McVeigh on the Vegan Diet

Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, asked by People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to drop animal products from his diet, says he understands the cause but doesn’t fully support it.

In a response to PETA, McVeigh also wrote, cannot sustain a prolonged intellectual debate on the subject as my time is short, but I suggest hitting Ted Kaczynski up for his opinions on the subject.”

McVeigh even provided the prison address for Kaczynski, the Unabomber. The two were held in the same prison in Florence, Colorado, before McVeigh was moved to death row at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

In the letter to Bruce Friedrich, PETA’s vegan campaign coordinator, McVeigh wrote, “Truth is, I understand your cause—I’ve seen slaughterhouses myself—but I still believe in reasonable taking and eating of game (as an outdoorsman and hunter).”

McVeigh went on to raise questions about where people in “the veg movement” draw the line. “Where do those who oppose suffering stand?” McVeigh wrote. “(Ever see a fish struggling out of water?) What about grubs/worms/etc.?”

McVeigh, convicted of killing 168 people by bombing the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, also noted that plants are alive and respond to stimuli, just as an animal would respond to pain.

“To me, the answer is as the Indians believed: Respect the life you take to sustain yourself, but come to terms with your place in the ‘food chain’,” McVeigh wrote.