Is it really that wrong to eat dogs and cats?

hm, i see your point now.
anyways, i do not judge chinese or korean people for eating dog. i think that is a very gross generelization anyways. in fact here in beijing it is very very rare for a restaurant to serve dog. actually have never seen it on a menu (but then again i never read the menu....). and i understand that it is mainly a cultural difference.
i do judge them however for killing the dogs in the cruel way. just the same way i judge american factory farms (or those of any other country for that matter..) but there isn't a thing i can do about it. i don't even have the choice to buy the "right" meat.
 
rwbeagles:
i also think that it is natural for us to eat meat, since we are ourselves preditors. but i feel that we as humans are can feel compassion AND have the capability to kill an animal "humanely" unlike preditory animals in the wild. so i think we should do exactly do that...

Ratsicles, will you be my BFF? [sm=kiss.gif]
 
I'm generally the type of vegetarian that you wouldn't know it if you didn't actually bring it up with me because I don't preach. My feeling is if you can actually do the raising and killing of food yourself and be okay with that, eat up. I have much less problem with hunting than I do with factory farming and buying meat all wrapped in plastic and totally divorced from where it came from.
 
I know that I just wouldn't be able to raise and kill an animal, and if I can't do that then I shouldn't ask someone to do it for me in such a way that I can just ignore it and not have to think about it.

compassion
 
Compassion of course...
 
But I won't lie....I'd rather see us pay more attention, and put more money towards, treating our human population with more compassion...
 
At least as much as we pay to the animals we eat.
 
I think many, many things are unbalanced, on that score.

 
I do...I think a very integral part of any prey species life...is it's death. It does other things, and serves other purposes. But to Nature a very important part of it's life...is that it can be eaten by the creatures Nature's made capable of capturing and killing the prey animal in question.
 
Whether that predator is a human or a cougar...the end for the animal is the same, it's bloody, it's terrifying, and it's far from "peaceful"...and it's purpose...not it's sole purpose...but an important and real one nonethless...was fulfilled.
 
Every creature is nature is multipurpose. I for one have no issue with the fact that part of my purpose is predatory...if I wander into the wilderness and do stupid things...then part of my purpose is to be prey myself.

 
I agree completely with what you just said. Perhaps I'm phrasing it wrong- I don't believe that an animal's (even a prey animal's) SOLE purpose is to die, so that something else can eat it. Again, they are born for their OWN reasons- to eat, sleep, mate, play, etc. Death is a part of that, of course- my issue is with the attitude of "Eh, who cares about a cow- it was bred for food. But DOGS are not bred for food, therefore eating them is bad." That's the attitude I can't stand. Of course* deat is an integral part of nature- but to say that everything else in that animal's life is unimportant, all because it's ultimately going to be food, is wrong IMO.

Many of my pet rats were purchased from pet store where they were being sold as snake food. Each of them has their own name and personality and are dear friends of mine. Initially though, they were bred as food for another animal. Since that's what some human decided they were here for, are their lives worth less than a rat who was tossed in a tank labeled "fancy rat" and sold as a pet? Ultimately, they're both rats. I just don't see where the human's decisions of "this one was bred for food" and "this one was bred to be a pet" have to factor in. They both are equal animals. They both have their own lives and personalities. Saying that it is less wrong to eat one than it is the other, simply because of how they were labeled in the pet store, just doesn't make sense to me.

That was the point that I was trying to make. Life = Life. I honestly cannot see how it is more wrong to eat one animal than another, based solely on "what it was bred for." 

yes, completely agree with you 100%, rwbeagles

Also, I'm envious of you owning chickens. I'd love to own chickens and ducks. Unfortunately, don't have a lot of land.

Me neither! I live in asuburban neighborhood. My chickens have their own room in the basement that they stay in at night, and an outdoor run that they play in during the day. It's probably not entirely legal, but no one has noticed or complained yet. []

Ratsicles, will you be my BFF? [sm=kiss.gif]

I'm generally the type of vegetarian that you wouldn't know it if you didn't actually bring it up with me because I don't preach. My feeling is if you can actually do the raising and killing of food yourself and be okay with that, eat up. I have much less problem with hunting than I do with factory farming and buying meat all wrapped in plastic and totally divorced from where it came from.

I know that I just wouldn't be able to raise and kill an animal, and if I can't do that then I shouldn't ask someone to do it for me in such a way that I can just ignore it and not have to think about it.

I feel exactly the same way. A while ago, I made a decision- either I was going to start raising my meat myself, or I was going to become a vegetarian. I didn't want to become a vegetarian, so I got some chickens. Believe me, the emotions I went through when I was deciding whether I would be able to kill them or not were innumerable. Lots and lots and LOTS of turmoil. In the end, I got over it, and I did it, and it wasn't that bad. I certainly don't like it, but the satisfaction I get from knowing that *I* am responsible for what goes into my body is worth it. To me, eating the flesh of another living, feeling thing is not somethign to be taken lightly...and if you're not willing to be part of the process of that animal's life and death, I don't think you should do it. If I had found myself unable to do it, I wouldn't be eating meat right now.

