NOw a thread for all you carnivores.

[Annie-Xmas]

Vegetarianism has been done to death on these boards, so here's some questions for carnivores:

Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?

What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?

People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?

There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a shotgun and get a free holiday meal?

[Eve]

That's exactly what people did for thousands of years (still do, in some areas). So I guess after we got used to it–sure, we'd go out and kill & prepare our own animals.

Heat me up some o' that kitty stew!

[John Corrado]

Originally posted by Annie-Xmas
Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?

Given that I have enough trouble trying to figure out how to cook the ground beef I buy at the supermarket, probably not. But that's just from a practical standpoint. From a moral standpoint, I would still be a meat-eater.

What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?

Hmm. Probably not cats or dogs, just because my cultural bias dictates such animals as 'pets' rather than 'livestock'. As for monkeys- well, they're kind of rare in the Maryland hills, though I suppose I could always go down to the National Zoo when I get a hankerin' for monkey brains sauteed in panda stew.

People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?

Again, most likely, assuming I had the know-how to do it. Sorry; given that my grandfather was a farmer in Pennsylvania, I do have a tendency to see many animals as a form of tools and resources for humans to use.

There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a shotgun and get a free holiday meal?

Again, assuming know-how, and assuming that I wouldn't be breaking laws by hunting in your local park (which is a *big* assumption), yes.

[Maeglin]

If I were hungry and the animals either did not belong to someone or were legally protected in any way, I would have little problem doing my own hunting.

I would not eat what tastes bad or has little nutritional value.

MR

[Zumba The Cat]

From time to time I go fishing. I catch, clean, cook and eat the fish. I have been crabbing and have set crab traps. I have killed and eaten them as well.

When I was a child my father raised chickens. We ate their eggs. When there were too many roosters we would eat them. I have never killed one. However, I was present for the killing and learned how to clean them as well. One day I intend to raise chickens of my own. No need to worry about hormones or dirty processing plants or cruel treatment of your food then.

I would never eat a pet animal like a cat or a dog. I would (if hungry) kill and eat a wild rabbit but I don't think that I could raise rabbits to eat. I think that it would be difficult to kill any mammal you have raised. Chickens are easier because they are so stupid it is hard to get attached.

If I were you I wouldn't kill the geese at the park. They may be endangered. I think that you would need a hunting license. And, at least here, it is illegal to bring a weapon to state and county parks.

[Danielinthewolvesden]

Been there, ate that, still got the stains on my T-shirt.

And note- the term is "omnivores"- there are very, very few humans that eat ONLY meat.

[jmullaney]

Originally posted by Annie-Xmas
Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?

I always wanted to move to Bagdad and become a butcher. The t-shirt sales alone would be a mint!

[Smitty]

My grandparents had a farm when I was growing up, and I have participated in skinning, grinding meat, etc. They even had a smokehouse in which to cure the meat. I don't hunt for sport (no moral compunction, I just don't enjoy it), but I could still get meat the old fashioned way if necessary.

[Myron Van Horowitzski]

Like Eve says, people have been doing it ...well, since forever. It can be argued, I think, that most of us would not be alive today if our ancesters had not killed, butchered and eaten animals at some point in their lives.

Remember, it's only a recent development in human history that such a large population can go through life without having any exposure to such a process.

It's interesting to note that the rise of vegetarianism-for-ethical-reasons seems to go hand in hand with that.

[Keeve]

My ability to eat meat is in inverse proportion to be ability to visualise the animal. Beef is no problem, and chicken is 99.9% okay to. I was able to eat my first 3 or 4 ducks with only a bit of squeamishness, but the one after that just looked too much like a duck and I only got halfway through it.

Of course, hunger does tend to make it easier. And personal familiarity (a pet, for example) would make it harder; not that I've ever tried that.

[BF]

Originally posted by Myron Van Horowitzski
Remember, it's only a recent development in human history that such a large population can go through life without having any exposure to such a process.

It's interesting to note that the rise of vegetarianism-for-ethical-reasons seems to go hand in hand with that.

That's a very interesting supposition, thanks for (no pun intended) the food for thought.

