[quote]Watchdog wrote:
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
[quote]sufiandy wrote:
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
Brick,
Given that your reservations about meat has to do with how they are raised and harvested, have you given thought to controlling that process yourself? There are essentially two options for taking responsibility for this, hunting and owning a small farm/homestead.
I’m pretty sure you live in New York city (forgive the assumption if I’m wrong - relying on memory of your posting history here) so having a small homestead may be out of the question for you right now, but how about in the future? I live in Virginia, and I have several friends who live farther out and have some animals that they raise for meat. The animals are free range, treated very well, and harvested in a humane way. But given your lifestyle and career, a small farm may not be a realistic alternative for you right now.
Which brings us to hunting. You can hunt with a firearm, or a bow. I hunt with a bow. Hunting places 100% of the responsibility of the harvest on YOU. And it’s big responsibility. I’ve gut shot a deer before and it’s a pretty shitty feeling - especially if you miss because you are taking a shot outside of your effective range (being immature and impatient). But for the most part, my shots have been very ethical and the animal has expired quickly. There are all kinds of animals that one can hunt, not just deer. There’s a season for just about everything. And what about fishing? Surely there’s nothing unethical about catching a wild salmon in a stream…
My point is, the main thing I “heard” in your post was that the thought of being part of an ignorant, consumer driven culture bothers you because of the suffering and waste that culture inadvertently creates. As a hunter, you are a steward of the environment, an honorable and “conservation” minded individual who takes 100% responsibility for making a clean and ethical kill. It’s actually kind of a spiritual experience if you have a proper mind set.
Please take this as offering alternatives, and not as criticizing your choices. What you eat is your business! But how you feel about what you eat can be entirely within your control.
Good Luck![/quote]
None of that solves the core issue which is the “killing” part that he mentioned in the first post.[/quote]
He wrote this: (emphasis mine)
My reason for doing this is purely ethical, after seeing the utterly horrifying and tear-jerking scenes on factory farms, including those for clothing.
I had been buying organic meat and eggs for some time, despite the expense because I was of the belief that so long as the animal is treated humanely while alive, it is alright for it to be killed swiftly for food in the end. I thought and sometimes still think, despite it seeming juvenile, something like, “Well, we are animals, just we humans are animals might be at the top of the food chain in some cases, and like how other animals kill animals for food, we do the same.” The counter thought I have buzzing around my head is that although that might make some sense, I believe we are at a point in which we are killing, breeding, and eating animals in such gross excess. Look at how freely people grossly over eat all food products, including blitzing though burgers, wings and blue cheese dressing while being entranced by a ball game. I myself, even being a dietitian and gymrat myself never thought about how my food wound up on my table or how clothing wound up on my body till recently.
I took this to mean he had a problem with the WAY they were killed and the gross excess of the food industry in general. I heard him say he doesn’t like the concepts of raising and breeding animals strictly for consumption and that they are not treated or harvested in a way he can support.
If I’m wrong, I’m sure he’ll let me know.
Hunting has nothing to do with any of that.
Here’s some “food for thought” ba dum pshh that addresses some of what I HEARD him saying.
[/quote]
I couldn’t agree more with what you have written. There is a huge disconnect between us and the food we eat. People turn a blind eye because they are under the assumption they need piles of cheap meat at every meal. An old timer I know surprised me recently during a conversation. We were talking about hunting and he said he used to hunt hard, but as he got older he believed killing animals himself was cruel so now he goes to the grocery store to buy a steak.
Even if you don’t care about animal welfare you should be concerned as a consumer about the meat you are getting. Time and time again, the footage from the factory farms show animals covered in feces with open sores oozing puss. Is this what you want to eat and feed your family? People don’t eat food that falls on the floor but they will happily eat meat that is processed in this manner.
Lastly, Donnie Vincent has some incredible footage from his hunts. He is the only modern day hunting personality who I can watch for more than 30 seconds. His hunts are guided and out of reach for most people due to their cost (up to $20K) but he is a class act and a great ambassador for the sport. I wish more hunters were like him and not the slobs I see out in the woods. [/quote]
Do you hunt yourself? I haven’t had the chance to read the whole thread, so you may have already addressed this, but I do hunt, and I know a lot of hunters, and though most urbanites may think of them as slobs the majority of hunters do think about issues such as what constitutes an ethical kill. Of course there are also idiots who hunt, but there are idiots involved in any and every activity.
The old timer’s attitude blows my mind. But I’m the kind of guy who would rather clean a dirty toilet myself than get somebody else to do it. And I believe that most animals killed by hunters die a more humane death and more importantly lived a more humane life than the vast majority of commercially raised livestock.
