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Author Topic:   Dog, Horse... It's Good Food for Us
listenstotrees
Knowflake

Posts: 424
From: Stonehenge
Registered: Apr 2009

posted August 25, 2009 06:42 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for listenstotrees     Edit/Delete Message
I just found this article through a link in an email...I know it's sad but it is also very thought provoking.


http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/dog-horse-its-good-food-for-us/

In February of this year, a resident of Auckland, New Zealand killed his family dog and barbecued the body. Concerned neighbors informed the SPCA, who arrived at the man's home to find the dog's body roasting over an outdoor fire.

The SPCA investigated the incident, but recently came to the conclusion that no crime was committed, because the murder was carried out 'humanely'. According to the man's story, the dog was killed swiftly and painlessly. In what proves to be a classic example of the absurdity of animal welfare laws, New Zealand considers this perfectly legal.

Garth Halliday, of the Auckland SPCA, told reporters that the family had become 'tired of the dog', and decided he was becoming a pest, especially as he was riddled with fleas. Rather than treating the fleas and finding an appropriate home for the dog, they decided to simply kill and eat him, a practice that is commonly accepted in their native Tonga.

According to the man's wife, "Dog, horse, we eat it in Tonga. It's good food for us."

As someone whose life has been enriched greatly by my experience with dogs, it's hard not to see this as an exceptionally gruesome act, and as somehow different to the barbaric and unnecessary slaughter that occurs on a massive scale every day so that people everywhere can enjoy the taste of flesh. Dogs, after all, are animals who are treated as family members in many loving homes throughout the world, and it's hard not to fall victim to the speciesism that teaches us to see dogs as somehow entitled to a greater degree of protection than animals used by agriculture.

If Paea Taufu worked in an animal factory, he could be killing animals all day long, and not only would it not be considered controversial, he would be paid for it, and regular people would buy the animals' flesh to eat it themselves. The difference? Dog = Pet. Lamb = Food. But this incident offers us a remarkable opportunity to examine such cultural prejudices and see them as they really are: meaningless justifications for cruelty toward some that we would not tolerate toward others.

To the vast majority of humanity, animals are judged edible and inedible according to irrelevant characteristics. Pigs, just like dogs, are intelligent, social, affectionate creatures, who love a tummy rub and will greet their people with wagging tails. Cows sorrowfully mourn the loss of their young, and can bellow for days after their babies are taken from them to be killed and eaten as veal. Turkeys can experience deep emotional connections with people, and chickens can be psychologically traumatized for life after being released from an egg production facility. All of these animals are shut out of our general circle of compassion or empathy, for no reason other than that they fulfill our desire for certain 'foods'.

Although I admit that my own cultural prejudices kick in when I hear about a dog being killed to be turned into meat for a family lunch, I can't help but feel that there is a certain hypocrisy being displayed by the general reaction to this incident, as though there is some sort of significant difference between the value of the life of a dog and the value of the life of a pig, a cow, or a chicken, animals who are killed collectively by the billions every year. In the US alone, we kill 317 land animals every second of every day. That does not even include the billions of aquatic animals killed every year, and it equals almost 20,000 every minute, and over 1,000,000 every hour.

I am not suggesting that people should not be horrified by this story, nor am I suggesting that there is anything defensible about killing a family member, or any animal, for any reason, in any way. What I am suggesting is that those who are horrified by this story ought to think carefully about why it is horrifying, and what our reaction to this tells us about animal use in general. The only reason we are not equally moved by the brutal murder of other animals is simply because we choose to ignore it. The reason we ignore it is because we benefit from it, and are therefore complicit in it.

We disregard our ethical responsibility toward these animals because it is convenient, but in so doing, we unwittingly stunt our ethical development, and thereby inhibit the social progression of humanity. The evolution of civilization is a continuous path toward learning the difference between right and wrong, between justice and injustice. To cling so stubbornly to the practice of enslaving animals for food and other pleasures, is to deny the need for the evolution of society, as though our widespread problems with violence and brutality do not have some deeper cause that needs to be addressed.


To be deeply saddened by the murder of a family dog is a sane reaction to a horrific occurrence. The hypocrisy begins when we shut off that sadness in reaction to the murder of other animals simply because our culture has taught us that 'cow, pig, chicken, sheep, fish… it's good food for us'.

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wheels of cheese
Knowflake

Posts: 535
From:
Registered: May 2009

posted August 25, 2009 06:47 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for wheels of cheese     Edit/Delete Message
I agree.

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Glaucus
Knowflake

Posts: 1146
From: Sacramento,California
Registered: Apr 2009

posted August 25, 2009 11:29 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Glaucus     Edit/Delete Message
monkeys,chimps,gorillas are eaten in some parts of Africa. They are referred to bushmeat.
http://www.bushmeat.net/about.html
http://www.solcomhouse.com/bushmeat.htm


I first read about this stuff in 2005.