[beagledave]

I refuse to hunt and kill Spam though. The little baby spams have such cute little faces :D

[Tymp]

I don’t consume much meat from land animals as it is, and when I do, I prefer to have it prepared by someone else. However, I do eat fish - a lot of fish. Fish flesh is the tastiest treat I can think of and I’ll take it over everything but beer and cheese. I have no problem with the idea of killing, cleaning, preparing and cooking fish for my own consumption. The end of the fishing industry would have little effect on my fish flesh intake. I am a fish junky and nothing in the world will stand between my favorite meal and me. Red meat and poultry? Too much damn work, really. The preparation of non-fish flesh is too complicated and icky. When I’m in the mood for bird or mammal flesh, I’m quite grateful for the industry that prepares it for me. If that industry were to disappear, I would give up such meats and eat humans.

[The_Peyote_Coyote]

Annie Xmas, my answers to your questions:
1.) Hell, yes; in fact, I think I am going to hunt some rabbits this fall. ( I want to keep the rabbit population down to protect my garden and to revenge myself for the loss of my beets).

2.) I wouldn't kill cats and dogs because they are pets. This still doesn't keep me from threatening my cats with the stewpot, but they ignore me as they generally do. I wouldn't kill a member of an endangered species unless that meant the difference between life and death.

3.) Sure, I did this as a kid when we raised a cow or two every summer in order to eat it.

4.)If I thought I could do it without endangering any bystanders and If I thought I could away with it.

[Tymp]

Originally posted by Tymp
If that industry were to disappear, I would give up such meats and eat humans.
Specifically vegetarians, whom I suspect to be quite tender and succulent.

[Fenris]

Originally posted by Annie-Xmas
Vegetarianism has been done to death on these boards, so here's some questions for carnivores:

Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?
Yup. Done it. Only way to get decent-tasting vension or goose/duck (the farm-raised kinds don't taste as good)

What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?
Bunnies, no prob. Dogs and cats? Um...only if I were very hungry. With dogs and cats I have a cultural bias, and with cats, in particular, I understand the meat tastes terrible (based on reports of the taste of big (lions, etc) type cats). Monkies? Hmmm. I'll waffle. If I were hungry enough, I probably would. Depends on what kind of monkey.

I'd draw the line at gorillas/chimps/orangutans ("OOK!" said the librarian.)*. Somehow it seems too close to cannibalism. (short of a Donner party type situation)


People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?
It'd be harder for me, but...yeah, I think so.


There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a shotgun and get a free holiday meal?
Yum! Roast Wild Goose for me (and a veggie stir-fry and a nice rice pilaf for you!)

Fenris

*Obligatory Terry Pratchett reference to Orangutans.

[Dr.One-L]

Annie X-Mas writes
Vegetarianism has been done to death on these boards, so here's some questions for carnivores:

Okay, I'll make sure and ask my dog and cats when I get home. I'll also try and get in touch with some of the foxes and birds of prey that roam my neighborhood. Maybe I'll even get lucky and run into one of the black rat snakes. Oh, and of course I should check in with the sharks down the hall (I work in an Aquarium). Just so you get a nice broad-spectrum sampling from the world of the carnivores.

Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?

I've noted that most of the earth's carnivores do precisely that (except maybe for the skinning part--many of them eat the skin, too) with no qualms whatsoever.

What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?

Many carnivores have very narrow diets based on range, availability, dietary needs, and what is within their ability to catch. However, there is probably at least one type of carnivore out there somewhere that will do for each of the animals you listed. The foxes in my neighborhood, for example, are pretty quick to snatch up the bunnies and small cats (and pseudo-dogs, too, for that matter) they run across.

People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?

There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a shotgun and get a free holiday meal?

Actually, most carnivores are able to find prey on their own without having to go through the trouble of raising it themselves, though there are some animals that do cannibalize members of their own species. As for the shotgun thing, well, most carnivores do very well with their own claws and teeth....oh, wait a second. Did you mean to address the *humans* on this board? Silly--humans are OMNIVORES, not CARNIVORES. You can tell by looking at our teeth.

If you're going to use those types of terms, you should at least learn to use them correctly. This is one of my niggling pet peeves about vegetarians. I eat a lot of fruits and veggies; in fact, *most* of my meals are *primarily* vegetables and carbs with a single meat entree thrown into lunch or dinner. I am NOT a carnivore. I am NOT a herbivore. I AM an omnivore.

