eating your pet open discussion

[in2camo]

What an awesome experience. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Can you guarantee 100% that the farms your vegetables are grown on are no-kill farms? Farms typically kill quite a few animals during the growth and harvesting of their crops.

Most farms and food production facilities trap rodents that try to get in and contaminate or otherwise destroy their crops. Here's a hint, those aren't catch-and-release programs. If those rodents are not killed, they will spread disease and filth through the entire food supply. In fact, it is legally required for licensed food production and distribution facilities to have rodent control and elimination programs. Thus, in point of fact multiple rodents have had to die in order for you to receive food.

How many insects have been killed? Far too many to count. Now, some people do not consider insects as being in the same category as "animals" and I respect that, however the fact remains those insects DID die in order for you to have food to live.

What about hunting? Without control of the deer, rabbit, and other populations, farmers' crops will be completely devoured. Unless some of the excess population die, the overpopulation will skyrocket until they have stripped trees and farm fields alike. Once populations reach critical levels, the animals will begin to die off of disease and starvation, suffering horribly until finally the population levels once again reduce to reasonable levels. Many of them will die due to vehicle collisions, in fact deer and other wild herd animals account for hundreds of millions of dollars in vehicle damage and injuries to drivers every year. Some claim the solution is to increase populations of wolves and other predator animals, but the fact is predators seek out the easiest targets, which means pets, livestock, and small children will be targets before the cunning and wary herds of wildlife.

Whether we are willing to acknowledge it or not, the survival of our species has depended on the life and death of many animals, whether they were used for advancement in medical science, for food/clothing/shelter, or simply killed to prevent the spread of disease/protect the family from predators.

I know that not all vegetarians maintain a stance that is entirely at odds with reality, many are quite sensible. However when I encounter people who are in deep denial about how the food supply chain actually works, I feel an irresistible impulse to present factual evidence. Certainly, those who are set in their beliefs may not be convinced, but others who have not considered the facts of the matter, or who are still making up their minds, may come to a more reasonable point of view.

I know this is a bit off the topic of whether or not it is ethical to eat livestock raised in a comfortable pet-like environment, but I feel it is relevant to the discussion as a whole, and particularly since the provably false statement that no animals ever have to die in order for humans to live has been trotted out.

Not to mention the thousands of acres of rainforrest burned down every year to grow more soybeans.

 

[sophiaw00]

What an awesome experience. Thanks for sharing.

No problem. I love my school and that they allow expiriences like this to be given to students. Instead of watching videos on it, we got to see it hands on. I am a huge animal lover and have spent my short young life doing all I can for animals but I also enjoy eating good meat and knowing where my food comes from was very educational for me and I think I'd rather go through killing chickens myself than eating factory chicken ever again. I haven't completly decided yet, but I think next spring I'll begin raising chickens for meat.

 

[Drewnkat]

Quote: That's very similar to how I felt after I butchered my first chicken. The actual killing was kind of sad, but I know I did it as quickly and humanely as I could.

Once she was gone, well, she was a chicken just like any other meat chicken i would get from the store. It was really fascinating to look at the internal organs. It was a great learning experience to process the chicken myself. I won't lie, I was hesitant at first. A dozen times I thought about just waiting til my husband got home and letting him deal with it. In the end my sense of wanting to learn and take full responsibility won over the nervousness. And I'm glad it did.

If the time comes that you decide to butcher a chicken, you will probably feel a bit sad at first, but you will also feel gratitude that this bird gave its life for your food, thankful that you have this provision for your needs, and fascination at the wondrously complex internal systems of the humble little chicken.

 

[JJSS89]

Not to mention the thousands of acres of rainforrest burned down every year to grow more soybeans.

Don't cloud the issue with facts.

 

[Oliver Douglas]

After further reading of her posts, I've come to understand VeggieVixxen's point of view, she won't eat her pets. Sorry if I took this post off on a tangent. I won't eat mine, either. Popeye's is a different situation. Never got to know them, like a lot of my distant relatives....some probably need culling these days. I mean the relatives....to each their own.

Reminds me of a joke I heard regarding the "Pet Psychic" on television....guy shows up with a bucket of KFC on the show, turns to the hostess, and says "Name them."

 

[Titanpaul726]

No animal needs to die for us to live.

So, animals do have to die for YOU to live. Just wanted to be clear on that.

 

[JaceAgain]

No animal needs to die for us to live.

So, animals do have to die for YOU to live.  Just wanted to be clear on that.

Well to be fair, you only need to kill animals if you want to live longer than a couple decades. If you truely believe an animals life is more important that yours, by all means, dont eat them

 

[Beulahroo]

I just ran into this same issue, I'm new to back yard chicking if you will and I bought 8 2 week old chicks in January to start. I was told they where all pullets to the ladies knowledge I bought them from. Needless to say 3 months later the crowing started with 3 of them. I recently also bought into the Rhodebar breed to include 3 pullets and 1 cockerel so I had no need for the other roosters. Then the dilemma came to since I hand raised these guys can I kill them and eat them? Turns out I couldn't do the deed and after several attempts to sell or even give away to people so they could live I ended up giving them away to someone that slaughtered them. For me if I had a bigger operation where it wasn't SO personal I could slaughter and eat them but with a small deal like myself and several others have it makes it hard to decide.

 

[pingu1]

now this is tatally off track but I thought it was really funny

Sherlock Homes and Doctor Watson are on a camping trip at midnight Homes wakes up and nudges his faithful companion "Watson" he says "look up and tell me what you can see" "well" said Watson "I can see the stars meaning that it is a clear night and will be sunny tomorrow. The moon is straight above us meaning that it is midnight. Mercury is near Venus meaning my horoscope is on a sudden descent. Why what does it tell you." "Watson, someone has stolen our tent!"