I am also aware that dogs are eaten in parts of Asia and parts of Pacific Islands. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_meat

seal,walrus is eaten by some Eskimos http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848569,00.html
http://www.akhistorycourse.org/articles/article.php?artID=151


What's considered "meat" and what's considered domestic and a pet is very relative.


Raymond


------------------
“It is absolutely the perfect name,” Dr. Brown said, given the continuing discord among astronomers and the public over whether Pluto should have retained its planetary status.

In mythology, Eris ignited discord that led to the Trojan War.

“She causes strife by causing arguments among men, by making them think their opinions are right and everyone else’s is wrong,” Dr. Brown said. “It really is just perfect.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/science/space/15xena.html?_r=1

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koiflower
Knowflake

Posts: 623
From: Australia
Registered: Apr 2009

posted August 30, 2009 06:07 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for koiflower     Edit/Delete Message
I'm sure this would have shocked most New Zealanders, and probably annoyed them that this family had found a loop-hole.

Laws exist to prevent a predictable action based on past behaviours. Let me assure you, a law would not exist in New Zealand to prevent people from killing their pet and eating it, because it doesn't usually happen.

I imagine the law will be tightened up to prevent an act like this from occurring again.

It makes me think twice about holidaying in Tonga.

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koiflower
Knowflake

Posts: 623
From: Australia
Registered: Apr 2009

posted August 30, 2009 06:09 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for koiflower     Edit/Delete Message
dd

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koiflower
Knowflake

Posts: 623
From: Australia
Registered: Apr 2009

posted August 30, 2009 06:20 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for koiflower     Edit/Delete Message
Also, it's all about perspective....

While living in Japan I was offered 'whale' to eat. I said that I did not agree to eating whale.

I was probed with questions about why I ate cute little lambs.

I'm just reading a book at the moment about how the human brain makes decisions. One common human element is that we place a high priority on making decisions based on morality when our thoughts need to include other people.

I mention this idea, as most people (worldwide) would probably think twice about eating their pet due to their neurological make-up that would view this as not an acceptable practice - especially as there is no life-threatening situation to force them into this, ie, starvation, and the common thought in the community would not support this action either.

I therefore deduct, that the family were solely ignorant of the New Zealand culture and closed to understanding the community it lived in.

I hope they get some type of education in their rehabilitation.

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MsCandeh
Knowflake

Posts: 169
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2009

posted August 30, 2009 10:14 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MsCandeh     Edit/Delete Message
I only had this discussion a week ago with my family - my mum and step-dad are buying sheep and are thinking of using their lambs as meat. They are trying to build a self-sufficient farm.

I personally cannot eat meat that I have seen alive. Be it lamb, cow, chicken (however I do eat fish that I catch). I don't eat much meat anyway and our discussion revolved around the difference between what is a pet and what is a food source and where do these lines cross. Mum agreed that she would find it incredibly hard to eat the lamb (but conceded that she probably would anyway). Her husband grew up in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and is accustomed to this kind of culture. He sees absolutely nothing wrong with shooting a kangaroo on his property and eating it! He brought up the fact that we in Australia eat kangaroos, crocodile and other meat. I have always flat out refused to eat these meats (I hate the thought of eating Australian natives and refuse to but this isn't very common as most Aussies that I know love their kangaroo meat). I will not eat game meats (ducks, kangaroos) and refuse to eat rabbit and pork. These are my personal choices. I generally eat beef, chicken and seafood. I will not eat beef or chicken if I have seen them alive. On the other hand quite a few other people I know don't really care if they have seen them alive or not. If they are bred for eating then so be it. Most people I know wouldn't eat a kangaroo that was on their property roaming free in the wild (unlike my mum's husband) but will eat kangaroo bought from the shop that has been bred specifically for eating. I have a hard time getting my head around the though of eating rabbits and quails because I have had them as pets before.

What makes this article horrifying to me, is that not only were they barbecuing their dog - their reasons behind doing it were incongruent with the culture they are living in AND the fact that the animal WAS their pet. Their neighbours would have seen the dog alive too. This dog was not bred for its meat. It wasn't wild and it wasn't a 'pest' like in Australia kangaroos can be considered pests or feral foxes etc.

This was their pet. Their family dog. They got tired of it and killed it, using their native culture as an excuse? I know there are parts of the world that eat dogs, but I find it hard to believe (and tell me if I am wrong) that they would actually eat their pets when they couldn't be bothered looking after it anymore.

Yes I believe there's a difference between a pet and an animal bred for its meat. Cultures such as India find it hard to believe that we breed cows for their meat. Other cultures would find it absurd that we breed pigs for their meat.

But at the end of the day if you have a pet (and why have a pet if you do not love it, and treat it like a part of the family) and it becomes a 'nuisance' - there are more logical, sane and humane ways of dealing with the situation. I don't accept their excuse and I think it's downright wrong that the SPCA did.

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