To ask if you had to kill the animal yourself, would you still eat meat?

[WhatDoYouThink2017]

To ask if you had to kill the animal yourself, would you still eat meat?

It seems that a lot of people say no, but that does confuse me, as if less people ate meat, there would be a less of a demand.

This isn’t me saying eating meat is wrong btw, I absolutely believe there is a food chain, but the food chain is slightly unfair. Animals are bred and kept in awful conditions for their meat, etc. which is where I believe it’s unfair. Other people seem to agree.

So, if you could humanely keep your own animals and kill them, would you? Or would you go without meat?

Have and would.
I'm a vegetarian, I started out as veggie because I didn't like the taste or texture of meet. Then after a few (6) years of no meat I struggled to eat it as it made me feel a bit sick (not emotionally/morally, physically). I have however killed food and we do keep animals that DH and kids eat. I can quickly kill an animal, butcher and store/preserve it appropriately. Including cows; though that is difficult we've mainly had chickens and pigs. have had cows and sheep
At times too.

I don't think not wanting to kill an animal (for fear of a slow or particularly painful death for it, or lack of space/effort) is necessarily hypocritical but I don't get the people who go "awww no I couldn't it's horrible BUT BACON" or "I don't like my dead animal to look like a dead animal"
bacon is fucking disgusting away. Greasy chewy and needlessly salty
But just because I don't understand it doesn't necessarily mean I'm judging anyone IYKWIM. I just don't understand the thought process.

Also, I think it's incredibly important to tell your kids where meat comes from (even if you buy it at tesco or Coles).
I think it's a bit... questionable to have your kids under the illusion that chicken etc comes from a pack and that's that. But then I'd also want my kids to know (vaguely) how bread is made, where vegetables come from etc and a generally good education about food. Which ties in to help with budgeting, cookery, nutrition (obviously) and all kinds of other things.

yes and I have.

I don't know.

I could definitely shoot birds and catch and kill fish. I'm not sure about other animals, if I was starving then I absolutely could. If I had access to plentiful veg/eggs/etc then I'm not sure TBH.

I'd like to be a vegetarian and have been both a veggie and vegan at different times but ended up giving up. I know it makes me hypocritical as I'm a big animal lover but I just live with that for the time being...

Yes I think so. However if the rule was I had to kill the animals but didn’t have to grow and harvest the other food I’d be mostly vegetarian as I wouldn’t like killing animals, even humanely and I’m not very practical. If I had to grow my own veg and grains too I’d be fucked. I hate gardening and digging and stuff.

Def not......hardly eat meat if I was living by myself I would not eat it at all

Definitely would kill and gut the animal, it's something I would quite like to try my hand at actually but living in the city there is little scope (God knows what the seagulls have been eating, so I'm not tempted to catch one of them).

The important thing to keep in mind for anyone who is tempted to give it a go is to make sure it's not a fair fight. Killing a few chickens is easy enough, but don't tackle a cow on your own unless you will be using a firearm to take it down. Just because you want to do some amateur slaughtering does not mean you should not take the same safety precautions the professionals use. If you are concerned about animal welfare you will want to make the death as swift as possible, although there are plenty of snare options available for those fortunate enough to live somewhere with plenty of wild animals where welfare issues are less relevant (animal on animal attacks are rarely carried out with the "victim"'s welfare in mind!). Go on a survival course to learn the best ways to trap animals, it's very much a case of set the trap and leave nature to take its course. (Incidentally if you need to source food when you are stranded in the wild, it is much easier and safer to ensnare wild animals than it is to forage for edible vegetation.)

But to answer the original question, I'd absolutely love to give it a go.

Yes I would and have done. I haven't done so in a very long time and I always found it quite upsetting. My db's seemed to get used to it pretty quickly but I always found ending a life very sad for a few moments, even after 5 years of killing and preparing meat. We ate rabbits and had our own hens. It definitely made me appreciate how precious life is and to only take what you need with no waste. I can't stand seeing food thrown out, and little corpses on the roadside make me feel terribly sad, although I do suppose carrion will profit from roadkill.

No, I couldn't. I would rather be vegetarian (and have been in the past). I would eat a lot less meat than I do if I was only cooking for myself and not also for dh and dd (the only meat free meal dh finds acceptable fritatta, he won't entertain anything else).

However - if it was a situation where my dd was starving and it was a matter of survival then yes, I would find it in me to kill an animal. But only for the sake of my child.

I reckon I would be less hesitant to catch/kill a fish, maybe because I don't feel that they have the same intelligence/emotions as mammals.

