Lions eat meat, why shouldn't we?

The objection

“Predation is everywhere in nature. Lions, wolves and orcas kill and eat other animals, and we never condemn them. Humans are animals too, eating meat is part of the natural order.”

The answer

Grant that lions eat meat and we don’t blame them. The question worth asking is why we don’t, because the reasons undermine the argument rather than support it.

We excuse the lion on two grounds. The first is that it’s an obligate carnivore: it cannot synthesise certain nutrients and will die without flesh. Necessity removes blame. The second is that it isn’t a moral agent. It can’t weigh its prey’s interests, foresee alternatives, or choose otherwise, and you can’t hold someone responsible for a decision they’re incapable of deliberating.

Now apply both tests to us. We are not obligate carnivores. Major dietetic associations confirm well-planned plant-based diets are adequate at every stage of life [1], so for most people meat is a preference rather than a necessity. And we are unmistakably moral agents: we deliberate, we recognise that other animals are sentient and can suffer [2], and we hold ourselves accountable for the harm we cause. Neither excuse that covers the lion covers us.

There’s also a deeper inconsistency. We don’t model the rest of our ethics on wild animals. Lions kill the cubs of rivals and take mates by force, yet nobody cites this to defend infanticide or assault. We treat predator behaviour as morally irrelevant in every other domain. Invoking it only at the dinner table uses nature selectively, as cover for a conclusion we wanted anyway.

Which leaves the comparison hollow. The very features that excuse the lion are exactly the features we lack.