I don't think it is a convenient gray area. Animal cruelty is very different from killing animal for survival. In many countries animal cruelty is seen as a sport, they claim it has been in their culture and cannot be eradicated even if it is a cruel and wicked act watch this videos:youtube.com/verify_age?&next_url=/watch%... youtube.com/watch?v=oYOsBJkHgIU youtube.com/watch?v=MTHHgxFOD_g youtube.com/watch?v=eCNCaFuWRQM This is cruelty in capital letters.In some places, before an animal is slaughtered for food, a short prayer is said for the soul of the animal and they make it a quick death.
This sounds funny but it is true. They know that the animal will feel pains, but they have to eat to survive. The difference is that those who kill for meat, kills for survival while those who hurt animals do it for pleasure.
Permit me to drift. The fact that sex is good, doesn't make rape acceptable. Hope you get my point thank you.
There is a difference between animal cruelty and production of meat. That would be why slaughter houses that also partake in animal cruelty are shut down. Humans are omnivores.
We are supposed to eat meat. Have you ever watched a pack of wolves take down a moose? Should the wolves starve to death because killing the moose is going to hurt it?
In nature killing is natural. If I shoot a moose to feed my family I am no more wrong than the wolves. If I intentionally shot it in a non-lethal location to watch it run around bleeding to death slowly and then go carve "steaks, yum" into it's rump when it falls down but hasn't died.. THAT is animal cruelty.(yes I do feel the graphic nature of my answer helps its cause.) On the other aspect of your question, why is it okay to eat some animals (rabbits, cows, etc. ) but not others (dogs, cats, dolphins, horses) I do think it's okay.
Though in all circumstances I would attempt to avoid eating animals of higher intelligence I would eat any of the above if push came to starving. I think that is the difference, any one who has been around the animals we typically eat can tell you they aren't smart, they don't seem to have any sort of presence the way a dog or a horse does.
The question that you have raised has many answers and it is important to consider the arguments on the other side. Top of the considerations is this. The role of an animal in nature is to bring the next generation into existence.
However, to do this animals need to eat other animals. A fact that is often forgotten by people is that we, humans, are animals. We belong to nature and we are nature.
Of course it is wrong to torture animals. It is wrong to take pleasure or entertainment in seeing something suffer. Many native people have a tradition or culture deeply ingrained.
This is a culture of respect towards the animal. Respect for your food. All animals are respected by them and none are needlessly tortured or forced to feel pain unnecessarily.
Perhaps we should follow their example. Animals also played, and play, a very important role in our development. Most anthropologists and archaeologists will attest to the role of protein in our development and more specifically the role of protein in the development of our brain.It is widely known that meat provided this protein.
Evidence from the remains of hunter-gatherer settlements show that meat, and the protein derived from it, played a significant part in our ancestors diet. More so to the point, we still have the same bodies as our ancestors and it is not so long ago since the mesolithic and neolithic stone ages. Almost a mere blink in the eye, when you look at how long dinosaurs roamed the planet.
Therefore by logic what was good for them most have been good for us. Secondly, animals do kill one another for food. If a lioness failed to kill her prey, she would die prematurely.
This is replicated throughout the intricate relationships that makes up life on Earth. It is natural and an old, perfected, system, much older than us. Addressing your disgust at killing animals for torture and pleasure, I share your revolt.
Hunting just to kill something is a sadistic act. Hunting foxes or wolves, another much maligned animal that has never killed any humans as far as records tell, is wrong in my opinion. And it is sickening when this happens.
I am sure many people share your concerns. Culling animals that are threatening the delicate environment by being too abundant is a different matter. Deers in Britain and New Zealand have to be culled because the environment cannot take their huge numbers.
To not eat food that you have killed is a waste of life. Similarly, the Cane Toad is reeking havoc with the local species in Australia, and people are right to try and prevent it from making native species extinct. Although in the Cane Toad case this is a man-made problem.
