Meat, fur and leather - what's your opinion?

[johnnyboy]

I was chatting with the missus about this the other night - what is acceptable as uses for animals and what is not.

I am a meat-eater and have never had any problems in the slightest with the idea of an animal dying to feed me.

I love foie gras (forced-fed ducks' and geese's liver) and veal (cows slaughtered at a young age mainly or exclusively fed on milk) and feel no sense of guilt about eating them.

I have no problem with wearing leather jackets or shoes. I do have a problem with fur though - even though that seems to be coming back into fashion now.

What do you think is right and wrong in how we use animals?

[Dr Lobster*]

i like meat and i in my younger years would hold people in contempt who didn't eat meat/or didn't use animal derived products for ethical reasons.

now i've gotten a bit older, i still eat meat but have terrible internal conflicts - when i see how animals are killed in the process of making food it makes me feel sad.

it is still unknown how much feeling and intelligence animals such as pigs and cows have - i recall seeing a big trailer or lorry once full of pigs stored about 3 levels high, they were packed in this thing, they could hardly move, some of them were bleeding and they were probably being taken to be slaughtered.

seeing that upset me, bringing these creatures into the world just to kill them. i know its the circle of life and it happens all over the animal kingdom but when you see it, and you entertain the possibility that these animals have primitive feelings and intelligence it makes me feel unconfortable.

that said, it do condone the use of animals in testing drugs (but not cosmetics).

it's a really difficult subject, it's something we as animals have to live with but i do wonder how peoples opinions on the subject change we ourselves were the hunted and were farmed / killed for your by-products?

[Chris]

Dear me, there was me thinking this thread was about something completely different.

I've got no problem with eating meat at all - after all, even in old times we'd kill animals to feed ourselves, so why change now?

If people don't wish to eat meat products, then that's their choice and I respect that.

On a separate note, I don't really get why people get so het-up about testing on animals. Whilst it maybe cruel to do so, would you rather the drugs be tested on fellow human beings instead? Surely that is worse?

[marksi]

I would like to be vegetarian but I think I would miss meat in my diet too much, so I've recently taken to only buying organic and free-range chicken.

It's significantly more expensive but it makes me more comfortable knowing that the chickens have lived in fields with trees and shelter (or so it says on the packet). It's also noticable that the chicken breasts in these packets are much larger, making me think that they haven't been force fed for 6 weeks and then killed. Some of the chicken breasts in the cheaper supermarket packs are tiny.

I don't eat much red meat but will have to find some similar ethical shopping habits for that.

[Nick Harvey]

But just think how much more your free-range chicky-chick will miss her lovely fields and trees when the man comes along and snaps her head off.

At least the battered, battery variety didn't enjoy life much, so haven't got a lot to miss.

There are two sides to everything.

[marksi]

Mark, I'm a little confused.

What you seem to be saying is that you can't eat animals for food, but it's ok to kill them for fun by hunting.

This doesn't make any sense to me.

[marksi]

I'm still confused by that. With a steak on your plate you can imagine a cow, but on a hunt you don't need to imagine a fox.

[Spencer For Hire]

Maybe if the animals weren't so stupid, they'd have evolved not to be tasty.

[eoin]

Pretty much any teachings, be they scientific or religious, can back up a belief that animals are intended to be eaten by those above them in the food chain. And if we as a race are to continue, we must continue to use and control animals to meet our needs and ends.

Why must we? It is perfectly possible to survive as humans without eating animals. If we stop eating animals, we will no longer be above them in the food chain. I believe that we as a species have reached a level of emotional intelligence whereby we can sympathise with the suffering of other animals, and question whether we have a right to kill them when they are not necessary for our nutrition.

People eat meat out of habit and tradition, and because it tastes good. It is completely unnecessary and therefore not a God-given right.

[Nick Harvey]

It is completely unnecessary and therefore not a God-given right.

I think I'll make the decisions in that area, if you don't mind.

[eoin]

Well you've caught me there! An unfortunate figure of speech to use. But the bible says a lot of things, really. I stand by my argument. Meat is not necessary and not our right.