Why are people so sentimental about killing consumable animals?

They think the methane from all their shit is destroying the earth. It scares them.

It’s not the killing that bothers me so much as the lifelong torture.

I imagine it’s the same for many of those “PETA people.” Peter Singer, the writer who largely founded the modern animal rights movement, has said that he has far, far less problem with humanely raised animals being used for dairy and eggs, or even slaughtered for meat.

I agree that the manner in which cows are killed doesn’t matter that much. What does matter is keeping these animals confined in pens so small they can barely turn around for most of their lives while pumping them full of antibiotics so that the sores and lesions that inevitably develop on (and inside) their bodies don’t get infected. That’s just fucked up, and it’s not really worth the price of slightly cheaper Big Macs and McNuggets.

Because people don’t want living things to suffer. How can you say it makes no difference how an animal is killed? Wouldn’t you rather die in a painless way than to suffer?

I also agree with @Qingu‘s point. I don’t eat veal for this reason, try to buy cage free eggs, milk from organic cows who live supposedly happy lives in pastures, etc.

I eat meat and don’t intend to stop eating it.
I would not want an animal to suffer during the time that is is being raised, or while it is being killed.
Animals feel pain why would I want to inflict pain on an animal unnecessarily?

You have a lot in your details that I will not dignify with a comment because I don’t think I can get through to you and I don’t feel like bothering but the short of the long of it is because animals feel and shouldn’t have to be slaughtered in horrendous ways just so that we can feed off dollar burgers. The reason why we care as to how they’re slaughtered is because the way they’re slaughtered sickens me, hurts me inside and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, that means you don’t know how animals are actually slaughtered. If you don’t care either way, I can’t help you but that’s a sign of a sociopath, by the way. Also, I don’t identify myself with ‘those PETA people’ but I disagree with you.

Torture is far worse than an easy death.

Either way, killing a living thing sucks. But I am a meat-holic so I have my needs.

Yes, let’s be logical about this PLEASE! It’s not like animals can feel pain in any way. Or fear. Tradition tells us that torture and terror make these senseless beasts taste better. Who are we to argue just because we are now more evolved and have access to ‘humane’ methods? These delicious creatures should think themselves lucky to be stabbed in the neck and eaten by a superior species such as ourselves.

Have PETA even TRIED broiled throat-stabbed kittens?!! Because they’re delicious.

Because even if they are “consumable” they should not be tortured. A quick death would be preferable to eliminate suffering. If you were to die tomorrow, would you want to be tortured to death or die a peaceful death even if you won’t know about it once you’ve died?

Is it important to maximize the pain and suffering of the animals? What is bad about following the Australian practice?

The reason the Australian government suspended live animal exports to Indonesia is because of this Four Corners program. Perhaps it doesn’t matter to you how the animals we eat are killed, but thankfully it matters to the Australian public and I wholeheartedly support my government’s decision. I am actually disappointed that they have lifted the suspension and I hope that changes have been made to stop the treatment of animals portrayed in this news program.

Link

Watch that program @Your_Majesty and then say you don’t think it matters how animals are killed.

Edit.

I should warn people the documentary is incredibly distressing.

@JLeslie Of course it won’t make any differences. The will feel the pain, but won’t feel it anymore after they’re dead (It’s already in the detail part). They’ve felt this in nature anyway. Are you also suggesting that wolves must kill cows in ‘humane’ ways?.
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I am talking about the method to kill animals, not how they’re raised. Yes, I too, against bad environments for consumable animals, and I acknowledge that they can feel but I think it’s pointless to decide a what kind of method must be used to kill a consumable animal that will eventually be killed.

When a consumable animal were to be killed in certain what-so-called ‘inhumane’ method it will feel the pain for temporary, just like how it will feel in nature, and then it’s dead and feel no more pain. Quick a pain and no pain won’t make a significant difference. Will expect a other to experience no pain while delivering her baby?