Oh, and I also agree with the idea another person alluded to: that *healthy* vegetarianism is the luxury of a prosperous society. With enough research/education, you can get all your essential amino acids and iron from plants. Many of our ancestors, particularly those of us of Western European descent, did not have that option.

As for the actual OP, I think it all depends on what you become accustomed to. I have no problems with slaughtering farm-raised animals, especially those that were raised for that purpose. And, as someone else posted, I understand the distinction between pets and animals raised primarily for food. As for shooting the geese, well, that would depend on a)how hungry I am, b)how annoying they are (what, you don't think geese can really, *really* get on your nerves after a while?), and c)what local laws allow.

MicheLe

[Ankh_Too]

Since it's already been covered, I'll forgo the differences between omnivore and carnivore.


Originally posted by Annie-Xmas
Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?

Having grown up on a small family farm in Pennsylvania, I don't think I would find it all that difficult. Although we weren't set up to do the slaughtering ourselves because of the volume, we took the animals to the slaughterhouse and often brought the carcasses back to do the butchering ourselves. At least, we did up until the point that my grandfather retired from being a butcher and we couldn't use the shop any longer. We raised sheep for the most part, although we had goats occasionally.


What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?

Bunnies were no problems, but like others have already mentioned, I have a cultural bias against dogs and cats. I'd probably also steer clear of the whole monkey/ape family. Whether I've anthropomorphized them or not, it's still like eating a cousin I think.


People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?

See above.

What's worse, we actually used to sit around the dinner table while enjoying a lamb supper and tell stories and annecdotes about the actual animal we were eating.

Yeah, I know, we were weird.


There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a shotgun and get a free holiday meal?

Ummm no, because hunting in a city/municipal park is probably highly illegal as well as unsafe. Actually, even though I was raised in an area that had a strong hunting I never had much fun with it. That's not to say I couldn't if I had to, it's just not something I'd do for enjoyment.

[PeeQueue]

Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?
Yes, have done.
What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?
I'd try anything once, as long as it wasn't poisonous.
People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?
Yes, if I was hungry enough or if that was the purpose for raising it.
There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a shotgun and get a free holiday meal?
Yes, if it was legal.

Of course, I find the supermarket to be far more convenient. Also, I find that for the most part cows, pigs, chickens, etc. are more tasty than all those exotic animals for the most part (like emu and kangaroo and the like).

PeeQueue

[PeeQueue]

for the most part

[Ike Witt]

A reason to eat meat if there ever was one:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=40677

[Mr2001]

Originally posted by Annie-Xmas
Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?

No. I would probably starve - the only food I can prepare comes in boxes or bags with instructions. I'm a big restaurant fan.

Not to mention that killing an animal myself does not appeal to me. But neither does delivering a baby or doing heart surgery.

What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?

I try not to eat anything smaller than a chicken or smarter than a cow.

People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?

Assuming I had raised the animal for that purpose and managed to keep that purpose in mind, I wouldn't have to kill and prepare it myself.

There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a shotgun and get a free holiday meal?

Are geese tasty? I've never had one. If they are, I probably would (assuming it was legal, I knew how to use a shotgun, I wouldn't have to prepare it myself, etc.). I have no problem killing birds; most of them are just rats with wings who eat my dog food. ;)

[Ptahlis]

Cats, and dogs? Heck, I love beef, but I won't eat tongue, brains, or liver. The last is 'cause it's yucky, and the others because they are too weird looking. Lobster is another thing I won't eat-- I can't get past the big giant bug sitting there on my plate! (Yeah, I knowit's an arthropod, but my eyes insist it's a bug.)

Of course, if I were hungry enough, I'd start cooking up the neighbors, especially the loud ones. All bets are off given enough hunger. But basically, I don't care to do any of the nasty stuff to get a meal. I much prefer the meat that comes in wrapped paper bundles than the kind that comes in its own skin.

[Joe Malik]

I don't ask other people to justify their dietary preferences, nor do I care to specify or justify my own, except to explicitly deny anthropophagy.

