Why are some animals treated as domestic while others as tasty?
By lynkshadow
@lynkshadow (299)
Canada
January 1, 2010 9:38pm CST
I have 3 cats. I grew up with a dog. I love them, like they are my family. I love my cats like they are my little babies. I abhor abuse to pets and am passionate about their care and rights. But the problem is I am a hypocrite. I eat chicken, steak, hamburger and I think that most of the time it is delicious. Sometimes I feel guilty and think I should just go vegetarian but other times I don't care what's behind the scenes and what goes on and I eat meat. I tried to rationalize this by thinking, well, my cats and dogs eat meat so they are in the right pyramid level of the food chain so should not be killed for food. Is there a rationalization? I think that if an animal such as a chicken or fish is killed quickly and with as much mercy as possible then I can justify eating it. But this isn't always done. We have all seen preview of horror documentaries showing things like chicks beaks being cut off so they can't fight each other, animals that are put in pain with no regard for their suffering. Yet we still go to the grocery store, buy the meat and eat it without doing the proper research into how it was prepared. Does that make us pet owners hypocrites? Don't we have the responsability to encompass meat eating as an issue as a pet owner? I have been wrestling with this for years and don't know what other people are thinking about it or even if they do. What about meat eating pet owners out there?
1 response
@oscarbartoni (2581)
• United States
4 Jan 10
Man is an omnivore by nature, that is we will ear both meat from animals (including eggs, fish milk etc,, and plant materials including grains, vegetable and fruits etc.It can be done to become a vegetarian but make sure that you are getting all of the vitamins, minerals and everything else that your body need and I do not mean from a bottle of vitamins or minerals.Yes I agree that we as humans should make sure that an animal does not suffer even if it is t be used for food for us. There are certain people that do eat dogs, cats and other animals that people in the United States of America think is inhumane.
@lynkshadow (299)
• Canada
4 Jan 10
I wonder if it is nature though. We used to be more barbaric in alot of ways. I wonder if part of our evolutionary process as a society is to treat all animals better. Like parents to children who can't reason for themselves, and become vegetarians. Even with eggs, you know they are kind of a stunted chicken abortion in progress. Sounds gross when I put it that way.. but anyway I guess we would still have to kill animals for our domestic pets because they can't sustain vegetarian diets from what I have read. Thanks for your opinion. Cheers!
