If the raccoon doesn't feel any compassion for the baby chicks it eats out in the wild…or…?
…if the lion doesn’t feel any compassion for the zebras it eats out in the wild, or…
…if the bear doesn’t feel any compassion for the fish it eats out in the wild…
then why should we humans feel compassion for the animals that WE eat for energy and strength (food)?
Ah, here we go. So many claiming that humans have intellect and are therefore different from other animals. Yet the whole idea behind being vegetarian for ethical reasons is that the animals are so similar to humans in FEELING pain and what not.
SORRY, you can’t have it both ways. Your argument is invalid. Case closed.
Actually, raccoons and bears are omnivores, not carnivores.
Jessica, what’s wrong with using our intellect to do things more efficiently?
Tagged with: animals • bears • carnivores • compassion • fish • intellect • lion • raccoons • strength food • zebras
Filed under: Eating for Energy
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Well, lions, bears and raccoons don’t keep animals fenced or caged in poor living conditions for future consumption. They also don’t kill a large number of animals at once. I’m a carnivore and I DO think about where the meat I eat comes from. I get some (not all, unfortunately) meats from people I actually KNOW who have raised and butchered their animals themselves. These animals have been raised in good conditions and killed as quickly and humanely as possible. Every bit of them is used and not wasted. I also eat meat from wild game that has been hunted by my friends and family and fish that have been caught by my fiance. Having participated in the butchering of these animals, I DO feel compassion for them, I’m thankful that they gave their lives so that I can eat and I even think about them when I eat them. I may eat meat, but I adhere more to a Native American (or hunter of ANY culture) view, where the animal is appreciated for being a meal. There’s a lot more to it than that, but somehow I don’t think you’d "get" it.
Animals don’t have the mental capacity for compassion. Also, people with Down Syndrome and other mental disabilities do not have the same mental capacity as normal people. Should we eat them?
Because WE are capable.
So you’re an animal whisperer now? Because apparently you know how they feel when they hunt other animals.
Lions and bears need to eat meat to live. You can’t compare our diets, apples and oranges.
exactly, we don’t. our meat is presented to us in sterile butchers packs.
We are well distanced from the reality of slaughter. We turn a blind eye & prefer not to think about it..
I wood like to say however, the big answer above me.. you are making some massive assumptions, with regard to the treatment of animals for slaughter, very emotive, but untrue.
I have worked in slaughter houses years ago, as an inspector. It is in the producers interest to present an optimum conditioned animal for slaughter. If it has been bludgeoned as suggested. they are going to receive less return for their work.
farming is aka animal husbandry, farmers look after their stock, they do not abuse their animals.
That is just wishful thinking & an emotional response.
A wild animal, a lion killing a zebra for instance will kill it by biting down on the windpipe, the most efficient way for them.
I guess peoples outlooks vary there is no right or wrong. What seems harsh & cruel when your’e 11 doesn’t rank so highly when you are 40…
We have empathy and most animals (besides some apes and monkeys) do not.
Animal’s instincts are soley based on survival, whereas with humans we have the power to make conscious decisions. To compare a human to a lion and a bear is quite absurd.
Lions are carnivores so regardless of how they would ‘feel’ (hypothetically) they need meat. Bears are omnivorous like humans but again, don’t have emotions like compassion and empathy.
Besides that, humans can live on both omnivorous and vegetarian diet. Most animals cannot.
A very common and frustrating misconception that people have is that vegetarians and vegans want animals to be vegetarians as well. That we have this ideal of Eden or something. That is never the case.
Because humans are the only animal that is capable of compassion.
That’s like saying "if animals don’t drive cars, we shouldn’t either."
We shouldn’t, animals are on the planet so we can eat them.
because of the way we treat them before they are slaughtered
I’m a vegetarian, but not because I feel compassion for animals. Well, I mean, I do. But life is life, and animals eat other animals to survive.
I don’t eat meat because I just prefer the taste of vegetables, fruits, and grains. Also, I have lost weight and feel much more energetic since I started.
Because we ARE humans with intellect. THAT is the point.
We know we do not need to eat a pint of dead animal to thrive.
We know that the way another living creature is kept alive and violently abused- sometimes hurt badly and trapped is …well, it is not right…for us as a species to violate, abuse and act out violence on this living being just to kill and eat it, is something we do not NEED to do in order to live. We know this.
So, if the only actual reason we do it, is because we CAN, then this alone makes those that CHOOSE to be violent and aggressive and inflict pain and torutre upon a living being that doesn’t want to be in that situation very very disturbing.
Of course, if you like your pig arms to eat, then you will choose not to focus on that part. But make no mistake, no animal is hugged to a calm death.
No animal, will gladly, or calmly go to be killed. It is a violent aggressive abuse or our so called power.