I am not talking about torturing consumable animals, please don’t be over-reactive. People think that killing a cow with factory blade (single slash) isn’t cruel but killing a cow with traditional blade (usually two slashes) is cruel.

@Your_Majesty watch that documentary and then tell me you don’t condone the torture of animals. I really don’t think you know what is happening in those abattoirs. If you did you would not publicly say it is okay and the Australian government AND public, over-reacted.

@Your_Majesty, you can’t debate morals by pointing out something that happens in nature. In nature, rape, murder, and infanticide are common; that doesn’t mean we should tolerate such actions among our own species, or even our pets.

And I think you are arguing against a straw man here. You say, “I am not talking about torturing consumable animals.” Well, that’s what PETA and the animal rights people are talking about. The way in which animals are killed is a tiny part of it.

@Bellatrix It’s kinda long to upload the video here but would mind to tell me the synopsis? That video wasn’t showed when I watched the news, they just said that Australian government are stopping their cow export for different killing methods.

I would not say people are sentimental at all. Most rarely think about it. Those that are concerned about the humaneness of said killing understand that suffering at any level, by any creature, that is brutal in nature is simply uncalled for when there are alternate means. If you have any sensitivity to animals at all, you must agree that they have fear, do not like pain, and regardless of our need to consume, the act of killing is fraught with violence. Our refined nature is attuned to this and thus our higher intellect deals with it as best we can. Not sentimentality, just common sense to minimize the pain of a process.

It was a hell of a lot longer for the animals being killed in that footage. No I cannot give you a synopsis. You need to watch it.

Edit. The clip is about eight minutes long. I think given you have such strong opinions you should be able to find time to inform yourself regarding why the Australian government made the decision it did.

@Your_Majesty Human beings are not wolves. A lion could tear you limb from limb if we left you out in the wild. So?

@Your_Majesty Yeah, cause I think I’m just like a wolf. You sound like my not so bright ex-husband who says it’s okay to smash a fish’s head in in front of our kid because that’s no less humane than when they sometimes see our snake eat mice. ‘Cause…you know…his brain is just like that of our snake.

Yes, how can TWO slashes to the neck be TWICE as cruel as one slash?! Stop being so sentiment.
That video merely depicts the way cows die naturally in the wild, only in this case wolves have been replaced with nice consumable people with stabbable throats.
Stop judging everything so irrationally, you PETA people and eat your kitten. How do you know you don’t like it if you don’t TRY it?!!

I beg to differ with your views @atomicmonkey.

I have eaten antelope that have been shot and killed where they stood, and antelope that have been shot and run for miles before they have finally died. I can tell you that the animal that died immediately tasted a heck of a lot better than the one that died running. Torturing an animal would have the same effect as wounding it and waiting for it to die slowly. That is an abuse I cannot condone.

The animal that dies almost immediately has much sweeter meat and is generally more tender than the one that has time to pump its muscles full of lactic acid before it dies.

The animals I hunt and kill for meat deserve respectful treatment. That means as quick and painless a death as I can provide, as well as making use of as much of the animal as possible.

If you have watched the footage, the problem is not just about the method of killing. It is about the cruelty that goes before the killing. What is happening in those abattoirs is animal torture. It isn’t just about killing using the halal method. We have abattoirs here that follow halal practices but they don’t torture animals.

i am not a member of PETA and I eat meat.

I suppose this is emotion talking, but a lot of people believe that all living things should be treated with respect, which can even be shown in methods of relatively quick and painless death. There really is no logical reason for this. Weird, that. It doesn’t make a difference in the flavor of your burger, so why should we care?

All sentient beings deserve respect for what they are and their ‘beingness.’
Humans evolved as omnivores, and native peoples always respected and honored the life taken.

These practices are a far cry from factory farming with little or no regard to creatures base needs to BE and BEHAVE as nature, God, the Universe intended.

There is no shame in consuming an animal for survival needs, but the gluttony of modern consumerism has reduced the situation to concentration camp proportions.

