Missouri Western student Jennifer Kepner believes that if meat packing plants had glass walls, more people would stop eating meat, as she has. “Animals have the right to be left alone,” she says. “I can’t eat meat knowing how the animals are slaughtered.”
Jennifer had been a vegetarian for about three or four years, but after watching videos and documentaries, such as “Meet your Meat,” about animal treatment at meat packing plants, she became a vegan this past year. “I just assumed laws would protect animals,” she said. But her research made her realize they don’t.
Jennifer’s youngest son is on board with the vegan lifestyle, but her husband and one son are not vegans. “It’s their choice. I don’t think it’s right for me to tell them how to live.”
For the criminal justice major, her vegan lifestyle is all about the treatment of animals, but she said many people choose to be vegans because of issues such as sustainability, water use and pollution.
Veganism has become a way of life for her – she tries to buy clothes made from environmentally friendly fabrics, and of course, she does not buy leather products. She also visits the website, leapingbunny.org, to learn which consumer products are made with no animal testing.
“I’ve discovered that you kind of ease into it and replace one thing at a time.”
Jennifer set up a table in the Blum Union last semester and passed out vegan food and literature, and she is starting a new student organization on campus for animal advocacy, all in an effort to make people more aware of how animals are treated in food processing.
Students were receptive to trying her vegan choices in the student union, Jennifer said, and several picked up information that she had displayed. It was out of her comfort zone to set up a table and talk to people walking by, but she is passionate about her beliefs and wants to make other students aware.
“I think people can make a difference,” Jennifer said. “If a person would stop eating meat just once a week, it would save a lot of animals.”
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