SBS panel discussion - Animal rights and veganism

Are free-roaming chicken happier than caged chicken? Or should we avoid eating their eggs altogether, let alone milk products and meat? In a bid to shed some light on a controversial topic, we asked four vocal guests from Melbourne, Sydney and Munich to share their thoughts.

Hanae, Claudia, Christian, Iris und Constance im SBS Studio Source: SBS

Animal rights and veganism. SBS host Christian Froelicher discussed the tricky subject with four vocal proponents from our German community (the human species, not the pictured chickens!).

Verkehrte Welt: Sollten wir nicht zuerst sicherstellen, dass der Mensch gerecht(er) behandelt wird? Source: Flickr

The panel guests in the SBS studio were:

- Hanae Buchmeier. She did a work stint at SBS German in June 2017 and is not shy to articulate her opinions. She's not a vegan and happily eats meat.

- Claudia Xantidis, a young Australian from Melbourne. She lived in Germany for a while and deplores the conditions in so-called 'animal farms".

- Dr Iris Bergmann from Sydney University, an expert on sustainability of welfare concepts within the thoroughbred racing industry. She's a proud vegan.

And

- Constance Banks, midwife and animal rights activist. She's vegan and can't understand why calves are systematically taken away from their mother cows.

Menschliche Prüfung: Ein Zitat des tschechisch-französischen Schriftstellers Milan Kundera Source: Supplied