I keep chickens. The ones I've spent time with are as tame and smart as my cats and dogs. One comes through the window, jumps on my knees and kisses me on the face and plays with my hair. She'll cuddle right into me, with her head snuggled into my neck, arrange herself like a little cat and sleep on me. I can't eat chicken anymore. It would feel no different to eating a cat or dog now. I do eat some meat, but less all the time. The idea of what it is is becoming more abhorrent to me all the time. Maybe if I'd never started keeping hens? I do kill roosters however. It's not possible to keep large numbers without affecting welfare, but it makes me very sad every time even though I know it has to be done. We do it ourselves as we wouldn't trust anyone else to do it in a minimum stress and kind way.

Have done and would. I wouldn’t feel right eating meat if I didn’t think I could actually be involved in the whole process.

That said, I would love to be a bit pickier and only eat locally sourced, ethically farmed meat but my budget doen’t really allow that currently so I just have to make sure it’s British and try to eat sustainable fish.

I have done quite a few times. However, assuming this would include prepping the meat myself, I would eat a lot less poultry because plucking is a lot of effort and I am quite lazy.

Fish yes, other animals no, which is why I'm a pescetarian. It's just not logical in my mind to be revolted by the killing process and yet eat meat.

Yup. I love meat too much not to and couldn't even delegate to DH as he has a phobia of blood. Still would though

God no, far too much effort for a bit of meat. I don't like eating it anywhere near enough for all the time and energy it would take to raise the livestock and kill it myself. It wouldn't be a problem for me emotionally, I'm quite cold about death generally, and I don't like animals. I just couldn't imagine putting so much time and effort into simply getting food that I could get easier through other sources.

Yes. I have done, I will continue to do so.

Babies cry wen they are first born not out of seperation grief y can't that be the swme in a calf.we don't call that cruel like people have about wailing poor calfs for their mothers.they quieten like a baby wen milk fed and stroked.tickled by kind farmer.
I think wen faced with that's wat u would need to do for survival lots of people would.u dnt no until that ur only option.
Sprouts cabbage tomatos wheat.branflakes,cereals grains,bread,sweets etc would I still eat them if I had to make them,grow em...doubtful.

I don't think it hypocritical to say I don't want to kill another living thing myself yet you eat meat.as long as u accept the processes,and are knowledgeable of it and how it gets to 'packet' it ok.u still accept the death even if ur squeemish it don't think I'd like to shoot thing.its too different a kink to make.but accepting it happens is ok.IRS not like ur sitting with ur roast thinking it got there by angels tickling a cows ribs.

Yes absolutely. As a PP has said, there's always a moment of "that's a bit sad", but I think that's a good thing, and a reminder of how important it is to me to look carefully at supermarket labels and choose higher welfare meat, free range eggs etc.

I would love to be a bit pickier and only eat locally sourced, ethically farmed meat but my budget doen’t really allow that.

Mine neither. That’s why I gave it up rather than continue funding the factory farming industry. My weekly shop is much cheaper these days.

No, I still feel mean for mistakenly vacuuming up a spider from the ceiling yesterday. However I think I'd be an unhealthy vegetarian and an even more unhealthy vegan due to food aversions/intolerances and the fact we have to nut/peanut free for DS2.

If I was brought up doing it then yes, most likely as it would be a normal part of life.

In an emergency now then yes.

If someone just presented me with an animal now, then no. I eat a vegetarian diet about 90% of the time so would be quite happy without meat.

yes, I'm not squeamish or sentimental. I didn't eat meat for a few years as a student and a bit after, because I couldn't afford the higher welfare stuff which I now buy, although we still don't eat tonnes of meat (I haven't eaten any since last Friday, but have had fish a few times). One of my housemates back then used to get me to cook her chicken breasts for her, as she didn't like the reality of raw flesh, only sanitised, cooked meat, which I found odd.

I grew up in an area where, although poor, game shooting was common, and so there was often a couple of rabbits or pheasants hanging in the shed to be skinned or plucked. My DC know where meat comes from, and I think one of them may yet go veggie.

YANBU

I eat meat and would be a hypocrite if I wouldn’t kill it. I don’t because I don’t need to but I know I would if I did.

I remember the 'friend' who would come over for dinner and squeal when she saw me handling poultry/meat to talk.

She couldn't bear to touch raw meat but was more than happy toneat hat I cooked.

Once invited me and my friends for dinner and then didn't cook a thing. We left when we realised no food was forthcoming and got kebabs on the way home.

Avoided her after that.