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17 years ago
General
Something I've often thought of as being a good point to start a conversation is people's different stances on animal rights and welfare, In particular the areas of the meat trade, hunting, experimentation, fur-farming, etc.
I personally believe that human society cannot survive without animals, and there's not enough food to go around if everyone was to turn vegetarian. But animals have a right to be treated with love and respect and deserve the best lives we can give them and the most immediate and merciful euthanasia if they're exploited for our benefit. I personally try to avoid meat because I am disgusted by the big corporations who put on a good image for the media couldn't care less about ethics as long as the public doesn't know and they're making money out of it, just like KFC, to me factory farms are the greatest of the breaches of animal welfare out there
Hunting for food and sport is something I have mixed feeling about. I personally believe that it's not right to kill for pleasure, while some humans may just love firing guns, surely it is much better for both your conscience and the animals to just shoot targets. On the other hand hunting for food because of the area you live in, searching for a kind of expensive or exotic meat, or for your own survival is perfectly forgiveable. Like, it's the lesser of two evils to kill an animal with a single well placed shot while they've had time to live and enjoy life in the wild rather than being raised in the cruel confines of a meat factory. Especially if the hunter makes sure he or she doesn't waste anything of his or her prey and puts it to good use. I am however worried about the genuinely sadistic people out there who would purposely make an animal suffer for their own sick enjoyment.
My stance on experimentation all depends on the necessity of the testing and the welfare of the animals involved. It raises one of those 'kill one to save a thousand' moral dilemmas in the case of researching cures for diseases that will benefit both humans and animals. Cosmetics on the other hand I am very cynical about, people look fugly to me no matter how well they pretty themselves up, it's who they are inside that matters :P
For Fur farming I think it all depends on the nature of the actual industry. I've seen the horrific videos PETA has distributed but I have also read the evidence to suggest it was one of those 'snuff films' they have used in the past to get money (this is the one with the animals getting skinned alive, I swear there is nothing crueler than that if it's true). However if the animals are raised and have their needs tended to and are euthanised humanely (preferably through anesthesia) then it's not so evil. But is it really necessary to kill 50 minks for a nice fur coat? In some countries it could be a necessity because fur retains a lot more heat than synthetic fibers but if someone gets it to just look good when they don't really need it then what's the point?
Anyway, I'm interested in hearing your opinions
I personally believe that human society cannot survive without animals, and there's not enough food to go around if everyone was to turn vegetarian. But animals have a right to be treated with love and respect and deserve the best lives we can give them and the most immediate and merciful euthanasia if they're exploited for our benefit. I personally try to avoid meat because I am disgusted by the big corporations who put on a good image for the media couldn't care less about ethics as long as the public doesn't know and they're making money out of it, just like KFC, to me factory farms are the greatest of the breaches of animal welfare out there
Hunting for food and sport is something I have mixed feeling about. I personally believe that it's not right to kill for pleasure, while some humans may just love firing guns, surely it is much better for both your conscience and the animals to just shoot targets. On the other hand hunting for food because of the area you live in, searching for a kind of expensive or exotic meat, or for your own survival is perfectly forgiveable. Like, it's the lesser of two evils to kill an animal with a single well placed shot while they've had time to live and enjoy life in the wild rather than being raised in the cruel confines of a meat factory. Especially if the hunter makes sure he or she doesn't waste anything of his or her prey and puts it to good use. I am however worried about the genuinely sadistic people out there who would purposely make an animal suffer for their own sick enjoyment.
My stance on experimentation all depends on the necessity of the testing and the welfare of the animals involved. It raises one of those 'kill one to save a thousand' moral dilemmas in the case of researching cures for diseases that will benefit both humans and animals. Cosmetics on the other hand I am very cynical about, people look fugly to me no matter how well they pretty themselves up, it's who they are inside that matters :P
For Fur farming I think it all depends on the nature of the actual industry. I've seen the horrific videos PETA has distributed but I have also read the evidence to suggest it was one of those 'snuff films' they have used in the past to get money (this is the one with the animals getting skinned alive, I swear there is nothing crueler than that if it's true). However if the animals are raised and have their needs tended to and are euthanised humanely (preferably through anesthesia) then it's not so evil. But is it really necessary to kill 50 minks for a nice fur coat? In some countries it could be a necessity because fur retains a lot more heat than synthetic fibers but if someone gets it to just look good when they don't really need it then what's the point?
Anyway, I'm interested in hearing your opinions
I just wanna say that we'd actually have more food to go around if everyone turned vegetarian as we wouldn't be devoting so much of our farmland to growing food for other food. We'd also save more water as cows use water to drink and eat the gains that were grown with water.
... I'd like to say a bit more but it's really time for me to go to work. X33
I'm a vegetarian, but it doesn't mean I never crave the meat I used to eat. I can resist. To me, people that say they could never live without meat are like fat people saying they could never live without candy bars. X33
However, he does think that if animals have been given a good life, yet they repay with cruelness, he thinks that some of these things are forgiveable...
Hunting I have mixed feelings on. If you're in a survival situation, sure, a sapient's life is worth more than that of a non-sapient. (Just don't go hunting other sapient beings like dolphins...) And even in normal situations, as long as the hunter uses the meat then I suppose it's fine. But if you're just killing them to get their antlers or head to mount on a wall, or to have a taxidermy trophy? That's totally wrong. It's killing for pleasure, which is defined as sadism, and is an evil act.
Experimentation for cosmetics is totally wrong, and I don't support it. Otherwise, I am all for it as long as it's for legitimate medical research and standard humane practices are used. See above about protecting the lives of sapients. I actually worth in a health lab facility... several of the labs use mice to test for various agents that are a threat to public health, like testing for paralytic shellfish poison and the like in the shellfish samples that all the local shellfish companies are required to submit each week. Those are legitimate uses. We used to use mice to do confirmation testing for rabies virus as well, but since it's so rare here except in bats (which we just call positive if they come up reactive without doing confirmation), we have since moved to sending reactive terrestrial animals to the CDC for confirmation. We would all prefer for there to be non-animal alternatives, where you could just inject something into a vial and admix some chemicals and be done, but it just doesn't work that way sometimes. But our mice are treated well and euthanized humanely.
I'm completely against fur farming in every respect. Synthetics have advanced to the point where there is no excuse for harvesting animals for their fur anymore.
And those are my rather long-winded beliefs on the matter. :P
Again thanks for your input
I don't do any animal testing myself, but before I promoted into my current position I did oversee the mouse room.
Animal's NEED to be protected. Ever seen "Baby Seal Golfing?" Disgusting stuff really. To me, animals like cows,chickens, ducks (all NORMAL food produce) are okay to be cooked as food, just as long as they dont overdo it.
Others like bear trapping, fox hunting (for sport) just disgust me.
*shrug* Im kinda in the dizzy woozy mode right now~ so if I dont make much sense DO forgive me
now to attack the coffee mug
Killing for sport, eh, not so much
and then there is the stupid crap like seal clubbing and all the stuff PITA does well with looking into.
I have to say though, I am not that sympathetic for cows. Those eyes... those horrible blank eyes mixed with the rythmic chewing..
Kind of what people in those god awful fast food places look like..
pretty eerie
Tho ive heard of a good hearted person who let a bear outta trap and got killed for it....
Kinda funny that one human has to pay for another humans heinous act huh?
Rather be furry than a human sometimes.. everyone is like senseless kill. Kill kill kill kill etc etc. Well. Gmorning to you too~ Time to go WORK
9am.