People for the Eating of Tasty Animals

[MouseKilla]

I just watched this very strange documentary about chickens, chicken farmers and animal rights activists. Since every member of this site keeps animals and most of us must feed other animals to the ones we keep I was curious what opinions there were on the topic of animal rights. Do you eat meat? How do you feel about farming animals (meaning raising and slaughtering) whether that means for human consumption or just breeding mice for your own snakes? Do the animals die humanely? Do you believe in the dominion of man over animals? There's a million possible questions... If you have more of those or better yet some answers let's have 'em.

[Classic]

Personally, vegetarianism is a personal choice. I eat meat half raw most times. Animal rights activists....As a meat eater, i don't go to Parliment Hill and express my love for sweet beautiful meat.
Unfortunately, most activists are the same people you see for every type of demonstration. Chickens are mindless, egglaying birds put on this earth to sustain us with energy. Keep eating up all that rabbit food if you wish because i'm eating the rabbit. Yummy!
Here's my favorite saying heard from most vegetarians.
"O yeah! I'm a Vegetarian, but i eat alot of chicken".

[marisa]

Frankly I don't care when it comes to farm animals. Kill em and eat em. They were raised for that reason and I am happy to eat anyhting raised for food. I really don't care what goes on behind closed doors. The whole world can't be fluffy and wonderful, some aspects have to be dirty, cruel and bloody. Like farming meat.

It's cold hearted but I don't care.

Marisa

[Pixie]

This is a pretty touchy subject.... I do believe in animal rights but on the other hand I'm a carnivore and love my meat!

The way I see it, humans have been eating meat for thousands and thousands of years going really far back. It is natural for us to eat meat as we evolved doing so, why all of a sudden should that change?

Many vegetarians will argue that we don't need meat to survive and they may be right. But the human body needs a certain level of protein each day which CAN be replaced by a good vegetarian diet but is the hardest part. Even though vegetable products do contain protein they do not contain the complete form of proteins our body needs. To achieve this through vegetarianism is a tough task which a vast majority don't even know how to properly substitute their proteins. It takes a variety of protein sources daily to substitute the protein found in one peice of meat. Why should I trade my good source of protein for ones of lesser quality???

On the other hand I know there is "abuse" and unfavorable living conditions for the animals raised to be food to say the least and it certainly doesn't make me happy. In a perfect world these animals would live a happy normal life until the day they meet their end... But alas, it will take a long time before we get there if we ever do as economics are the most important factor, unfortunately...

Pixie

[LISA127]

Originally posted by marisa
Frankly I don't care when it comes to farm animals. Kill em and eat em. They were raised for that reason and I am happy to eat anyhting raised for food. I really don't care what goes on behind closed doors. The whole world can't be fluffy and wonderful, some aspects have to be dirty, cruel and bloody. Like farming meat.

It's cold hearted but I don't care.

Marisa

That is a horrible thing to say in my opinion!

I eat meat on occasion only, just because I don't like it that much. But I do eat it sometimes. However, animals raised for food should be given the best possible conditions to live in within reason, and should be killed humanely. As the "highest" form of life, we have a responsibility to care for the lower forms of life, whether they are destined to be food or not. There is no excuse for the abuse of farm animals. So, if treated humanely and killed humanely, farming animals for food is fine.

[MouseKilla]

One thing that I've found that vegans don't consider is the destructiveness of agriculture. Entire ecosystems are wiped out by farming the soy that replaces the meat in a vegan diet. What would happen if we all did that? In farming beef, pork, poultry only those animals are killed.

[Invictus]

One of my favorite phrases is "I didn't rise to the top of the food chain to eat like a rabbit. I'll let the rabbit eat the rabbit food, then I'll eat the damn rabbit!" I eat meat on a daily basis. It's my staple diet. Like Pixie said, humans have evolved to be meat eaters. The evidence of this is our canine teeth - ONLY carnivores have those. I am not about to deny nature, whether that be feeding a cute fuzzy thing to a snake, or slaughtering and chowing down on a cow, chicken, or pig.

[daver676]

Originally posted by Pixie

The way I see it, humans have been eating meat for thousands and thousands of years going really far back. It is natural for us to eat meat as we evolved doing so, why all of a sudden should that change?


