Episode #60

[MangusKhan]

I always bless and thank the animal before and after the act as well. I'm not sure what kind of karma this activity entails, but I rest firmly in the feeling that what I'm doing absolutely has to be better than simply going to the grocer and picking up meat from a tortured animal you never even had to look at, killed without blessing or even basic respect. Just thought I'd offer a perspective from someone who actually slaughters their own meat, to show that eating meat is not in all cases a heinous activity, and does not necessitate any more suffering than they would encounter naturally, in fact it creates less if they are reared and slaughtered in respectful ways.

I think we all agree that this way of consuming animals is a huge step up from participating in the cruelty of factory farms.

It is a wonderful thing to be able to serve up a big duck dinner to your friends and family, knowing that the animal lived and died in a way which you see fit.

The above bolded is the part I don't resonate with. No disrespect to you MangusKhan, as I do respect the fact that you take responsibility. But the animal's life is not about what the human sees as fit, in my opinion it should be about what the animal sees as fit.

I think animals should be free. In this I may differ with the majority. But would anyone here want to live imprisoned all their lives, even if the prison were really cozy and friendly (think of The Truman Show)? Fish in aquariums, zoos, circuses, rodeos, and here we jump forward to things such as cock fighting and bull fights. We may all agree that cock fighting is bloody and horrible, but what about a fish in an aquarium? It seems okay, right? But to me it isn't. The fish's life is controlled; it eats the food it's fed; its environment is monotonous; it encounters nothing out of the day-to-day limitations. Okay, so it's only a fish, and one might think they don't know anything anyway. But it will not get to experience a full fish life—exploring the waters; the thrill of finding food and escaping predators, mating in a natural setting—these things are the fish's birthright. That mating in zoos is often unsuccessful is a clue that there is something wrong.

Humans have been using animals for food and entertainment a long time. I would love to see all factory-farmed animals released from their misery in some compassionate way. I would also love to see rodeo animals, circus animals, greyhound dogs and horses bred for tracks, zoo animals, roosters bred to fight, bulls kept for bull riding and bull fights, aquarium fish and dolphins and whales, exotic pets such as macaws and toucans taken from rainforests, laboratory animals, all released from captivity in a compassionate way.

These thoughts about food are certainly food for thought. I essentially agree with what you say, even though my life and actions seem at odds with it.

Edit: So I see you saw my post in the garden thread and that's probably influenced your thoughts here. The poultry cage is small, yes, but had to hastily constructed with limited resources after waking up one day to find that my free-range ducks had been savaged by a fox. I wouldn't let Houdini free-range, but I've discovered that no cage can hold her, and she seems to be able to fend for herself. I hope it pleases you to know I'm currently in the process of building a much bigger and nicer habitat for these water-fowl.

Once I finish fencing and fortifying this piece of land, as well as digging the dam a bit bigger, those should be some happy ducks.