To think if you had to kill the animal yourself you wouldn’t eat meat

[Starchime22]

First off I’m not vegetarian, although I’m starting to lean that way, (as in, I eat fish, and occasionally meat if I’m in a restaurant, but never buy or cook meat myself) so it’s not my intention to criticise or goad omnivores.

But I’ve been thinking about how I’d have no problem killing a fish to eat, (and have) but definitely couldn’t kill a cow or a pig, and probably not a chicken. I’m not sure how many people could, really.

Is it right to eat something you couldn’t bear to kill yourself? Or watch being killed? I’m not saying it isn’t, just interested in what people think.

I've never killed an animal but I've removed a head and plucked one.

Dad grew up on a farm, it's a fact of life.

Schmonday wtf do you home kill?!

I live on a smallholding. Chicken, ducks, geese, lambs, pigs.

I can’t build a sofa either. Or a TV. Both feature heavily in my day to day life.

I don't eat meat but do eat fish for exactly the same reason OP.

I eat meat and I have killed before and would be willing to do it again.

I grew up with my dad hunting frequently and there were often pheasants and deer hung in the garage.

I would. I think it's important to acknowledge that when you're eating meat, it was once a living breathing creature. Doesn't diminish my enjoyment or make me feel guilty at all, but I think it's a bit hypocritical not to acknowledge it.

I grew up in the countryside, as soon as you've seen a lorry with a load of sheep/cattle on it being driven somewhere and asked where they're going, you can't escape the knowledge that you're eating cute fluffy lambs for very long

I grew up on a farm. Watched my Dad kill and gut fish and chickens (big treat for a child). Watched my Mum kill shellfish (yum). Seen cattle and sheep killed in the abattoir. My sisters class had a school trip to the abattoir (farming community so 90% of the kids came from farms), funnily enough none of the kids were traumatised.

Urban communities are removed from their food sources and don't grow up with the realities of eating meat. Says more about the community than if it's right or wrong to eat meat.

I eat meat so this is going to sound very hypocritical. But I couldn't eat it after seeing the animal get killed and I definitely couldn't kill an animal myself and eat it. Would be very different if it was for survival though I guess.

I’m originalły from a country where it’s quite normal to slaughter the animal youselk and then cook and eat. If anything it makes people anticipate eating it more (sorry UK) folks, but that’s just how it is. I’ve seen a number of cows killed and countless turkeys/chickens and then cooked, we ate it with relish and I’ve killed a chicken before and cooked it, it was for Christmas.

If you’re from a country like the UK where this is not normal practice then it would seem barbaric, and unnatural. But this is how many live, live stock is rear for food.

I agree OP. And another hypocrite here. I can kill fish but dislike it. I think I could kill a chicken... maybe...
Pig? No. Ive heard the squealing of one being killed and made me feel sick.

I kind of justify things in my head as I don’t eat loads of meat and only eat high welfare meat and milk, we have our own (very free range!) chickens. Lots of friends think I’m veggy as I only eat veggy when out. But I’m fully aware i’m a hypocrite.

I think everybody should try rearing and dispatching their own meat. There’d be a lot more vegetarians/meat reducers and awareness of what the ‘price’ of meat is.

I had a couple of years of raising my own chickens (following nearly 20 years of being a veggie), went back to being a pescaterian after that. (I never had to kill a fish though... I don’t think I could, at least not the way I ever saw it done.)

I was thinking this the other day... for survival I think I could genuinely fry up a bit of person, so I think I could manage a pig

If I'd raised the animal for meat or caught a fish for the purpose I think I could. I'd probably eat less though from a practical point of view.

I eat meat and I have killed before and would be willing to do it again

Sorry Barry but that does sound slightly sinister

I’m surprised at how many people can or would kill all the animals they eat. I expected fewer to say so. A friend of mine raised some pigs and sent them to slaughter (didn’t even do it himself or attend) and he said it affected him quite badly, and he’d never do it again - and he was not a very ‘soft’ kind of person at all

I've killed chickens and would kill a cow or a sheep too if I knew I had the skill to do it as painlessly for the animal as possible.

I've raised the animals I've eaten too, and loved them while they were alive.

I don't much fancy killing it myself but I would have a go if I was in that situation where I needed to. DH brings pheasants home over the winter season which I hang and cook. He breasts them out purely because he's better at it than me though I would have no problem doing it.
I probably couldn't kill a pig if I wasn't in a survival situation. So I am definitely a hypocrite of sorts.

I have and I do.

TheImprobableGirl I think ‘would you eat a person in order to survive’ is a whole other thread

I would if it was them or me

Getting some cows at the weekend. Fortunately the law says I can't be involved in the part between them wandering around happily eating lovely grass and a day or two later appearing in my cooker.

I’ve killed and gutted fish since I was a child as my father was a fisherman.

I suppose if I’d lived on a farm I’d be used to killing and eating larger animals.

I could probably do it myself (with the requisite training) but I'd probably let DH handle that - he has a post-grad degree in meat science, which included modules on safe and ethical slaughter, and works now in food production.

I'll deal with the potatoes for chips. Bloody love chips.

Killing and butchering is so messy. And needs a surprising amount of room, in my limited experience. There’s a lot of guts!

So I wouldn’t do it in my city pad, no. My lifestyle is not set up for killing my own meat.

But if I found myself on a farm, with knowledgable assistance, then yes of course I would kill / assist and help butcher my own dinner.

I have always said, if you couldn't/wouldn't want to kill it yourself, you shouldn't be eating it.

We like to believe we're "designed" to eat meat, but we're not.
If we were, we wouldn't need educating as to how it should be killed, prepared, etc...
Our natural instinct would also be to kill, but it's not, instead it's to nurture and protect.

Have caught, killed and eaten fish. Used to hunt rabbits/pheasants and eat them. Have eaten chickens I watched my mother kill. Probably be a lot thinner if I could be sentimental about the animals I eat, but I'm not. I will say that our chickens have a great life, so I'm even less regretful about them