4 ms·

I’ve been given some pretty strange looks for suggesting that if you’re going to eat meat, you should hunt for it at least once. That’s the best case scenario f

by tspike 7y ago

I’ve been given some pretty strange looks for suggesting that if you’re going to eat meat, you should hunt for it at least once. That’s the best case scenario for an animal ending up on a plate- a normal outdoors life followed by a quick death. Stark contrast to the life behind the typical package of shrink wrapped meat in the grocery store.

gcheong 7y ago
Hunting takes some skill in being able to find or attract your prey and place a humane shot so considering the effort required to get to that point it is probably not realistic for most people. But further to your suggestion, what is a normal life for a prey animal often consists of a lot of uncertainty in being able to find enough food to survive on the one hand and constantly being on guard against being eaten on the other. Is that really preferable to an animal that is bred for specific traits, raised under rather stable conditions of shelter, food, outside availability, etc, and then also quickly killed in the end? I'm talking about the best condition under which such animals are raised of course - which is what we should support, if at all. Wouldn't suggesting they visit a farm and slaughterhouse be more realistic and closer to an understanding of the process of meat production that they generally consume?
- Swizec 7y ago
  The problem is that you’re likely imagining an idealistic home farm scenario. My great grandparents had a farm, a couple cows, few horses, some pigs, many chickens etc. Those animals lived the life you describe. Pampered, taken care of, room to roam, and then swiftly killed because fear sours the meat. They’d kill maybe one cow per year, 2 or 3 pigs. Many chickens. An 800kg cow produces ridiculous amounts of meat. They’d give it away to their entire extended family because no way they’d eat it all in a year. But meat you buy in a supermarket comes from factories. Their living conditions are the absolute minimum you can get away with to keep the animal healthy enough to sell its meat. Ridiculous things like keeping chickens in cages then throwing them out in the sun for a week so you can get that “pasture raised” label. At that point they’re too weak to even walk around because their muscles didn’t develop enough and their genetic mutants with oversized breasts. that shit ain’t cool and we should do what we can to get better laws
  - gcheong 7y ago
    I don't think what I'm imagining is too far from what many farmers who do it for a living aim to provide for their animals as I've known them from where I grew up. Whether or not such operations can scale to meet current demands we have for meat is another question but we should certainly strive to improve the welfare of animals across the board. My main point wrt to the parent is that for animals in the wild life might be more "natural" but it's not necessarily a better experience for them just for that reason.

by tspike 7y ago

gcheong 7y ago

Hunting takes some skill in being able to find or attract your prey and place a humane shot so considering the effort required to get to that point it is probably not realistic for most people. But further to your suggestion, what is a normal life for a prey animal often consists of a lot of uncertainty in being able to find enough food to survive on the one hand and constantly being on guard against being eaten on the other. Is that really preferable to an animal that is bred for specific traits, raised under rather stable conditions of shelter, food, outside availability, etc, and then also quickly killed in the end? I'm talking about the best condition under which such animals are raised of course - which is what we should support, if at all. Wouldn't suggesting they visit a farm and slaughterhouse be more realistic and closer to an understanding of the process of meat production that they generally consume?

Swizec 7y ago
The problem is that you’re likely imagining an idealistic home farm scenario. My great grandparents had a farm, a couple cows, few horses, some pigs, many chickens etc. Those animals lived the life you describe. Pampered, taken care of, room to roam, and then swiftly killed because fear sours the meat. They’d kill maybe one cow per year, 2 or 3 pigs. Many chickens. An 800kg cow produces ridiculous amounts of meat. They’d give it away to their entire extended family because no way they’d eat it all in a year. But meat you buy in a supermarket comes from factories. Their living conditions are the absolute minimum you can get away with to keep the animal healthy enough to sell its meat. Ridiculous things like keeping chickens in cages then throwing them out in the sun for a week so you can get that “pasture raised” label. At that point they’re too weak to even walk around because their muscles didn’t develop enough and their genetic mutants with oversized breasts. that shit ain’t cool and we should do what we can to get better laws
- gcheong 7y ago
  I don't think what I'm imagining is too far from what many farmers who do it for a living aim to provide for their animals as I've known them from where I grew up. Whether or not such operations can scale to meet current demands we have for meat is another question but we should certainly strive to improve the welfare of animals across the board. My main point wrt to the parent is that for animals in the wild life might be more "natural" but it's not necessarily a better experience for them just for that reason.