[font="trebuchet ms"][color=#cc0000]But I won't lie....I'd rather see us pay more attention, and put more money towards, treating our human population with more compassion...
 
At least as much as we pay to the animals we eat.
 
I think many, many things are unbalanced, on that score.

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I differ from most people in that aspect. It's a religious thing for me. Again, I believe that ALL life is equal. A cockroach is just as alive as I am, and he hurts when he gets squished. I firmly believe that animal welfare needs to be JUST as important as human welfare- not MORE important, but equal. I don't think it's wrong to kill another living thing- the predator/prey relationship is just as important as all other aspects of life. I just think that it needs to be gone about respectfully- not with the sense of entitlement (I have a right to kill and do whatever I want with animals, because I said so) that most humans have.  But I know I'm definitely in the minority there, so I don't make a big deal out of it. I respect that most people don't feel the same way I do.

Rats we can agree there.
Which is why I'm not getting the horse-meat/Europe debate...but that's likely a thread to itself.
 
Nature loves a multi-tasker!

 differ from most people in that aspect. It's a religious thing for me. Again, I believe that ALL life is equal. A cockroach is just as alive as I am, and he hurts when he gets squished. I firmly believe that animal welfare needs to be JUST as important as human welfare- not MORE important, but equal
 
That's what I am saying Rats....it is NOT equal...I think animal rights and issues have a lot more celebrity and government money thrown at them and hue and cry made about them, laws passed regarding them...while human related issues continue to be ignored or minimized...even those right here in the USA.

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

That's what I am saying Rats....it is NOT equal...I think animal rights and issues have a lot more celebrity and government money thrown at them and hue and cry made about them, laws passed regarding them...while human related issues continue to be ignored or minimized...even those right here in the USA.

I actually never thought about it that way, but I think you're right. Human issues DO tend to get less spotlight than animal issues do in the US. I'm usually so busy being apalled at the fact that animals here are STILL suffering despite laws being passed to protect them, that I never think about the fact that nothing is being done for the suffering humans here in the first place. You're definitely right about that. I never really even thought about that before.

I really think it's a cultural thing. In India they don't eat  cows. Some American Indian tribes used to eat
dog. And I have no doubt that horsemeat is put in canned dog food.
In China  and Vietnam they eat dogs.  Probably if you are hungry enough you'd eat a cat.
In the West we view these animals as pets and have for a long time.
I just read something recently about how they are restricting people in, I think it was
China to one dog and it has to a smaller dog. People are hiding their dogs in the
country to save them and the idea of dogs as pets is fairly new to a lot of Eastern
cultures.  Personally I couldn't eat Bambi. And recently my husband and I have stopped
eating red meat although we still eat chicken and turkey although we are making sure
they are organic and farm raised.

I would say a lot of it is that we just don't  have to eat dogs and cats. In fact, I don't know where
you'd go (nor do I want to know) to actually find dogs and cats to eat.

It's just not part of the Western culture.
Pam

Saw something on Disc or AP...an aboriginal tribe was hunting and eating feral cats.
 
The women I believe were actually hunting the cats...they caught one and cooked it over a fire...I think the host did try it.
 
Cats are a huge pest in Australia I understand,...so I doubt there's any hue and cry there about natives hunting and eating them..and as they're not native, the aboriginal peoples obviously have no cultural bias against eating them.

Yeah Rats it sucks....
 
In fact there was a recent flap about a new homeless shelter, everywhere they tried to put it up...the businesses and neighbors around would picket and make a huge fuss saying 'we don't want it here'...etc etc. I don't think they had any trouble acquiring the land for their new animal shelter facility...
 
If you think to hard about the stray "kids" walking around with no direction or anyone to care....it gets really depressing. IMO helping the youth to care about each other is really the only way to help the people they will become care about EVERYTHING around them...including animals.

IMO helping the youth to care about each other is really the only way to help the people they will become care about EVERYTHING around them...including animals.

 
That is the biggest thing in the states, a lot (not all of them) of kids don't seem to care about anything but themselves and the video games or whats on MTV or whatever. It's always me me me me me who cares about other people.
Granted the guy who started this is probably a little brat troll. (see above) but it does raise a good point. It is the culture and how others view others. Not whats right or wrong with eating dogs, cats, pigs, horses, whale, etc. I know a lot of people here aren't in the states but most are, I honestly think it would be a good thing for kids today to be able to see the world and different cultures outside of the states. I have been out of the country for 12 years and I don't think I will ever move back. There is just so much to see and experience. I've eaten whale and horse in Japan, giant water bug cockroach looking things  in Thailand, dog in Philippenes, cobra blood drink and tortise shell jelly a few months ago here in Hong Kong. Is it all different? Yup, did it bother me? Yup, but thats just how it is in other places.
Hell, you ever hear of a Poi Dog?

HK I agree. I know it was a tradition of the uber rich and idle (while I may be idle I certainly am not uber rich!)...but I think the Victorian custom of sending one's kids on a world tour with a chaperone had a good purpose at it's heart.
 
To care about the world in general, and everything and everyone in it, you must feel like you are a part of it...in general.
 
"Worldly" isn't a bad thing I think....

Here's dinner!