I was a vegan for years in the 70’s & 80’s, my youthful idealism has waned, but, I practice honor and integrity in my conduct.
I eat little meat and keep farm animals as cherished pets.

This is my contribution, even though I am powerless to stop the factory farm machine from rolling on.

@Bellatrix Not that it’s just 8 minutes or I am very impatient but it’s REALLY that slow to upload videos with my current internet provider. The line is always bad but it’s cheap. Thanks for the explanation anyway, I’ll see it myself later.

@WestRiverrat Is there any scientific explanation about that? Could the other reason for people to do that because they want better meat quality?

@efritz It DOES make a difference in the taste of your burger. As @WestRiverrat pointed out, the meat does not taste good if full of adrenalin and lactic acid.

The argument about “wolves attacking cows” is a smokescreen. Canines and felines actually go for the jugular to kill prey as quickly as possible. But at least when attacked in the wild, bovines can fight back, and are often aggressive enough to fight off predators.

Well I hope you will watch and then come back and comment from an informed perspective. Really, unless you are heartless, I don’t think your opinion will stay the same.

@Your_Majesty I am no scientist, I cannot give you the scientific explanation. I have heard it explained, but I cannot remember all the details. I think it has something to do with an animal under stress will build up waste chemicals in its system faster than the blood can carry it to the kidneys and liver for elimination from the body.

I can just give you the evidence of my own experiences. Meat that is killed when it is at rest is better than meat that comes from a stressed animal.

@Your_Majesty, WestRiverat mentioned lactic acid—that’s the scientific explanation. When you exercise a lot and your muscles are sore, that feeling is caused by a buildup of lactic acid. It toughens meat (aka “muscle.”)

So the quicker you kill an animal, the less it struggles and tenses up, the less lactic acid the meat buidls up, and the better it tastes.

@zenvelo It’s not really a smokescreen. Wolves won’t always have the chance to bite the neck, most of the time they’ll bite the rear parts and stomach while giving the chase.

@WestRiverrat and @Qingu Thanks for your reply. I think I must agree with fast-killing method rather than temporary pain killing method if it will produce better meat.
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Now I must wait for the video to upload before I reconsider about something else…

I just wanted to Add. I think the Native Americans had it right. They prayed to the souls or spirits/nature and expressed their sorrow and appreciation for the death of the animal hunted. I don’t think more decorum can be in this matter.

@raven860 It doesn’t make any differences. Those who did that just satisfy their personal feelings but not helping the actual animals.

I have seen cattle slaughtered for meat. It was unpleasant to watch, but I can’t really think of a more humane way than what I saw.
The unsuspecting steer was led through a door onto some kind of conveyance and shot in the forehead, with the firearm resting against the animals head. He dropped dead immediately. The conveyor took the animal away for processing and the next animal was led in. As far as I could tell, the animals were calm and not under stress nor did they seem to have any fear. They never knew what hit them.
I can’t say as I would ever want to be the one to pull the trigger, but if I was hungry and had kids to feed I might be able to do it.

@raven860 I agree. There is a seen in the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy where the man from the more primitive culture kills an animal, and then calmly talks to it, thanks it for sacrificing its life to provide food for his family.

Just two hours ago my husband and I mistakenly watched 3 minutes of a bow and arrow hunter on some tv show. His adrenaline rush in killing a deer, his excitement and smiles made us sick. I understand how it must feel like an accomplishment, but I will never understand celebrating the death in a way that shows no respect for the life that was just lost.

@Wilma, that is not what is happening in the Indonesian abattoirs that have caused the ban. I should say it is not all Indonesian abattoirs either. They aren’t all treating the animals badly. The ones featured though are really awful.

In Australia, animals are stunned before being killed. That isn’t the international standard though and my government is not insisting that the Indonesian abattoirs meet Australian standards. They are insisting that the animals are treated humanely.

Also, the only torture like methods that are actually useful are ones which help bleed-out the blood out of the animal.

