2 ms·

>(beef) and lamb being the most ethical. How is slaughtering an 8week old animal (young lamb) ethical?

• svrtknst 8y ago
  Well, how is slaughtering chickens ethical? For every egg-laying chicken out there, a male chicken is slaughtered, and both egg-laying and dairy milking harm the animals (for instance, compare avg. life span of a dairy cow with their natural life-span). There's also the factor of number of animals killed - One lamb feeds a lot more people than one chicken, yet both are living animals capable of pain and suffering. That's not to say that either is particularly ethical, but (as a vegan), I don't think you can easily say that eating eggs is intrinsically more ethical than eating meat.
  • jrace 8y ago
    Not all eggs come from industrial slaughter farms. At least where I live farm fresh eggs from chickens who live cage free are readily available. But the point of my comment us not that Lambs are less ethical than chickens...but killing and eating a few week old animal is hardly "more" ethical.
• benj111 8y ago
  Could you not make the case that ending their (presumably) miserable life earlier is the ethical thing to do? Is that not better than letting them suffer for a year?
• toomanybeersies 8y ago
  It's not so much the act of killing that is manifestly unethical, but rather the life it leads before death. Obviously the debate has a lot to do with your belief in consciousness and ego. Does a lamb have an ego and is it conscious of its own mortality (in the abstract sense)? Does the sheep suffer existential angst? Are these requirements for the industrialised raising and slaughter of animals for food to be unethical?