We are animals with needs. It is important that we don't start hating ourselves for performing a role that nature intended, eating other animals. Some of us can choose to be vegetarians and that is to be applauded but we should still realise that we don't hate other animals for eating their prey.
We should not hate ourselves for doing the same thing. Vegetables and fruit play a huge role in keeping us healthy. Without vegetables we would never make it to old age.
Everyone should have them as part of a healthy, balanced diet. We should also look at what they do for the environment.It is still important to question some of our own practices for growing vegetables and cereals on a massive scale and realise the impact that they are making on the environment. For example, much of the world's soya milk comes from plantations in South America. These very plantations require vast swathes of the rainforest to be dug up.
This process destroys the rainforest and kills many animals who do not have a habitat afterwards. We should remind ourselves of this when we purchase soya in the shop. There is nothing worse than a misplaced sense of satisfaction if it is doing exactly the opposite of what we intend.
Japan has resumed whaling and this has been widely criticised in many western countries, particularly Europe and in my own country Ireland. We don't understand how they could do such as thing. However, what we don't ask ourselves is why Japan is doing this in the first place.
Japan is a culture that is based around the consumption of fish. There is no meat eaten in Japan. Everybody eats fish there.
Unfortunately, we are running our of fish. This is mainly happening because we use fish farms. A practice that is supposed to be environmentally friendly but really is depriving wild fish of their food supply.
(Farmed fish consume the same food that their wild cousins feed on). As a result of this, and the raising water levels that are occurring because of the increased expansion of heated water, we are running out of fish stocks. Therefore, Japan is running out of fish.
Because Japanese culture is so intrinsically linked with fish, Japan would lose its own identity if they had to eat meat.To give you an example what would it be like for western culture if we could no longer eat meat? What would it be like for meat lovers? This is the exact problem that Japan is facing.
Fish is their meat. Therefore, because they don't have the emotional attachment that we do, they are turning to whales to provide them with what they have always known - fish. Asking questions and questioning memes is critical to understanding our world.
For example, even though Global Warming is a real issue, our notion of what is good and what is bad for the environment is widely misplaced. There is a huge emphasis on CO2 emissions. However, according to scientists this is misplaced.
Current levels of CO2 are at over 380 parts per million. 80 million years ago the figure was over 1000 parts per million. What is dangerous is the exponential rate of rapid change.
Asking question is how we understand the world. Questioning our roles is necessary. However, we should also question our assumptions and see if they are valid or not.
Meat has a role to play for us. We are animals too.
No vegetarians still wear leather shoes I bet! For me its all or nothing, I am dead against animal testing but because of financial constraints I can not always afford to buy animal friendly products, although I always will if if I can, but I don't critisize people who dont, I have met too many vegies who,s reasons for being one sit uneasy with me.
Having meat in the diet helped modern humans evolve from earlier hominids. The concentrated proteins from meat, fish and bone marrow helped develop larger more complex brains. Our ancestors migrated mainly to follow the paths of migrating large game animals.
Gathering of fruits and berries were probably used more to provide sustenance during these treks, but the goal was the animals for meat. Eating animals and animal cruelty are 2 very different things. I love all animals, even cows pigs and chickens, but I also eat meat and I do not consider myself a hypocrite.
I love cats and dogs, and find it personally repulsive to think that they too are eaten, but do not think that cultures that do so should change their ways over it. Slaughtering an animal for food is a gruesome sight, no matter how humane the method, but in the end it is for the very basic purpose of sustaining our natural need to eat meat. If some people can live without meat, great for them, some people can also be celibate or go without social interaction, if it is there choice and if they can sustain it, good for them.
But for the majority of the population, we will eat meat, and the gruesome slaughtering is an acceptable act because it is an extension of what is natural, such as a cat hunting down and eating a mouse. Animal cruelty is perverse, and can actually be linked to extended cruelty to fellow human beings. Animal cruelty is harming an animal just for the thrill derived from seeing it in pain.