For example, I have seen chickens have their throats slit and left to bleed out. They die slowly but it ensures a lot of the blood is removed from the body.

I am not sure how painful this method is for the chickens.

@Your_Majesty
What the Native Americans did is a lot better than some people mutilating corpses, killing for fun, and torturing animals as they die slowly. They made sure to use a wide variety of body parts making the animal useful and purposeful even after death.
I agree that it largely helped Native Americans justify their actions (Some might have truly expressed their regret) however what happened to the animal was the next best thing to a burial.

As part of the ecosystem, most of them had the odds of being eaten. At least, that is happening to them in a relatively easy way as their alternative would have been to be eaten by another animal who wouldn’t be interested in showing mercy or respect.

@wilma I don’t think all of America does it that way. You probably saw the same episode I saw of Oprah regarding the topic? I would also question how kosher meat is killed now in America. We eat a lot of kosher killed meat in America. Supposedly kosher law is to treat the animal humanely, but I remember reading that it really isn’t humane by our standards today, and that some countries outlaw it.

No @JLeslie , I didn’t see it on TV, I saw it in person. I was at the slaughter house.
I had helped raised the animals and wanted to see how they were treated and to be sure that the killing was humane. The people there did not know who I was, they thought that I was just with the truck driver delivering the animals. This was their normal practice. (the way they were killed) I was relieved that the process seemed as easy on the animal as possible.

@wilma I still don’t think it is done uniformly across the country though. Kosher meat needs to be cut with a knife I think.

My neighbors butchered a steer last year. “Walter.”

I took care of Walter on occasion. Fed him, watered him.
He lived in a beautiful Oak studded pasture with 2 horses. He had a good life for 3 years.

I wasn’t too keen on partaking of Walters sacrament, but, I could find no fault in his care. He had a happy bovine life up until the day the meat packer arrived and did him in, quickly and painlessly.

@JLeslie you may be right, I just know how it was done there.
I do know that there was a rabbi there at some point, I can’t remember now just what he did, but whatever it was, it was because the meat was supposed to be Kosher.

@wilma That sounds promising. I remember a long while back there was some sort of thing in the media that kosher would not allow for the stunning of the animal, and that they used to be shackled or something? And, then the rabbis decided it was ok to pen them and not shackle the animals? Hopefully the rabbis have agreed to what is the consensus of the most humane way now.

@Bellatrix OMG that was the most thrilling 8 minutes I’ve had compare to what I saw how those cows were treated in some news. No wonder they didn’t show this scene.

Well, I thought they were killed like what I’ve seen in news but turns out that it’s even worse.

I must agree with you that Australian government shouldn’t export their cows to Indonesia if this situation keeps happening. I haven’t heard any news about how our government will handle this matter but they said they will do it according to Islamic rules.

I now live in Medan and I know one of those slaughterhouses. People around me seem don’t want to care about this matter, and they just said that those animals are meant to be eaten. Anyway, thanks for the link.

And that is why fluther is awesome.

Thank you @Your_Majesty. I really appreciate that you went and watched the footage and it has helped to give you a better understanding of the situation. Thanks again.

:D

@Bellatrix Oh no, I the one who should thank you for clarifying this matter.

It’s a moot point.

As long as there is a demand for anything is strong there are going to be be folks that will go to any extreme to be sure that demand is met and a tidy profit is turned.

This has been going on since we climbed down from the fucking trees and yet I still see people freak out when they watch some video or news clip that “opens their eyes”. Grow up. As a consumer, you are the main part of the problem.

As some others have said, it’s not so much the fact that animals are killed as it is how they’re killed. Every vegetarian and vegan I’ve ever met has no qualms with the fact that in some societies, people hunt animals in order to eat.

And, yes, animals will get killed regardless (whether they’re “chocked” or not), but supply and demand is a factor as well. Over time, if fewer people purchase factory-farmed meat, less will be produced.

