Do you ever think eating dogs & cats will be commonplace in the U.S. like in other countries? (legal, fence)
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My answer? Lord no! We can't stomach equine slaughter for anyone's consumption.
I did read that China raises St. Bernards for food. That makes me sad. Dogs have long been faithful, loyal, protective members of the family. They're so much smarter than livestock. Except pigs. They're right up there with dolphins. And many humans.
Of course, the anti-slaughter bunch are fierce defenders of abortion.
1. Intelligence is irrelevant from a moral importance standpoint. What matters is capacity for conscious experience. There are humans who have IQs that are literally three times higher than other humans. Are their lives three times as important from a moral standpoint? Livestock certainly have conscious experiences; any line drawn that separates dogs from cows is either entirely arbitrary or incredibly human-centric.
2. There are multiple important moral differences between slaughtering adult animals for food and killing an unborn fetus. I'm not going to turn this into an abortion thread, but being pro-life doesn't follow from being opposed to meat.
Hydroponics may serve us well in the near future.
The Saint Bernard story makes me said as well, such sweet,albeit slobbery dogs.
I believe China will eat just about anything. But cheese.
How is raising St. Bernards for food any worse than raising pigs or cows for food? Because St. Bernards relate to humans in a different way? That is blatant speciesism. The moral value of an organism isn't determined by how well it relates to humans. It is determined by its capacity to undergo conscious experiences, such as feeling pain.
Maybe this has been said but I am too lazy to read the entire thread.
I think if a situation ever got dire people would resort to dogs and cats. I mean people resorted to eating each other on a few notable occasions. That said the situation would have to be extremely dire. People consider dogs and cats only a step below humans so it would have to be so bad the choice was either eating them or each other.
How is raising St. Bernards for food any worse than raising pigs or cows for food? Because St. Bernards relate to humans in a different way? That is blatant speciesism. The moral value of an organism isn't determined by how well it relates to humans. It is determined by its capacity to undergo conscious experiences, such as feeling pain.
I suppose because I love dogs and cats (I have loved my pets in almost the same way as I have loved humans), I wouldn't do that.
It's just considered something that civilized people don't do.
I suppose because I love dogs and cats (I have loved my pets in almost the same way as I have loved humans), I wouldn't do that.
It's just considered something that civilized people don't do.
I feel almost the same way about cows and pigs.
To point out the obvious: If eating dogs and cats is something "civilized" people don't do, then it is certainly true that civilized people don't eat cows, pigs, chickens, fish, etc. as there is no important moral distinction between those animals and dogs and cats.
Just think about it..... Farmlamd is disappearing at an alarming rate every year. Since it's much more profitable to sell the farm to build houses and businesses. Land is expensive to purchase. Even hunters are having a heck of a time to find private land these days to hunt deer to feed themselves and their family.
With the ever increasing population in the U.S., and rapid decrease of family farms, people need to eat for survival. In 50-100yrs. from now, can you see this happening in the U.S. similar to other countries around the world?
First of all, the farmland disappearing at an alarming rate is a man-created problem. Tons of farmland in America is devoted to soybeans and corn, instead of rotation of different vegetable crops. Pesticide overdoses and a lack of crop diversity is behind much of the problem --as well as GMO crops.
Secondly, what makes you think that people have to eat meat? Dogs have to be fed, don't they? Why not just go straight to the source and feed people the food that you would be feeding the dogs that you want to fatten up? I'd rather see people eat crickets in the form of protein bars and vegetables grown without soil. People would be healthier if they didn't eat meat.
Also, if they do eat dogs, I hope to God they don't boil them alive or torture them before killing them, like the people in China do.
Is nature barbaric? Animals eat other sentient animals everyday.
Yes, nature is barbaric. More importantly, merely because something happens in nature doesn't mean it is moral for humans to do. In nature, males routinely kill or injure sexual predators (other males). That doesn't mean it would be okay for me to go to a bar and shoot another man who talks to a woman I am interested in. In many species, males will kill the offspring of rival males; I doubt you think it would be acceptable for a man to go to a hospital and murder all of the babies that were not his own. Rape is prevalent in natural world. That doesn't mean rape isn't immoral for humans.
My point is that nature is full of examples of behaviors that would be immoral for humans to do. Animals are not capable of moral reasoning, thus they should not be expected to behave morally. Humans are capable of such reasoning, and that ability places a special burden on us to consider the consequences of suffering and pleasure that come from our actions.
I know of a couple of stores where you can get almost any animal you want wrapped up in a brown paper package. If it is made of meat, they will sell it to you. (Some items are available only to 'special' customers.)
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