This is such an interesting thread! I get asked alot of questions--being a 'reformed Vegan'...so I thought I would lay in my perspective
My mom and stepdad loved gardening and were fortunate enough to own a house on a full acre with their own well. They did as much as they could to allow us kids to be raised as 'normally' as possible, but teach us also about the value of life. We had half of the property dedicated to a veggie garden and orchard, and we had a green house attatched to the side of the house for growing winter food.. we hardly ever went to the store for fruit or veggies.
My mom grew up eatting meat, drinking milk, and eatting eggs..and so did my stepdad, but he decided at some point in his life that he didn't want to kill animals for food or support their exploitation by commercial industry--and so he became a vegan... Mom still ate meat when they met and gave it up for him. My youngest siblings went right along with being good little vegans, but I had a secret addiction to meat. I would trade food for a lunch meat sandwich to get my fix. My mom found out and was very angry with me, and asked if I would be willing to kill for the meat I was eatting--I said to her horror "YES." I was grounded.
With regards to how animals are treated, I was taught that the needs of the animals are ABOVE your own. Animals raised in a domesticated environment don't have the 'skills' to survive in the wild on their own. And if my pet rat could escape and feed himself, or find a cleaner place to live--he would. We were also taught to never own an animal unless we knew EVERYTHING about its care requirements and ecological history ( research before you buy). Pets belonged to the parents. Us kids looked after the pets as if they were our siblings. If we wanted a pet we were welcome to "share" with my parents. An animal wasn't ours unless we were buying ALL of its food and could afford the vet bill. All life was respected, in the sense that every animal has its purpose and should never be taken, or taken for granted. With the exception of poisonous spiders.
Once I moved out on my own, I fed my meat addiction heartily. And even decided to go hunting, fishing, and raise my own animals for the purpose of meat production. Everyone is different, and has differnt levels of tolerance. My sister is disgusted and horrified that I grew up the way I did, and can/ will kill my meat rabbits. I only have a few. And I treat them very well. They get the very best feed, plenty of treats, probiotics, get let out to run around on my back lawn every evening, they get held pet and treated like they are apart of my family. I don't treat them like an object, they are individuals with their own personalities and I think its important to make them feel loved and appreciated. What sort of life is it to sit in a cage and wait miserably for your death?They don't know how much I appreciate what they are going to do for me, and I only get one time to tell them and that is while they are alive.
My husbands family was very poor and they lived out in the woods with no electricity or running water. He lived like the early settlers did. They raised goats, pigs, chickens, sheep, and on occasion a Turkey. They played with the baby animals that they later skinned and ate. And he is no crazy serial murderer or lover of gory films. It was just a fact of life, that your goat was born to feed you and your family. He said once he had a favorite goat, and he saw it get butchered for the family--and he said the only thing that upset him was that he wasn't going to be able to play with that goat, so he found another, and enjoyed dinner that night.
My key to raising meat animals, is to have no favorites. If I do develop a 'favorite' it makes it extremely difficult for me to justify killing them--hence the whole bonding thing. I over come that by offering these animals as pets-- a few of my bunnies have found great homes with 4-H kids and rabbit pet owners. For those that do not get the privledge of being a pet, they become breeders. When they become old, and its time for them to 'retire' I do what needs to be done, and thank that animal for its service. Not every animal can be saved..and raising animals for food would go no where if people couldn't bring themselves to kill another aniamal for the benifit of their own health.
I simply do not find it bothersome to kill an animal for meat. I do find it disturbing that people can say "aw it doesn't matter its just a stupid cow." or similar statements. All animals are equal. They are all intelligent, all feel pain- some can feel sorrow or joy, and express those feelings in ways that we can understand them. But then. plants can 'feel' sensations too..ever see Myth busters when they hooked a plant up to a lie detector and then scortched it? There was an energy surge as the plant was being scortched, and then everytime anyone tried to touch it there after; almost as if it was anticipating another assault.
They can sense heat, cold, light, dark--too much cold or heat "hurts" a plant, but No one feels bad about up rooting a carrot, letting its root membranes dry out on the counter, and then get chopped up and boiled while all the cells are still living---And I am not willing to starve on the behalf of an animal..I would gladly eat one of my pets if I were trapped in a blizzard for months with no food. Humans are omnivores, and it is just as natural for man to eat a fish as it is for a snake to eat mice.
As a child, and now as an adult I believe its benificial to be able to hunt for your own food. Vegitarians only live well today because of the variety of food/processed food (soy,rice products) that stores carry--but what if there were no stores? How hard would it be for Vegans in cold or hot dry climates to grow a good crop of rice or soy to make their own tofu or rice milk? Would they be able to also grow alot of the stabilizers and texturizers that are commonly used in those products? True veggies have alot of vitamins and nutrients, but they don't have alot of Protien, Fats or B vitamins--that are essential for good liver function. Many vegans, my stepfather included, suffer from liver problems and need to be given injections of essential vitamin B and protien as they get older. Afflictions of eatting too much meat and not enough veggies also plague people.. but no vegan I know of has ever lived beyond 90..
What if there was a major global catastrophy and we all got plunged into the dark ages? The life that many modern vegitarians enjoy wouldn't exsist. They simply wouldn't be able to say, "Im not intersted in buying your wool Sir, but do you have any bamboo fiber??" I am not a conspiracy theorist or anything, its just the facts..people who have an open mind--who can grow and raise their own food are more independant, and better fit for surviving in this global economy or the next.
