy meat anymore. But our bodies need to meet certain requirements to be healthy. Could you please List or reply to me some good books on switching to a Vegan diet and not hurting myself. Just getting a recipe book doesn’t tell me what I want to know.
Candy Copeland
Sure, I’d be glad to, (and I know that a lot of readers here can think of some as well). I’ll add more later, but for now I’d recommend Howard Lyman’s second book: No More Bull. Also, visit the Physicians for Responsible Medicine website, PCRM.org or google changing to a vegan diet.
Candy, here’s some books and links my wife recommends (we’ve been vegan for 15 years):
Get Healthy, Go Vegan, by Dr. Neal Barnard
Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina
http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-living/free-vegetarian-starter-kit.aspx
http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/vegan.htm
Feel free to contact me personally if you have any other questions about going vegan.
Candy, if you visit the ADAPTT website run by activist Gary Yourofsky he has a complete vegan shopping guide. http://www.adaptt.org
I met Howard at a watershed meeting in the Teanaway Valley in the Fall. He’s now living in Ellensburg, Wa. and helps with a vegan “get together” every month or so in Ellensburg.
He promised to help with any wolf/cow related issues.
You’re practically neighbors, Jerry.
Reblogged this on redemptionforanimals.
I want dearly to stop the massacre of farm animals and thank Howard Lyman for his voice and wisdom. I also live in wolf country, the Bitterroot Mtn., area of western Montana. I know of the hatred towards wolves by ranchers and hunters. As bad as hunting in general is to me, there is an added viciousness towards wolves, they are often tortured, shot in the gut to suffer a slow, horrible death. Trapped and tormented as they lay hostage in steel leghold traps by the trappers, often laughed at and kicked, with spectators looking on, friends, family of the hunter/trapper. It is man”kind” at it’s worst. Contact http://www.FootlooseMontana.org if you want more direct information about what really goes on, trapping wolves and other animals.
I plead with all reading this: do not eat fish and meat, use dairy products and knowingly use animal products, for you, the children, the wildlife and for the victim farmed animals that suffer by the billions. Choose instead a plant-based, VEGAN way of living.
Thank you for your words of wisdom and great advice.
There is also a full documentary hosted by Lyman called “Mad Cowboy” ~
Many Blessings!
~Gerean Pflug for “The Animal Spirits”
Thank you for pointing that out and sharing the link!
Thank you for this… Long time animal lover & now voice for wolves, I am in need of a way of eating that will work for me. Not a big meat eater anyway, but doubt now I will ever touch it again. For the wolves, for myself, for all animals and Mother Earth, I will eat Vegan style from now on… Be well… Lee
You’re welcome. That’s wonderful that you made the decision to eat vegan from now on! The animals the Earth and your health will thank you for it!
For the question about what to eat, what I do is just make sure there are a lot of different colors on the plate. Basically, I ditched the notion that there has to be a ‘main’ dish. Who made that rule? I pretty much eat ‘side’ dishes but it is tasty, filling, and nutritious. I don’t spend a lot of time cooking either. I also don’t think about protein. Eat a nice variety of vegetables, beans, fruits and grains everyday and you’ll be fine. I’ve been eating like this for 21 years.
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