08-21-2014, 06:51 PM
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!).
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!).
