Mageth

pepperlandgirl -

I made the point to him about chickens killing each other. Thanks for filling in on pigs & turkeys.

Not to mention the fact, as I pointed out, that chickens, pigs and turkeys aren't vegetarians.

x-member

One thing I've always wondered about. After centuries of selective breeding, the Cow of today is certainly a far ways from where it was in the wild. If we didn't eat them, would we still raise them? If not, would we set them free?

This in not, in my mind, an argument for or against vegetarianism. I just chuckle when I think, "Other than being food, what the hell else would a cow do".

Jon

Pseudonymph

I am a vegetarian, so I sympathize with your cause...however I choose not to eat meat because it is detrimental to my body, when consumed in large amounts. I realize that many people do not eat too much of it. However there isnt a person here who hasnt had a fmaily member or friend in there declining years be told by a doctor to lay off meat completely for health reasons.

I am choosing to solve this problem before it starts with me.

So to sum it up, animals should have rights too, but humans ARE at the top of the food chain, and it is thier place to consume what they choose.

Rosiel

Jon: That was my initial thought when I first read the thread title. If they weren't going to be eaten, there wouldn't be much point in keeping all of those food animals around, would there?

Mageth

In regards to cows, when released into the wild, at least some of them will go "feral" and survive quite well in the right environment. The Rio Grande valley in Texas has a population of feral cattle that are quite fierce. The longhorns in Texas are another example, descendents of cattle that escaped from the early Spaniards.

Hogs also go feral quite easily, probably more readily than cows because they are omnivorous and very adaptive. The U.S. and Australia both have large populations of feral hogs.

Not that this is a defense of vegegtarinism.

bonduca

My cat's favorite food is ham. My favorite animal (aside from the boyfreind) is my cat. This could be solved so easily by someone inventing tofu pigs.

Christopher Lord

Observe that humans have four teeth ment only for chewing through meat. They are useless as a mechanisim for plant consumption.

I have even raised and then killed chickens myself, and eaten them days or weeks later on the farm I formally lived on. I wouldn't be able to do this with an ape, or an animal I have become attached to, such as a good pet dog. I could probably kill a stray dog and eat it if I needed to. Thus, the morality of killing an animal for food is a function of that animal's ability to have perception of my desire to kill them, and of my own attachment to that particular animal.

Another factor in the debate is factory farms which cause massive pollution.

Mad Kally

What the hell are you talking about?

Rosiel

Of course, releasing domestic animals into the wild has some pretty harsh effects on the native population. Isn't it feral pigs in Australia that they have all those problems with? Think about releasing a large herbivore like a cow into the wild...they would then be competing for food with whatever other large herbivores were in the area (deer, most likely). At least if they're going to be eaten, somebody's feeding them beforehand!

-Rosiel, who likes to talk out of her ass

Mageth

Deer are browsers; cows are grazers. They don't compete much for food.

But you're right; some feral animals can do great damage to the environment. Feral hogs, cats, rabbits, cane toads and rats in Australia are prime examples. But feral camels in Australia apparently do not compete much against native species, and are therefore pretty much harmless to the environment.

Bottom line is: I am not in favor of releasing any domesticated animals into the wild. If we quit eating them, we'll have to kill them (or keep them from reproducing and let them die out) or keep them as "pets," IMO. Hell, I'm even against letting domestic cats outdoors (they've decimated the songbird population in the U.S.)