to find it ridiculous that most people are only concerned of animal welfare for cute zoo type animals

[Lauranda]

Dolphins are cute and can do tricks, most people agree they should be treated well.

Pandas are cute, they should be saved at all costs despite them doing their best to get extinct.

Yet these same people that care so much about the giraffe in the zoo, couldn't give a toss about the meat they eat as long as its cheap most don't care where it comes from or the cruelly it had.

If you don't eat meat because you don't like the fact it comes from animals don't eat it.

I did a degree in animal care.
I worked for 6 years in the RSPCA industry's.
And campaigned against puppy farms.

I eat meat.

Completely and utterly agree. I am appalled at the way many non furry animals are treated. I spend quite a lot of money buying lobsters and releasing them (according to guidelines) into the Arabian Gulf where I live.

When I am rich enough I will also arrange for cruel abbatoir workers to be captured and tortured.

I've just hedrin-ed my ds, bloody head lice...... So I guess you dont?

Actually I do pick ticks of the dogs and slice them up, it's the only way I can kill the bastards

That's right OP, like most people, my only real concern is that meat is cheap & tasty.

Because individual animals are not very important.

However, whole animal species ARE very important.

We have, I hope, made the smallpox virus extinct and that was a life-form too.

I can just about get my head round the motivations of the people who want to forbid meat, but I have no time at all for anyone who wants to make meat expensive and therefore only available to the rich.

By your reasoning if a family (pack/herd/group - what's the correct term for rats?) of rats decided to make your home their home you would be very concerned for their welfare?

And mice? What's your stance in having those nibbling through your kitchen cupboards?

I care about the welfare of all the zoo animals.

Particuarly giraffes actually.

I eat meat, I understand where meat comes from. I am increasingly eating less and may well go more towards a full vegetarian lifestyle.

However, really it's only vegans who have the moral high ground. Those who are vegetarian for animals rights reasons and still consume dairy products get right on my tits.

Not all animals are equal, dolphins have their own advanced languages, social networks and culture, they're a very intelligent, advanced species, chickens not so much. Elephants and monkeys grieve know who their family members are and grieve for their dead, cows don't. I do think that all animals should be treated well and those who are bred for food should be killed as painlessly and humanly as possible.

I wonder what strict vegans/vegetarians do if their child gets headlice? Do they perpetrate mass murder against them or let them live and care for them in accordance with their bug rights?

Those who are vegetarian for animals rights reasons and still consume dairy products get right on my tits.

I've known many vegetarians over the years, and have yet to meet one fits your description. (I am not a veggie). Have I just been lucky?

Lol joylin

Where has op gone??

YANBU! I completely agree with you.

The dairy herd down the road from here are the most scrawny things, with udders like whisky barrels, I'm sure they didn't look like that when I was young. They appear in the fields about once every couple of months, the rest of the time they are kept in giant sheds, nice life not .

I for that most people that give a shut about giraffes, pandas and the like would also like their eggs not to come from battery hens and their meat to be killed as humanely as possible.

Why do you assume that anyone who cares about dolphins and pandas and giraffes doesn't care about cows and pigs?

Pigs are cute.

I still eat pigs and have no intention of stopping any time soon.

i agree it's a double standard. Nobody worries about where their meat comes from, but people get very worked up about zoos. most zoo animals seem to be treated pretty well though, with spacious accomodation etc.

I get rather annoyed at the way crabs and lobsters are treated. They are often killed on screen during cooking programs, and sold live. This wouldn't happen with mammals.

(Badger - the term for a group of rats is a Mischief)

I eat meat, but I care about where it has come from and the life the animal has led. I have many insect habitats in my garden, and have sponsored various animals over the years, including bats, birds and bees.

However, we did have a mischievous nest of rats in our compost bin last year which needed to be robustly dealt with, and I spent many hours exterminating head lice when my children were young.

Wildlife and animal welfare is one thing, pests and parasites are another.

I also believe very strongly that dolphins and killer whales should not be kept in captivity.

I think most meat that we eat, especially in the UK, is non-endangered. If cows were on the threatened species list, I'm sure more people would be concerned about it.

Plus, it isn't just furry cute animals that people care about in the zoo. What about things like warthogs or mole rats which are ugly little things but I wouldn't want them treated poorly in a zoo!

There are generally about 2.5 million soil mites in every square metre of soil. If even only one tenth of one per cent of them die of every ploughing, that's 2,500 deaths for every kilo of veg.

You can get a couple of hundred kilos of beef off one bull, with care, at the price of one death.

Vegetarianism: for when you don't care about the body count, so long as all the victims are really small and gross-looking.

Bees get squatted.... But they are essential

Wildlife and animal welfare is one thing, pests and parasites are another.

To other species we are the pests and the parasites. This distinction won't work.