Killing Animals.

[Jacqueline]

People kill animals for different reasons. Some for 'experience', for their meat, and others just because they hate animals. What is your opinion on killing animals?

[sabelmouse]

Taking the misery out of meat-eating?

Scientists are working on creating livestock that are immune to pain. Would it make you feel less guilty when enjoying a steak?

Cows on a farm in the Scottish Borders, look out of a pen

Scientists believe they can engineer cattle that feel no pain when slaughtered

Researchers into genetics and neuroscience are working on creating livestock that are immune to pain by trying to locate and eliminate the pain gene. This, according to philosopher Adam Shriver, is the very least that should be ethically done as we consume almost 300m tonnes of meat a year – a figure that only looks set to rise.

How would you feel about picking up your pork chops with a "pain free" sticker slapped on the packaging? Should we try to limit the suffering of animals as we continue to feed our insatiable appetite for meat, even if it means using genetic modification?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/10/meat-eating-pain

[Ix]

i would like to say i love meat...
also i think it would be cool to go hunting
but i would feel guilty about killing it
though i eat fish and crabs i catch i dont kill them myself
and stuff........
killing for sport is dumb

[Ultimate Schnitzel]

Um... shouldn't we focus more on the millions of humans suffering and dying in squalid, disease and parasite infested conditions first? I mean, they're as bad off, or maybe worse off than those poor tasty maltreated animals. They too are "trapped," either by poverty or seclusion, and at least farm animals get to be fed properly.

[Kim]

Suffering does not cease to matter or exist just because another form of it persists elsewhere in the world. Yes, we should care about human suffering, but you can't ignore certain incidences of violence and poverty and all the other bad in the world, just as you can't take it all on at once.

[sabelmouse]

their lives are not improved by our overconsumption of meat. most of that grain and soy that animals get to grow bid quick so we can gorge ourselves into obesety and type 2 diabetis could feed a lot of people. there are numbers, i don't have them handy just now.

fgarm animals are ok if they live on a farm and eat grass or leftovers as pigs used to, but most meat does not come from farms it comes from factories or huge destroyed trackts of land.

unequall destribution comes into humans starving as well and a lot of 3 world countries are bound by debt to us and pressured by the worldbank to se their recourses for anything but their people's wellbeing.

[Chuck Thorne]

I eat meat but don't hunt, mostly for squeamish reasons, although I am a klutz and think it best I not carry shotguns near my feet or head. Some of my family are vegetarians/vegans and it is certainly a healthier lifestyle choice if a bit more difficult to eat out on. I've gone almost two months without eating meat before but missed wings.

I think it's important to differentiate between those that hunt and eat what they hunt and those that just like to blow stuff up. The hunting to be blowing stuff up thing is not cool (especially since watermelons have the same density as a person and are tasty after being blown up). Many people hunt, though, because they see it as a way to connect with nature and their ancestors. It's a way for them to stop being post-modern man, even if just for a while. Again, I don't hunt and feel bad if I crush a spider.

Modern factory-farming where the animals live in tiny cages and never see grass is cruel and makes for bad meat. There's a documentary called 'King Corn' that shows how horrific factory farming is for humans and the animals- the diet cows are fed will literally kill them within two months of when they are to be slaughtered. We are fishing many species into extinction and entire regions of the ocean are close to ecological collapse.

The anti-meat side is all too often represented by the PETA/ALF type of activist that poison the debate by comparing chicken farms to the Holocaust or digging up the body of a lab company's mother. It would be more effective to talk about how bad factory-farmed meat is for you and how needlessly cruel it is to the animals. From there, you can go to how the animals are fed so much antibiotics that it's starting to make diseases become drug-resistant much quicker than in the past.

If it were easier to be a vegetarian, I think I would do so.

[Janet]

I hate killing, which is why I'm a pescetarian. You may be thinking "but that means you're okay with fish dying, right?" and you'd be right, but I never said I wasn't a bit of a hippocrate.

I'm actually an animal rights activist, and am very careful about what types of fish I eat, but I do need some sort of protein in my diet. That's a reason, sort of. (Anyone know a way I could cut out fish and go Veggie?)

[Katie]

I've been wanting to be a vegetarian for a long time now. Maybe a year. Brought it up a couple times with my mom but she wants me to continue eating chicken and fish.
Well I hate hunting. It's completely immoral and should never be considered a sport. There is plenty of processed meat in the grocery store, so most people don't need to hunt.
As for the inhumane animal killings, I've signed countless petitions and written several complaints to companies that practice medieval methods.
How can anyone hate animals? Thankfully I've never heard of someone like that, but it makes absolutely no sense to me. If anyone cares to explain that would be wonderful.
<33

[sabelmouse]

sadly that processed meat will have hurt the animal more than hunting.

[sabelmouse]

trophy hunting in africa

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/aug/11/trophy-hu...

[sabelmouse]

i think this is a very good question.

http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/teaching-children-t...

Children at the Lydd Primary School in Kent, England raised a lamb named Marcus by hand and then voted to have him sent to slaughter.

The school started a program, which involves some 250 children, with the intention of teaching them about breeding and raising animals, which also includes ducks, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs.

“The decision to send the lamb for meat, which has the support of the school council and staff, the governing body and the majority of parents, has now been carried out,” said headmistress Andrea Charman in a statement.

While some parents were in support of the program, others have issued statements saying their children have been traumatized by the event. Animal welfare advocates were also outraged by the decision and campaigned to save Marcus from slaughter, including making offers to buy the lamb.

However, Charman stood firm. The children, ages 6 through 11, had voted 13-1 to send Marcus to slaughter to use the proceeds to buy piglets for the farm. Although, with the backlash over Marcus, the school has put a hold on plans to buy more animals and may consider shutting down the program.

This type of program raises a host of ethical concerns over teaching children about the relationship between humans and animals. In terms of teaching them about farming, and where their meat comes from, painting a picture of cute baby farm animals being lovingly hand raised by children is hardly an accurate depiction of the life a typical farm animal faces.

Additionally, teaching them the lesson that animals are merely commodities used for profit could be setting the stage for a future generation of indifference towards other creatures.

[sabelmouse]

i think this is a very good question.

http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/teaching-children-t...

Children at the Lydd Primary School in Kent, England raised a lamb named Marcus by hand and then voted to have him sent to slaughter.

The school started a program, which involves some 250 children, with the intention of teaching them about breeding and raising animals, which also includes ducks, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs.

“The decision to send the lamb for meat, which has the support of the school council and staff, the governing body and the majority of parents, has now been carried out,” said headmistress Andrea Charman in a statement.

While some parents were in support of the program, others have issued statements saying their children have been traumatized by the event. Animal welfare advocates were also outraged by the decision and campaigned to save Marcus from slaughter, including making offers to buy the lamb.

However, Charman stood firm. The children, ages 6 through 11, had voted 13-1 to send Marcus to slaughter to use the proceeds to buy piglets for the farm. Although, with the backlash over Marcus, the school has put a hold on plans to buy more animals and may consider shutting down the program.

This type of program raises a host of ethical concerns over teaching children about the relationship between humans and animals. In terms of teaching them about farming, and where their meat comes from, painting a picture of cute baby farm animals being lovingly hand raised by children is hardly an accurate depiction of the life a typical farm animal faces.

Additionally, teaching them the lesson that animals are merely commodities used for profit could be setting the stage for a future generation of indifference towards other creatures.