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Whole Foods selling rabbits as food
#1
I realize that this is not just about rabbits. It brings up the whole issue of eating meat at all.
I find myself wondering why a big grocery store chain would want to get involved in something so controversial. There is currently a small market for rabbit meat in North America. So there is a limited amount of breeding rabbits for food. If the store creates a demand, will they start factory farming rabbits?


http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arch...at/378757/

We are trying to move away from meat consumption. It seems like a step in the wrong direction to try and get people to eat yet another kind of meat, one that is not commonly consumed here.

I wonder if Whole Foods will back away now that they realize that it is a very touchy subject.
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Catherine

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#2
I love rabbits; they are gentle, delightful creatures. I had rabbits as a young man. But I love all animals....

If I am brutally honest, I cannot see that eating chicken or baby lamb is any more (or less) ethical than eating rabbits. They are all sentient creatures which feel fear and pain. It is a strange logic which says that is fine to eat a baby lamb only six months old, but wrong to eat an adult rabbit. If people saw how sensitive and delicate a lamb is, close up, they would not want to eat that, either. I kept sheep for a good many years (not for meat), so I know. I still have two ewes, whom we raised "on the bottle" from babies because they were rejected by their mothers.

Unfortunately, buying meat in a supermarket makes it all so depersonalised. No need to see the slaughter at all. Just pick up a neat package of meat from the supermarket and cook it. No need to see the pain and suffering that went on; no need to even think about it.

All creatures deserve our respect and my personal view is that we shouldn't be creating arbitrary distinctions. Some people even keep pigs as pets (just Google it if you don't believe me!).
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#3
I totally agree that all animals are capable of feeling pain and fear. Hunting them in the wild is still taking an animal's life away from it. And humans have little idea if that animal is feeding young in a burrow -so the little ones will die from starvation. Animals also form strong and enduring bonds of affection with each other and do grieve when a 'family member' disappears. Humans rarely think of those things.
But even worse than that, is the looming prospect that animals, due to demand for their meat, will end up being bred for lifelong imprisonment in less-than-ideal circumstances, or factory farmed.

I never had a rabbit as a pet, but know that they do form loving bonds with their people and other animals in the family.
I also agree that those plastic packs of square or round shaped meat in the supermarket have de-sensitised people, so they are emotionally distanced from the reality that what they are eating is an animal which is capable of deep feelings and has life needs, just as we have.
So have names like "pork", "beef", "mutton" etc Those names have come to mean "food" -not "animal".
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#4
I agree. It is not worse that they are selling rabbits as food. I just don't want to see them starting yet another species down the road to factory farming. Right now the market is specialized so there are few breeders and not a lot of big profits. Once a demand is created we could see rabbits treated like cage hens and veal calves.

I want to see us move away from that. It is wrong to keep any animals under those conditions. I suppose the difference in people's minds is the name. When you eat rabbit you think rabbit and get a picture in your mind of a bunny.
When you eat pork you think plastic packaging and grocery stores.
How did we ever become so desensitized to animal suffering. Was it a deliberate choice or did it just happen.
I can understand that the factory farms are a result of a desire for bigger profits. But when did people stop caring?
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Catherine

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#5
I searched on the net for a list of animals whose flesh has a different name:
cow = beef
calf (baby cow) = veal
pig = pork
sheep = mutton
deer = venison
baby pigeon less than 1 month old (!) = squab
goat = chevon
baby goat = kid
wild birds or rabbit = game
sweetmeats = various internal organs not normally eaten

There are more euphemisms, including rocky mountain oysters.....(not oysters; only look this up if you have a strong stomach!)

I suppose it is people's way of avoiding the animals' names or body parts.
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#6
Good list and it makes a point doesn't it. We want to eat certain things, but we don't want to feel bad about it. Does that mean that we secretly know that the whole farming situation is bad.

When people raised animals in healthy situations they could openly admit that they were eating them. The rabbit issue is getting a strong reaction because rabbit meat is called rabbit meat. It wouldn't do for people's children to ask where other meat comes from.

I used to live out west and I have eaten Rocky Mountain Oysters. Yes I knew what they were and they were very tasty. I have never seen them for sale anywhere, but cattle country. I have also eaten deer, moose and rabbit. I am not squeamish about what I eat. I am squeamish about how the animals are treated in factory farms and I am eating much less meat and wanting to shift away from it completely. I am hoping our whole food focus changes.

I work with people who ate meat heavy diets all their lives and they are not healthy for a whole lot of reasons. I see heart/weight/blood pressure and diabetes problems in all my seniors. Good food and more exercise would have made a big difference to most people's health as seniors.
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Catherine

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#7
I quite agree. I used to have a very high cholesterol level and over the years since I have cut out meat my levels have returned to normal.
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#8
I grew up on a meat heavy diet. Now I can go days without eating meat and when I do I do not eat the huge amounts. My weight stays steady and my health is good. I don't crave the fat/salt rich diet that is so common around me.

Reducing your cholesterol without medication is the best "cure" you can get. The cholesterol lowering drugs have many not good side effects. The pills that fix the side effects also have side effects and the pill that fixes those side effects side effects also has side effects. It is not a pretty picture.

So, there are very good health reasons for eating differently. There are even more ethical reasons.
I am hoping the whole rabbit meat controversy gets people thinking. If it is not okay to eat a bunny, how is it okay to eat a lamb or a suckling pig. I have never liked the idea of eating veal. Now I am clearer on why not.
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Catherine

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