We are not a nation of animal loveras. More a nation of pet lovers

[fortyfide]

We kill animals by the million every year for meat But we do love our pet dogs , cats and other cute pets.

I am not a veggie. But would never call us Brits a nation of animal lovers

gobblersknob "56 million land animals a year killed (admittedly worldwide) just because we like the taste of cooked flesh" this number is way too low, maybe an autocorerct error - should it be billion?

In fairness, and without endorsing an unpleasant and cruel sport, bulls can be twats themselves. Also, their milk tastes funny.

In the UK alone for chickens "The 2013 annual total was about 870 million British birds bred, hatched, reared, and slaughtered in this country."

So on that basis even 56 billion would be too low.

Or is that figure for wild animals being slaughtered, or something?

bulls can be twats themselves. Also, their milk tastes funny

I did actually laugh at this! I imagine that is the response you were looking for because nobody is that ignorant or stupid! Well done

I thank you.

Also, is it wrong that whenever anyone posts threads like this I get a hankering for a big juicy steak? That seems a bit mean, really, but it shall probably be.

Yes Ted andLola. Sad to say, I am not suprised that we do the Pig Crating.
In sapite of the fact that doctors say pigs intestines most resemble humans.

Most of us do what we are born into. But some traditions do need seriously looking into. (and modifying)

I am from a farming background. But I suspect meat animals were treated in a more civilised way when I was young.

FACTORY FARMING needs a bit of BBC TV "secret filming" if they can smuggle the cameras in.

I do black comedy to lighten the load of the sombre stuff.

What is served in a cafe in China?

Peke Rolls? Corgi Cutlets? Alsatian Stew? or Dalmantian Dips?

I guess if you like steak, you like steak.

I'm vegetarian for humane reasons. I get irked at the "ban fox hunting/stop the badger cull" messages that appear on my FBook, put up by people who completely ignore the pain and misery that animals go through to produce the meat they eat. Because somehow eating the animal makes it ok for it to suffer all its life.

Whirlpool either autocorrect, finger, or brain.

The thing is, there is a range of other problems to be addressed, too. I'd be the first to cast my vote in favour of raising delicious chickens in a decent way across the board, but farming isn't like bastards tormenting bulls to death in an arena - that's our food supply (as a species) and people's livelihoods we're messing with.

It's all very well for those of us who can afford to spend a bit extra on free range this or organically produced that. If farmers don't make money and huge amounts of food, and poor people can't buy food cheaply, then you have other issues there that really do need to be dealt with - especially given the economic problems we have and the almost infinitely worse ones looming.

Never mind gobbler, just wanted to flag up that it is a pretty incomprehensible number of animals being killed, really!

We could feed the entire planet, several times over, with the food we feed to the animals we then slaughter to eat, it takes a staggering amount of grain and water to produce one kilo of beef.

Farming is sadly exactly like 'bastards tormenting bulls to death in an arena' we are just brought up to believe that one is acceptable and the other is not. Why should a living, feeling, sentient being have it's life ended just because people like the taste of meat?

'I don't think people have an overwhelming desire to see animals suffering in this country', precisely and if slaughterhouses had glass walls pretty much no-one would eat meat.

Seriously mijas99 bull fighting is an awful, slow, painful death in the name of entertainment.

It is one of the best countries for animal welfare but then so are many others. Also it has questionable laws for animal cruelty, hunting and the keeping of tropical pets. All of which have much stronger sanctions where I live and I do not live in a nation known for it's love of animals.

Iamannoggin i find it is a lot cheaper to eat a vegetarian diet than meat 4 or 5 nights a week.

Tomato and Damnbamboo

The point I am making is that battery hens and other industrially farmed animals have a much slower and awfully death than a bull in a "corridor" (bull fight is an inacurate English name, there is not "fight" going on)

And nobody laughs when watching it, it is a date with death and is treated with the respect it deserves

If I am a "twat" for defending bullfighting then certainly people who eat battery hens and chickens are twats too. Personally I choose neither to watch bullfights nor eat industrialised meet (wherever possible)

mijas99 how do you know they lead a wonderful life? Also just because one is worse, doesn't make the other OK. They are both cruel and unnecessary.

If bullfighting were OK it would not be illegal in many places where it is a tradition, Catalonia I believe. I live in Brazil, it's illegal, people don't like it, don't do it and don't understand why it isn't illegal in other latin countries. It should be.

Tomato - it is part of the culture here in Spain, although mainly in the South and Middle of the country. You can see the bulls roaming through the countryside, often around the national parks - and of course there are documentaries about the subject when one can learn things

Just like the iberian pigs who are also left to roam free and eat the acorns that fall off the oak trees - and produce the finest ham in the world. There is a strong relationship between respect for the environment and respect for the animal = good for everyone

Each country and province is free to do what they like regarding bull fighting. The argument I am making is that if we use the animal welfare argument then one should ban industrial farmng well before banning "bull fighting". And British people lobbying Spain on the issue are an embarassment

But you're not comparing like for like. Britain can't have an opinion on bull fighting because it eats factory farmed meat (as does Spain) . There is far less factory farmed meat in the UK than a lot of other countries, as it does have strict laws on animal welfare.

Britain has banned fox hunting (long may that continue) so currently Britain is ahead in banning it's old barbaric traditions. Were fox hunting still taking place, or if it comes in again then you would have a point.

On a side note I will not eat any pork in the UK, or any from the supermarket to me it tastes artificial, like the food they give them. Our pigs eat mostly mangoes and are truely free range. I know good pork and I can imagine the Iberian ham is delicious.

It's irrelevant migas. The animal is tortured to death! Fucking tortured. I don't give rats arse if it lived a life of luxury (by bull standards) they shouldn't be tortured to death. Ever. And not in the name of entertainment.

You can object to both battery hens and bullfighting you know. It's not a race to the bottom welfare wise is it.

And regardless of the quality of life and the humanity of the death, no animal should be ours to kill either for pleasure or food.

And British people lobbying Spain on the issue are an embarassment

Why? It can only raise awareness and certainly provides opportunity for discussion along the lines of 'get your own house in order too'

I am making is that if we use the animal welfare argument then one should ban industrial farmng well before banning "bull fighting"

that most certainly is not the argument you made! Pathetic.

I hope you get gored by a bull quite frankly! You and all those other twats that think it's ok.

Damnbamboo - No animal should be ours to kill for food? Really?

So you deny that human beings are omnivores? You are denying our evolutionary right - you are essentially being inhumane

What has being an omnivore got anything to do with it?

If we were hunter-gatherers that would different due to the methods of farming and ability to extract and grow all the nutrition one needs for good health from those foods.

We have moved so far beyond that!

It is utterly laughable to suggest that just because humans can eat meat, they should and it's inhuman to suggest otherwise

Are you quite alright?

inability

I'm probably the opposite. I like animals and eg don't support fox-hunting although I understand that farmers need to be able to deal with them. But I don't want any as pets. Dogs in particular are hard work. And make a lot of mess. And cost a lot to keep.

Obviously you do not understand the biological consequencies of evolution

We have evolved to eat meat. Our guts are designed to eat meat along with fruit, nuts and vegetables. At no stage in our history have we given up eating meat and without heavy food processing it is very difficult for humans to get the nutrients they need without eating meat

But sure you don't have to eat it if you don't want to. You are rich enough to pick and choose and imagine all those wild cows and sheep frolicking through the English countryside