[pepperlandgirl]

Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?
Did it all the time when I lived in Utah. Ahhh...I miss deer. I actually enjoyed that aspect of it. To me the smell of freshly gutted deer means prosperity, that we'll eat. I know that sounds somewhat barbaric, but we didn't have a lot of money, and it was hard to have full meals unless we killed the animals ourselves.

What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?
Rabbits are delicious. We used to raise them with the express purpose of eating them. Kitties and puppies? Probably, if it meant my survial. Monkeys? I'll try anything once. Basically, I enjoy meat, and I'll eat it no matter where it comes from. (Except Humans. I'm not a cannibal)

People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?
Again, did it all the time in Utah. To make it a bit easier (for you sappy types) don't name the animal, and keep in mind, there will be hundreds more to come.

There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a
shotgun and get a free holiday meal?
If it was geese hunting season. In which case, I would a liscense, so it wouldn't be free.
I won't kill a wild animal unless I have a liscense to do so, or it's literally a life or death situation.

[Lemur866]

I've personally...with my own hands...killed, butchered and cooked chickens, sheep, and rabbits.

It is a little hard to do, especially mammals. Chickens are pretty easy to kill, they aren't nearly as cute. But that sheep I killed was just asking for it. That thing was as mean as mean can be. Every time it charged me, I just told myself, "Wait until fall, wait until fall."

Killing and butchering animals is a chore, but people would get used to it pretty easily. How many farm kids end up squeamish?

[Ike Witt]

Originally posted by Annie-Xmas

Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?



Somebody once said that one of civilizations greatest achievements was that the average person didn’t have to go out and butcher their own food. I can’t find the cite, but I’ll look for it.

[Odesio]

Originally posted by Annie-Xmas
Vegetarianism has been done to death on these boards, so here's some questions for carnivores:

Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?


Been it, did it, read the book, and saw the movie.


What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?


As a general rule I stick to the typical animals eaten in the United States and Canada. Pork, fish, beef, poultry as well as a few game animals such as elk or deer. I'd eat just about anything I could get my hands on if I was hungry enough.


People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?


Yes.


There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a shotgun and get a free holiday meal?

That would be illegal so far as I know. But if I were starving I probably wouldn't care.

Marc

[Rysdad]

I used to work for a Hunting, Fishing and Adventure travel agency. Once a year the staff would bring in some of the meat from their various hunts, and we'd have a wild game cook-out. I've eaten elk, duck, antelope, pheasant, reindeer, moose, bear, caribou, goose, deer, wild boar, and probably some others I can't even remember. Even ostrich, which was horrible.

Would I shoot it and skin it ("dress it," actually)? Sure.

Would I eat it if I raised it? A pig, yes. A Labrador, no.

I wouldn't eat monkey, though, unless there was nothing else. They're too close genetically.

[sisuboy]

QUOTE
Originally posted by Myron Van Horowitzski
Remember, it's only a recent development in human history that such a large population can go through life without having any exposure to such a process.

It's interesting to note that the rise of vegetarianism-for-ethical-reasons seems to go hand in hand with that. [/QUOTE]

While not a vegetarian myself, I share Annie-Xmas' doubts that most modern Americans -- who can't even bear bones in their chicken breasts -- could stomach slaughtering animals for food. It's not pleasant, but I suppose most people could probably get used to it if their health depended on it. What most couldn't get over, however, is seeing how factory-farmed animals are slaughtered. That's really rough.

But what I find most interesting is MVH's observation about the rise of vegetarianism-for-ethical-reasons. First, is it accurate? Aren't there societies (e.g., the Jains of India) where vegetarianism is long-standing? Where I lived in subsaharan Africa, most people rarely ate meat, deriving most of their protein from beans. I imagine that's been going on for quite a while. Indeed, isn't most of the world's population in the same category?

Second, can't the same criticism be made of now-accepted moral advances such as the abolition of slavery? That is, isn't it equally true that only when societies no longer needed slavery to support their economies did abolition-of-slavery-for-ethical-reasons arise? Aren't many, if not all, moral advances premised on the majority realizing that they are no longer dependent on the previous practices? Look at the law of war (e.g., land mine ban), abolition of the death penalty (in the rest of the western world), and the save-the-rainforests movement.