On the other hand I know there is "abuse" and unfavorable living conditions for the animals raised to be food to say the least and it certainly doesn't make me happy. In a perfect world these animals would live a happy normal life until the day they meet their end... But alas, it will take a long time before we get there if we ever do as economics are the most important factor, unfortunately...

Pixie

I totally agree, and feel the exact same way.

Dave

[marisa]

It may be horrible to say but it definitly how I feel....and frankly I just don't care. I could spend the next 60 years of my life caring and being a frantic farm animal activist and see things never change or I could enjoy a delicious burger. hmmm I choose choice two.

It's my opinion. It's horrible? Sure. Still the way I feel though.

Marisa

[Linds]

LOL I've nicknamed my feeder operation in my basement "The Meat Farm" They are not treated or housed like pets, they are fed more protein and fat so they grow faster, and are given less room so they don't use up all those calories. Same can be said about how many of the meat animals we eat (except a lot of them have hormones in place of the higher protein/fat ). I kill my animals in the quickest manner possible, I consider it to be close to humane... it's not a long, painful death... its quick and to the point. Better than how most farm animals are butchered
All that being said, yes I do eat fish and meat. Ourbodies are designed for it... being a veggie would be like forcing a dog or cat to be veggie IMHO. Simply were not designed that way, so I don't know why we should try to fight evolution. I wish that I could say that all the meat I have eaten was from humanely killed animals, and if I could find certain brands that did of course I would only support those kinds, but I'm not gonna try to convert my body against the way its supposed to run because I don't have those options. Its sort of a lose lose situation

Originally posted by Invictus
One of my favorite phrases is "I didn't rise to the top of the food chain to eat like a rabbit. I'll let the rabbit eat the rabbit food, then I'll eat the damn rabbit!"

LOL I like that phrase!

[KingFfaj]

lets not get in to the whole farming economical mombo jumbo, in england and america the food industry is in a terrible state. 50 years from now, england will have lost its intire food culture, can you even name an english dish or native food?
didn't the american govnment bann the selling of a certain cat fish that came from vietnam because it tasted better then the native catfish? so it now has to be sold under a different name?
Eat Meat, Me Eat Meat

[MouseKilla]

Linds,
As we have seen in other threads the word "humane" means different things to different people. There are brands out there that offer free range meat, claiming that it's more humane. All that means though is there is less control over what they eat. In the case of chickens and their eggs they taste much different because the birds are eating worms and their own feces as well as the grain they're fed. Yum! They still get killed and butchered the same way though. Personally I don't trust companies to regulate their own actions so we have to rely on the law. There are laws concerning the slaughter of farm animals (they usually have to be bled to death) though I don't know if they apply to our feeder rodents. Anybody know about that?

[Luna]

I am a vegetarian and I do keep snakes, lizards and other pets that consume animal matter. I feel more comfortable with them eating meat because I know the animals I am feeding my pets have been well cared for and humanely killed. I consider myself an advocate of animal welfare but I disagree with many of the positions of animal rights groups like PETA who generally have a very poor knowledge of animals and accomplish very little for the amount of money they raise. I believe in vegetarianism not because I hate meat or hate the idea of consuming animals; I just feel that meat is more harmful to the environment and not essential to the human diet. Mouse Killa to address your comments; the production of meat uses much more land than farming vegetarian food. Agricultural animals don’t sustain themselves, a large percentage of our crop land is used to produce food to feed our feeder animals, not to mention how much land is required to maintain the animals themselves. Vegetarianism is a much easier diet on the earth so to speak. So I don’t think we should all stop eating meat, it’s just not going to happen, but I do advocate eating less meat (we really don’t need very much at all to get our protein) and supporting humane farming methods…

[spyderman]

I, like most people on this earth, eat meat on a daily basis. I'll feed my snakes meat because thats what they eat, it's all they eat. Has anyone tried to produce a vegetarian snake??? Impossible.

I hate the vegi activist who hates the slaughter of "Poor defencless animals" Then when you look at them, they are wearing leather jackets & Jesus sneakers. Might as well eat the meat, they're wearing the skin.

[Classic]

Luna: Good on you as a vegie not to come down on our opinions.
For the animal activists though...If you want the animals to live in prestine conditions and have a happy life before the slaughter, think what it would cost us all for the meat after all that comfort and plush surroundings.