Why cause anyone or anything to suffer unnecessarily? And no, I’m not “one of those PETA people”.

I have nothing much to add; I agree with those who say it is the quality of the life lived by the animals and more humane methods of killing that are key. The animal rights scientist, Temple Grandin, has designed more humane methods of killing cattle. It can be done.

The only thing I agree with peta is that when we kill an animal for consumption it should be as humane as possible and that it’s life before it’s killed should be with some pleasure and dignity. They are living creatures and don’t deserve to be killed in such a manner that you’d kill the guy who killed your best friend if you had a chance. Just because the suffering will eventually be over doesn’t mean that they didn’t suffer.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir – Calling someone a sociopath because they do not care about how their gets from the farm to their plate is over-the-top and offensive.

@cletrans2col Children and people who torture animals are considered possibly sociopathic. A child who kills and tortures animals is to be watched for other signs of sociopathic behavior, and hopefully treated before they grow up to be serial killers.

@cletrans2col…in your opinion…If a person has zero feelings for a live being and whether they’re tortured enough, it’s a sign of sociopathy, look it up. And while you’re looking it up, explain how it is offensive to call someone that if they’re exhibiting the signs of sociopathy.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir @JLeslie What’s offensive is that you are saying that someone has a mental disorder because they don’t care about how their meat gets from the farm to the plate. I do not apologize for valuing human beings over animals.

@cletrans2col There are plenty of people who do not take the time to learn how meat gets to their plate and are not sociopaths. I am talking about knowing an animal is killed in a painful way and not giving a shit. And, there are people like me who worry about how the animal is killed, but live in my own hypocrtical little world, and just hope the meat on my plate died painlesslessly, but I want to at least think it died that way. What was talked about above was feeling it is ok for the animal to experience pain because it will die anyway. Not caring at all.

@cletrans2col You can apologize or not apologize for whatever you want, that’s your choice. I believe I said to the OP that if they don’t care about animals being tortured, that is a sign of a sociopath. As it stands, they have some heart or that video wouldn’t have affected them as it did which means they’re not a sociopath. What you’re still doing beathing this dead horse (pun intended, for all the sociopaths here) is beyond me.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir – All I am doing is responding to a stupid statement. You’re an example of someone that takes words and applies them in a ridiculous way that suits you.

Edited by me, responded to the wrong Q.

@JLeslie : Huh?

@JilltheTooth What huh? I don’t know which thing you are referring to?

Oh, wrong thread. Lol.

I knew I was tired, thanks for letting me know I’m not totally wacked!!! :-)

@cletrans2col As you wish. I stand by what I said.

Empathy extends past humans.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir So do I.

I don’t quite understand your point @Your_Majesty. Are you saying that if an animal suffers horribly before it dies, it’s OK because it won’t feel anything any more after it’s dead? Does the same thing apply to humans?

I eat meat daily, but the amount of animal torture and brutal death that occurs still disturbs me.

As does the whole “dogs are consumable” thing. I’m going afk to hide my fucking dog. And my cats. There shall be NO Kung Pao Kitteh going on.

Perhaps to some extent we can take this behavior as a food chain.
However, the strong bully the weak at most time.

Where are these people coming from?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PlJgBeOmZc&feature=share&list=UUcCUFZrM30X_YEhJty2IgXA

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-cow-abuse-video-idaho-ag-gag-bill-20140218,0,3908830.story#ixzz2tzUdqqHK

Published on Feb 18, 2014

In direct response to an undercover investigation exposing horrific animal abuse and sexual assault at Bettencourt Dairies, Idaho’s largest dairy factory farm, corrupt lawmakers have introduced a bill to silence whistle-blowers and keep the dairy industry’s dirty secrets hidden from public view. Watch and share this important video. Then take action at www.MercyForAnimals.org/Idaho

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PlJgBeOmZc&feature=share&list=UUcCUFZrM30X_YEhJty2IgXA