Nature is a harsh and painful place, but all actions have a direct purpose (i. E:slaughter animal, eat animal, derive nutrients from animal) Animal cruelty just for a personal thrill has no purpose and is therefore unnatural.
Think of it this way, there are many carnivores in the world, dogs and cats among them. They need meat to survive, yet we don't think of them as cruel. Every time you buy dog and cat food, you "sacrifice" another animal for them.
Think of tigers, wolves, and every carnivores who hunt in the wild and the animals they kill. In ecosystem, carnivores are the nature;s check and balance. Without them, the herbivores will eat too much of the nature's resources and ruin the ecosystem.It is the nature's way.
I think we should make every effort to make our livestock comfortable and humane, and to die as painless and possible, though.
To me....I do eat meat....but I'm very picky...I will eat Beef and pork...I don't eat Chicken or any other odd meat that may come my way...I normally like to stick with fish or shrimp. I however am against Animal Cruelty...although in my mind animal cruelty is like abuse...beating your pets, starving your pets things like that....many years ago people had to eat their cows/chickens/pigs....to survive in harsh weather or when they were so far from town...I don't consider that cruelty...cows/chickens/pigs...are the kind of animal whose ultimate purpose is to be milked or eatin...whereas dogs and cats are not. Not trying to start a huge arguement, just my opinion.
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I think this is the sort of question that vegans like to post to try to make people who eat as nature intended feel bad about it. I am by nature an omnivore and eat meat. I personally could not eat my pet cat, but if cats were raised as a food source then they would be acceptable to eat.
Just because we don't think a potato has a brain and can think doesn't mean we are right. After all, just a few hundred years ago, we didn't think the world was round, either. Unless you are going to start eating dirt and rocks and starve to death, some living creature has to die to make your food.
However, there is a vast difference between killing for food and killing for entertainment. Hunting a deer that will feed your family all winter is different that hunting a deer, cutting off its antlers and leaving the meat to rot. Even eating a dog is distinctively different that deliberately and with viscious actions teaching a dog to tear up any living creature it come nears (usually by letting it practice on smaller, helpless creatures) and then throwing it in a pit with the intention of it killing or being killed.
We've done this with people too--think Rome--and it was wrong then too. As far as outlawing the consumption of horses, cats and dogs in the United States for food, I think we're mistaken in that action. Many of the cultures which contribtued to ours still eat those animals and to deprive them of their food choices is inflicting our choices on others.
However, there has always been and will always be a difference between treating an animal humanely and then butchering it for food and animal cruelty.
Animal cruelty in my opinion is when an individual finds gratification in the pain and anguish of a live animal. Eating meat as a means of food intake and survival should not be considered cruel.
Not at all, I mean it's not like you slaughtered the animals yourself, I could never do that! But I do enjoy a good burger, and don't listen to that thick headed a**hole! He only criticizes people for eating meat because he's a arrogant, self-righteous bigot who feels he's better than everyone else because he believes eating meat is wrong.
You shouldn't let people like that get to you.
The amount of animal food most of us eat today is far, far beyond any actual need. If you won't stop supporting this cruelty at least please consider reducing your intake. Anybody who thinks that modern meat production is merciful is deluding themselves.
The modern "factory farm" is a hideously cruel place, with animals often dying miserably before they get anywhere near a slaughterhouse (it's cheaper to write off a certain percentage of deaths than to give animals decent housing). The animals are selectively bred for increased production which results in deformed animals who suffer terribly. This is true not only of meat but also egg and dairy farms.
Slaughterhouses routinely fail to properly stun animals before cutting them up or dipping them into scalding tanks (the meat industry's acceptable rate of stun failure ranges from 2% to 10%, depending on the animal, which means millions every year get scalded, chopped up and skinned while still conscious). For the sheer amount of cruelty involved, commercial meat production is far worse than any other form of animal abuse. And every dollar you give to this brutal industry supports more cruelty.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.