Wildlife: Should We Eat Them?
A few hours ago I sat down to write my piece for our EcoWorldly Wildlife Week. I have to admit that I know little about animals. I live in a city – I can’t even remember the last time I saw a real animal. I do remember my insurance salesman mentioning that I should buy an additional car insurance against an animal called a Martin, which has a habit of chewing through pipes in the engine, but other that that I’m clueless. With this confession in mind I make limited apology for the fact that this post may sway off topic.
Having waited all week for a relevant wildlife related idea to pop into my head, I ventured onto Google to look for information on local Swiss animals. I was surprised to learn that the chief animal topic in Switzerland does not relate to rare alpine species becoming endangered due to de-glaciation, or to urban foxes, or squirrels, or other wild animals, or to any thing else I might have guessed, but is principally related to the fair treatment of animals used in meat production.
The Swiss are proud of their happy animals, who spend their lives between birth and the slaughterhouse (the animals, that is) being well looked after, free from growth hormones, battery farming, over crowding, excessive road transport and other mass production practices which are counter to animal welfare. Swiss cows in particular lead a happy life, grazing on the fresh alpine grasses and herbs that give their milk a distinct flavour and makes their meat taste delicious.
This leads me to the fundamental question of this post: should we be eating animals in the first place?
I’d like to briefly explore this topic and invite your feedback, since it is a question which surfaced in my mind several weeks ago whilst standing in line for a veal bratwurst. Having been a relatively care free meat eater for most of my life, I suddenly recalled a recent conversation with my vegetarian fiancée regarding a visit to a slaughter house that crossed meat off her menu forever. At this moment the image of a young cow being executed filled my head, and I had to change my order in a sudden traumatising moment of animal compassion.
I’ve been psychologically challenged as an omnivore ever since. Cows and lambs seem to be a complete no-no - I have great difficulty eating them now that I’ve started viewing them as creatures with feelings, rather than just tasty things to eat. I appear to have less sympathy for pigs and chickens, but I think this is changing too. I cut do
Thanks for this post, Mark… and thank you for choosing not to eat veal. Of all types of meat, veal is one of the most cruel. The way veal calves are raised is simply horrible.
To answer the question you posted in the title - No, I don’t think we should eat animals. So I choose not to. Why? So many reasons I couldn’t possibly list them all. I respect each person’s choice of diet, but I really don’t think it’s necessary to eat meat when there are so many healthful, delicious plant-based options. Just because we can kill animals doesn’t mean we should - might does not make right. Plus, raising animals for food puts off more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined, so any environmentalist should seriously question whether that bacon sandwich is really worth contributing to global warming over.
BTW - you can make “bacun” by thinly slicing tempeh and grilling it up, or they even make fake bacon strips. And just about any kind of fake meat you could want. Field Roast Grain Meat Company makes some killer vegan “sausages” - we brought some to a BBQ last night. Mmm! I usually am not too into fake meats, since it didn’t take me long to lose my desire or taste for meat, but some, like Tofurky roasts at Thanksgiving, are really good, and downright deceiving.
Glad to see vegetarianism getting more coverage on green-themed blogs. I really think vegetarianism and environmentalism are one issue, and certainly a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle benefits the environment as well as animals.
[...] efforts to pursue a more sustainable lifestyle, and “eat better.” Mark’s original EcoWorldy post on vegetarianism, which inspired my post asked, “Do you have any suggestions on managing the conversion to [...]
“Mark Seall said on March 19th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Somebody has just suggested to me that it is impossible to become a vegetarian and stay vegetarian due to the fact that bacon sandwiches exist. He may be on to something here..
Vegetarians, please come to my aid with your advice”
If that is all he will eat.He is already 95% vegetarian.
Surely that is pretty good.
He he…..
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with eating animals as food, and here’s why. First off, the Bible says animals were put here to be eaten- period. and if you don’t believe in God/Jesus, read “the case for christ” (by lee strobel) and then talk. secondly, aside from a few animals the Bible already mentioned were bad for you thousands of years ago, and turned out to be right (pigs, shellfish, bottomfeeders), eating meat is GOOD FOR YOU. Of course, I dont mean only eating meat, like the liberal PETA propaganda machine would have you believe. I mean eating 2-4 servings a day, along with a balanced diet of fruits and veggies and bread and dairy, along with exercise, is the best way to go. without meat, you simply CANNOT be healthy, without artificial protein supplements- and they are proven to often have health complications later in life, and the Bible predicted this too- it says not to put artificial substances into your body.
I WILL, however, agree with you crazed activists on a few points- 1, as a Christian, I know that animals MUST be treated and killed as painlessly and humanely and with as much care as possible to alleviate feeling the pain. until this is accomplished, I wholeheartedly- as a conservative- actually approve of what you guys do. But I must say, that ad you did where you said the pig “died for your sins”- lets not EVEN go there! that was sacreligious to the max, and he died cuz we wanted to eat him, not for our sins. That was Jesus. Find a way to make us care about animals- and we do- WITHOUT blaspheming the ONE PERSON IN HISTORY who lived a sinless life, rose from the dead, and performed miracles, died for us unselfishly, and in short was God on earth… k?
If animal welfare and humane treatment doesn’t get you to stop eating animal products, try reading “The China Study” - that was what sent me over the edge and finalized my decision to not only become a vegetarian, but a full blown vegan overnight!