Can't Annie-Xmas make an argument that vegetarianism is the right moral path to follow now that we have the ability to do so and that your great-great-grandchildren will look at you the same way that you look at your ancestors who genuinely believed that the subservience of the black man was part of the way God set up the world to be?

[Annie-Xmas]

Thanks to all the OMNIVORES for their answers. Actually, both omnivore and vegetarian are misnomers. Most omnivores won't eat anything, as the above posts prove, and most vegetarians do not exist solely on vegetables.

I didn't even question how many people would voluntarily eat worms and bugs. Read Stephen King's story "The Survivor" for the best omnivore tale there is.

I wouldn't hurt those wild geese cause it is illegal (they are supposedly an indangered species), they are mean and their poop is disgusting. The next time someone asks me why I don't eat meat, I'm just going to say "Cause I ain't eating anything that poops and pees." That ought to end the argument.

[AHunter3]

Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill
it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?

Been there, done that.

What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties,
puppies, monkies, etc?

No kitties or monkeys, to be sure. Bunnies definitely. Also squirrels, chipmunks, snakes, and moles. Never tried a puppy, but I've threatened our own with becoming the prime ingredient in tomorrow's chili many a time.

People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an
animal if you had raised it?

I'd rather avoid the hassles of raising an animal for food. I'd rather hunt whatever there are plenty of, something small enough to be reasonable prey, and not too hard to hunt.

There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my
house this time of year. Would you go out there with a
shotgun and get a free holiday meal?

You betcha! Except I'd use a .22 because with a shotgun you get those damn pellets throughout the meat.

::salivating::

[SouthernStyle]

I have no problem killing and eating an animal. Spend a night cold and hungry in the woods and you'd be surprised at what you will contemplate holding over the fire.

In many of the meat-eating parts of the world people still kill and dress animals for consumption. It's primarily in the "desensitized" U. S. of A. that such a discussion even has widespread participation. It's turned the entire value system upside-down.

Steak is something that comes from the grocery story, shrimp comes from a restaurant, and hamburger is this mysterious stuff used by Wendy's, allegedly McDonald's, and other assorted fast food places. (How many people that have posted to this board have actually made ground beef?)

Here's a leap that'll certainly incur criticism:

It's too bad that kids from "civilized" society are more and more removed from the slaughtering and butchering of animals. To many of them meat, poultry, and fish come from the store -- they have no idea of the process of preparing a live animal for consumption. Consequently they don't have a real understanding of death. (Movies certainly don't count. Not when someone takes 6 rounds to the chest, which results in 6 red splotches on the guys white shirt and he comes back to start in the sequel.) Give these kids a greater understanding of butchering livestock and they may well be turned off enough to become vegetarians. So be it. But I'd be willing to bet that most of them would gain an understanding of death that would make them highly unlikely to commit child on child violence with guns and knives. IMHO.

[Freyr]

Annie-Xmas wrotes:

Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?

I've hunted, killed, skinned and eaten an armadillo. Gamey meat. No real taste other than "red meat" taste.

SouthernStyle wrote:

Give these kids a greater understanding of butchering livestock and they may well be turned off enough to become vegetarians. So be it. But I'd be willing to bet that most of them would gain an understanding of death that would
make them highly unlikely to commit child on child violence with guns and knives. IMHO.

I agree whole-heartedly! Let's start with field trips to the local slaughter house and show kids where their food comes from and what happens when an animal is killed. You gain a whole new respect for life.

[Caldazar]

Originally posted by Annie-Xmas
Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?

What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?

People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?

There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a shotgun and get a free holiday meal?


If I had to kill the animal myself in order to have meat, probably not. However, this is more an issue of sloth rather than of morality. Stalking, chasing, and running down my dinner doesn't sound like the most enjoyable way to spend my afternoon. Since I don't have a particular preference for meat over vegetables, if the veggies were lying around while I had to go hunt for a slab of meat, I'd probably just throw the vegetables on the fire and be done with it. Now, if it's a question of whether I'd prefer to forage for veggies and whatnot versus hunting for meat, I really wouldn't know, since I'd end up doing whatever required the least amount of effort and I have no idea whether it's more difficult to hunt or forage.

I wouldn't hunt, kill, or eat anything that a typical American would consider to be a 'pet'.