You can argue that we have developed the intellectual skills and weaponry so its survival of the fittest. If the only way to show this mighty strength is by bludgeoning and chopping an innocent animal that will not do you harm, to its death, then you’re a small intellect indeed.
A bear may eat you IN the forest IF he’s been hunted and is hungry.
But these are not reasonalbe arguments- I would eat human meat if I was stuck in the andes. we are not talking about this.
SO, if humans do it for fun, and because they like that infant lamb leg intheir mouth, it is purely for fun, not need. And again this demonstrates a worrying insecirty complex by the people who choose to be so pointlessly violent.
Now, people buying their sliced meat in the shop don’t do the killing. They don’t like animal poo let alone thinking of an abbatoir.
Sorry, ignorance has no place in your question.
So, compassion is a provilage that human beings show in great abundance. We think and feel emapthy. most animals have very little of this, they have feelings for their young, and sick, but we ARE the intellectual species, so we should do far far better for our planet and the beings on it and rise above the level of thugs when it is for something so simple as this.
If the only way you are allowed to be violent and aggressive and injure living creatures is by killing them to eat- and face it, if you just hit them and were abosuive without killing you would be jailed, then is says something really twisted if you allow this to be done in order to eat that animal, especailly given tha fact that no person need this source of food.
We allow it why I wonder.
We are NOT wild animals that IS the point. We think first, we have society, we are better than that.
BEcasue if we WERE the animal kind we used to be- then we would not BE eating meat. We’ds till be happy to take what was there naturally, nuts seeds and berries- we live off that fine, just as a bear eats fine off fish and a lion off cattle.
Their bodies, also are designed to dogest fats and salt in the intestine. Humans intestines are not. We have long twisting intestines for the absorbtion if water and to get ntutrients from the fruit and veg we eat, out intestine s are made to do just that.
No wild animal eats cooked meat, in fact cooked meat does not contain leechable protein- it cannot be got to once the meat is cooked and solid- it will not break down as when the meat is raw.
No animal in the wild gets sick from the food is is designed to eat.
Humans make thier own cholesterol, they get blood and heart disease when they eat animal protein and blood, they sicken and die.
No wild organism eats from its natural source and gets sick form that source and dies. A plant does not drink blood, a bear does not go to eat chips, then get sick and die. Only humans eat against their nature and get sick in the process.
But if you don’t want to feel anything, fine, don’t bother me. If the only place you can be violent and agrressive and kill a living being is in a cattle farm to eat it for a five minute meal, then I suggest you eat a much easier tofind source of healthier protein or whatever nutrients you want.
It is because we DO feel compassion and the fact we CAN that makes us different and higher in an intellectual sense than plain animals. They all deserve out respect – because we know about what respect is.
DOn’t go round acting and talking like a caveman if you want to be treated with dignity and intelligence.
If nature is wrong, I don’t wana be right.
Those animals are carnivores Cliffy.
We are humans, with the capacity to think, feel and know what our
bodies need, which does not include meat.
BUT, some lack those qualities,
not naming names hahaha
Because we possess the mental capabilities to feel compassion.
Lions *have* to kill zebra to survive.
Bears *have* to kill fish to survive.
Both of these animals would starve if they developed the ability to "feel bad" about taking a life to eat.
We do *not* have to kill animals to survive. And with that option, the compassion we are able to feel does indeed come into play for many of us when making our food choices.
becasue the raccoon, lion, and bear dont have slaughterhouses. when you can go out and kill the animal with your bare hands and teeth then feel free to eat it, but when you have to have it go through a slaughterhouse i dont think you have the right to eat it.
Watch Earthlings; there is no parallel to these practices in the animal kingdom. To be honest, when I was in high school, I didn’t understand vegetarianism because I did not know of the cruel practices that go into the food on my plate. Factory farms rule the food industry today, not ethical family farmers. I’m not exactly sure why you’re so hostile in regard to this issue, but if you perhaps opened your mind and tried to consider another perspective rather than just bash it, it may do you some good. I also think that you are missing the point when it comes to the intellect concept. Some humans are using intellect/rationalism to stop cruelty to sentient beings with complex nervous systems, no matter their intellect level–the ability to physically/mentally suffer is key. It’s important to realize that this is a concept based upon intellect and philosophy. (If you read some of Gandhi’s, Voltaire’s, Plutarch’s, da Vinci’s, and Einstein’s works on animals/vegetarianism, it may give you a little bit of insight). It isn’t the impulsive decision that, and I say this with respect, it seems you are trying to convince yourself it is. You can believe whatever you want, but I think your time would be better spent criticizing people who are actually trying to put cruelty into the world (hate groups, whomever) than those who are trying to remove it.