Inclusive or Hypocritical? Non-Vegan Menu Options at Animal Sanctuary Sparks Debate

A post in the Facebook group UK Vegan sparked debate when David Cozier asked fellow group members whether they agreed or disagreed with an animal sanctuary’s choice to serve meat and dairy dishes on their menu.  

The animal sanctuary in question is Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare based in East Sussex, U.K. 

Raystede recently celebrated 70 years of caring for animals and helps over 1,200 vulnerable animals each year. The sanctuary founded in 1952 by Miss M. Raymonde-Hawkins considers itself to be one of the most diverse animal sanctuaries due to the range of species they care for.

Although most of the comments were against the sanctuary’s menu options, a few were understanding of the sanctuary’s position and messaging, with one group member stating: “They are serving meat because many of their visitors will be meat eaters and they don’t want to lose essential revenue by losing the meat eaters. Without the money they bring in they may have to close.”

Crozier who created the original post disagreed and said: ”By principle and by example they absolutely shouldn’t be even offering it. Why save one animal and eat another?”

“Not one person visiting Raystede and the cafe is pure carnivore so there’s no need to serve meat at all unless they’re catering for lions or wolves. One day without meat or dairy whilst visiting a cafe in an animal sanctuary is not going to do any harm, it can only do some good.”

Despite much of the UK Vegan’s group discontent, Raystede has over 1,800 reviews on Google and receives a 4.6-star rating out of 5. 

Speaking to The Vegan Review a spokesperson for Raystede said: 

“As a leading Centre for Animal Welfare, we are committed to delivering the highest standards of animal welfare to the animals in our care. Profits from our café form a significant contribution towards the funding of these services. As such our policy is to be inclusive and cater for all sections of society, providing extensive vegetarian and vegan options whilst sourcing any meat and dairy from local, high welfare farming systems.”

Click here to check out the original post.