I'd eat an animal that I had raised. Again, the distinction between pets and sources of food must be made. I wouldn't cook up the cat that I had raised, but I'd kill the chicken and fry it up.

No, I wouldn't hunt the geese outside your home because:

1) I don't know how to properly fire a gun
2) I don't believe it's legal to hunt geese at a public park
3) The geese at the supermarket are already defeathered, gutted, and otherwise prepared for you to take home to cook

[vix]

In answer to the first question, this is nice and succinct:

Originally posted by Caldazar
If I had to kill the animal myself in order to have meat, probably not. However, this is more an issue of sloth rather than of morality.

I wouldn't eat pets, but animals raised at home - oh, yes. One of the best meals I ever had was eaten while visiting relatives in Italy. We had squab - these nice fat pigeons were waddling around the yard just hours before we ate them. Come to think of it, we had native (?) snails at that meal, too. And some of the most wonderful figs... (ok, not a meat, but so good). I'm drooling just thinking about it...

[August West]

[/quote]Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself? [/quote]
I've killed, butchered, and eaten deer, squirrels, rabbits, ducks, geese, pheasants, woodcock, quail, cranes,etc.

[/quote]What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?[/quote]
I suppose I'd eat any of them if I was hungry enough. A family friend had spider monkey stew while on safari in South America and said it was pretty good.

[/quote]People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?[/quote]
Done it

[/quote]There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a shotgun and get a free holiday meal?[/quote]
Nope, I'd go out there at night with an airgun and get a free holiday meal. (kidding, I wouldn't break hunting laws)

[panache45]

I'm tired of us omnivores always expected to be on the defensive. Why don't you veggies wrestle with some ethical questions?

1. Would you eat plants if you had to take a live vegetable, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?

2. What vegetables/fruits wouldn't you eat? Cute little pea pods? Adorable little raspberries? Defenseless little baby carrots?

3. Would you eat a vegetable or fruit if you had raised it yourself? Wouldn't you consider your tomatoes to be pets, and part of your family?

4. There's a bunch of wild yams in the park by my house. Would you go out there with a trowel and get a free holiday meal?

[amarinth]

Originally posted by Annie-Xmas
Would you eat meat if you had to take a live animal, kill it, skin it, and take the meat off yourself?

Probably not, but due almost entirely to laziness factor. (That just screamed "far too much work." If it weren't for the geniuses who invented and marketed pre-cut salad in a bag, I wouldn't eat salad either.)


What animals wouldn't you eat? Bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkies, etc?

Probably not anything I'd been culturally conditioned not to eat, (dogs, cats, rodents). Also, I'm a picky carnivore - so I wouldn't eat anything that didn't taste good.


People raise their own vegetables. Would you eat an animal if you had raised it?

Again, too much work. (I'd also not eat vegetables if the only way to get them were to raise my own.) But I wouldn't mind eating a cow that someone else nearby raised, and I had seen grow up.


There's always a bunch of geese in the park by my house this time of year. Would you go out there with a shotgun and get a free holiday meal?
Geese are on the list of animals that simply don't taste good - so no... but, the wild cows in the park would be goners...(if I could find someone to butcher them, and they weren't protected or something.)

[BiblioCat]

LOL at Panache45! :D

My husband hunts, so we always have venison through the winter. I went with him once, and have seem him get a deer up close and personal, but wouldn't go again. Not because of the "killing" aspect, but because of the "boredom" aspect.
Nothing like sitting on a little platform up a tree for hours in the cold!
I love Bambi burgers on the grill! Yum! Or Bambi stew! Bambi roasts!

We also have gone crabbing (we live by the Chesapeake Bay), and you have to cook crabs alive. You get a big pot, get some water heating up and drop the little crabbies in to steam alive. You just can't cook them if they are already dead. Not a problem at all for me, but I know this totally grosses out some people.

When people mentioned how hungry they would have to be to eat a certain animal, what are we talking about here, the end of the world? Nuclear war? I guess if there was absolutely nothing else and you were that hungry, you could eat just about anything.
As for the pets issue, no I would not eat my pets, unless I was REALLY hungry.
Like Rysdad, I've eaten several different types of game; duck, pheasant, buffalo, moose, bear, and goose. I've also had shark.

Rabbits? Had it. It was okay, but I would probably only eat it if I was (again) REALLY hungry.
As for raising an animal and eating it, if I were raising it specifically to be eaten (like chicken or pigs), then no problem. You wouldn't get attached to it like a dog or cat.
Monkeys? No, for the same resaon so many said, too close genetically.

As for shooting the geese in the park, well, sure it would be illegal, but I am sure you could find some wild geese and hunt. Would I shoot it? No, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I would send hubby to shoot one.

Side note...I would have been the first one voted off the island on "Survivor", because I would NEVER have been able to eat that big yellow bug. No freaking way.

[rngadam]

What is interesting to think about is that in a near future, as future generations come to be and less and less kids are exposed to the process of butchering animals, it may be that our society will slowly change toward becoming totally vegetarian. I think we can validate that by looking at how many city folks vs farm folks are vegetarians...

Plus, it's getting dead easy to become vegetarian as meat-substitutes become better (I know you people don't like tofu right now, but wait till food engineering really kicks in!)

On a side note, do you people think it would be technologically plausible to "grow meat" in large nutrient pool like they do for skin now? I think it would be more productive and perhaps less icky... Perhaps even better tasting (omnivores tell me that veal is quite good and we know how they do it...).

[waterj2]

Great, now I'm all hungry for some venison or some wild turkey. I'm with John Corrado on this one. While I don't know what my reaction to having a dead deer in front of me for me to make into food, I do know that the results could not possibly be good. My cooking skills run all the way from ramen noodles to macaroni and cheese. My only experience with starting with something still alive consisted of swallowing goldfish whole at a fraternity party one time.

[Skribbler]

I don't hunt, being too soft hearted to kill an animal like a deer, a cute squirrel, fluffy bunny and it even bothers me when fishing buddies let their catch slowly suffocate on land or maul them up extracting the hook. I put mine in water or on ice (which quickly kills them), careful extract hooks or cut the line if getting it out is going to butcher the fish I'm going to throw back

However, I have no doubt that if I had to do so, I would kill and eat anything to survive -- except cats and dogs. I consider them pets. I have raised chickens and eaten them, with some reluctance. I know how animals are butchered but I prefer not to get to know them first hand and to let someone else do the dirty work.

Once, when I was poor, I supplemented my food by fishing, gathering crabs and went hunting for Quail. I never got any Quail, because the area is so developed, I discovered, that if I missed, I might hit someone down the road. I have helped raise pigs that were later slaughtered by someone else and enjoyed the meat.

I figure in a time of need, I can get used to killing and cleaning food animals. I've been hungry enough to cut mold off of old bread, toast and eat it, ate buggy rice, buggy flour and buggy macaroni -- picking out the larger bugs when they floated to the surface. I've even gone fishing, caught piles of hand sized fish and ate them when most would have thrown them back.

[Feynn]

Been there, done that, and it sure is a lot of work getting the bloodstains put of your clothes.

I have eaten quite the wide variety of wild meat; moose, elk, deer, beaver, bear, beaver, rabbit, snake, and all manner of fish and fowl. They are all tasty animals to me.

If I was really hungry I could probably chow down on anything... now my dogs are looking at me funny...

[DocCathode]

I would have no problem raising and eating kosher animals. Besides the other restriction, inflicting pain on an animal (branding, cattle prods) makes it unkosher. So I'd have a herd of pampered cattle. The throat must be slit in a single stroke with a flawlessly sharp knife. Having once slit my finger open while carving a sculpture, I know from experience that a truly sharp knife is painless. I assumed that I'd only scratched the outer layer of dead skin until the blood started to gush.
So, no eating dogs, cats, monkeys or other unkosher species. No hunting. Tame birds are kosher. Wild birds are not. The proper slaughtering of birds also calls for a sharp knife not a shotgun
To any vegeterians I ask DO YOU REALISE THAT YOU ARE KILLING LIVE ORGANISMS? Potatos (potatoes?) are alive and viable until cooked. This applies to many other plants. Countless yeasts are killed in baking and brewing. The Jainists mentioned above have a very strict diet of plants that are already dead. Give up meat if you want, but every time you bake a cake or a potato you kill a living thing