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.

DailyWail that law won’t be passed. I think the thread is more, if you think killing animals is wrong then why pay for it, than genuinely meaning that everyone should kill their own animals.

Coco134 there is slaughter on your hands. You are the one paying for violence to animals.

I eat meat. I couldn’t become a vegetarian although I’m happy to eat meals without any meat. I would be fine with seeing an animal be killed and then eating it but I don’t know if I could kill it. For two reasons I believe. Reason one is that I’m raised to not need to kill and therefore the thought is a little bit scary, due to the way we get our meat no one has to think about the initial part of the process and how they would react if needing to do it themselves. Then there is the other reason which for me is the big one. We are very big on being home mane, it’s how I’ve been raised. I don’t think I know how to kill an animal quickly and painlessly enough to not feel emotional at the thought of it. I’d probably opt to slice the throat and hang dry but I understand that looks terrifying because of how the animal convulses for a while. I’d assume that would be the correct way but I’m also probably wrong. From there I would have no idea how to butcher the animal without contaminating the meat. I do my part though by buying local produce and only ever eating free range. And I mean properly free range (with chicken eggs) they aren’t locked up for most of the day etc.

ChiefClerkDrumknott like the name. Animals aren’t PTS if it’s for meat, violence is used on them to kill them at a fraction of their natural lifespan. Upsetting to equate that with someone having a beloved pet PTS because of pain and no quality of life left.

Pur it on its head if it was a choice of starve to death or kill an animal who wouldn't kill that animal.? We're nit accustomed to killing animals but 8n the past we all would have done so.

troodiedoo but if we think it’s not nice why do we do it if it’s unnecessary?

RedHelenB but that’s not the choice. We won’t starve to death if we stop eating meat. The question is would you be ok with killing an animal unnecessarily (putting aside questions of skill etc) or would it upset you?

Genderwitched but you are a hypocrite if you pay for animals to be killed but think it’s upsetting to kill them?

Wouldn’t bother me at all. Killing and eating the animal - as long as the death was a pleasant as it could be

I am with you. I would be reluctant to kill an animal badly and hurt them, but a clean kill would be ok. I don't enjoy seeing animals being killed (chicken, rabbits, or even pigs) but I eat meat.
I find fishing boring, but I never had any moral issue with killing a fish.

Kiki sparks yes it would bother me but that is only because I've never had to do it, Ifor raising your own animals and killing them was the normal I'd have no problems doing it.

Thinking about it, I have killed crabs and lobsters without a second thought. I would be wary of hurting an animal and the mess blood can make, but I can't see how I would stop eating veal or lamb just because they are cute.

If I had to watch the egg come out of the hen’s hole or actually milk the cow and drink it, I would be put off. However, if i had to go foraging for mushrooms and prepare wheat, I wouldn’t be eating that either as I’m lazy. It’s the effort of it, not just that it would be disturbing killing an animal.

If my children were hungry, I’d kill and cook the animal, no problem. Hell, I’d kill and cook our own pet if we were starving.

If I had to kill an animal, I would never eat meat again, so am a massive hypocrite.

However, if it was a survival situation, I'm sure I could and I would eat the meat.

I have killed an animal, and eaten it. Didn’t think anything of it, it had a much better life and cleaner, quicker death than most of the meat in our mass produced systems. For me it’s the animal
Welfare that matters, i do my best to steer clear of mass produced meat but if you go to restaurants that can be tricky

When I was 7 we went to stay on a farm that belonged to some friends of my parents. I fed their animals quite happily, and when Rosemary the pig got loud because she was used to getting fed first, I told her in a very bossy voice that she would wait her turn, or if she wasn't quiet, she wouldn't get fed at all. That turned out to be her last meal, because she went for slaughter. We were eating breakfast another morning and my sister asked what meat she was eating, and she was simply told "Rosemary".

I have plucked and gutted pheasants, although my Dad is quicker, so he'll do it for me if he gets them first. Obviously, I didn't shoot them down from the sky, but I don't have a problem that someone did.

Thinking something is morally acceptable and not wanting to do it yourself are two different things. Of course you shouldn't eat meat if the reason you wouldn't kill an animal for food is that you think it's morally wrong, rather than that it's just a rather physically unpleasant task. I don't think working in a sewage plant is morally wrong, but that doesn't mean I'd be happy to do it.

I find it a bit pathetic and hypocritical that many people's judgment on whether it's ok to kill animals is essentially based on cuteness factor. They don't like the idea of eating ickle fluffy lambs or cute piggies, but are fine about eating fish or even chickens That's about your emotional response to what an animal looks like, not about the value of an animal's life.

I'd be down to a diet of crisps and spiders.

Given our ancestors did it, I am sure I would get used to it.

We’ve become disassociated with the source of our food. If we were closer to how it was obtained then I doubt we’d be so squeamish.

In fact as a society, we’d have better respect for our environment as a whole.

I couldn't! I'd have to keep chickens for eggs and become vegetarian. I wouldn't miss meat anyway to be honest!

I think some vegetarian are completely hypocritical about animal welfare. You can't state that it's immoral to kill an animal to eat it, but be happy to cause the death of hundred of animals with excessive cultivation, intense farming, indirect poisoning with pesticides and so on. Do people realistically expect farmers to use "human" traps to protect their fields?

RedHelen why would it bother you though? Do you think unnecessary violence is wrong or just you’d find it a bit gory?

Ansumpatsy but the question isn’t about being starving or being lazy. It’s that given that it’s unnecessary, are you ok with participating in violence?

ikeepafork I don’t happily cause the death of other animals but I understand that there will be some death of animals in feeding humans (I.e bugs crushed accidentally when harvesting plants) but it’s necessary to eat something and it’s about avoiding unnecessary violence. If you eat meat due to the fact it has been fed plants more mice and insects died for the plants to be fed to the meat than if you just ate the plants direct. So the path of least harm is being vegan.

Makingdinner if you wouldn’t miss meat why eat it? Why not just stop- if you want any tips, ideas, recipes let me know!

I was vegetarian for years, for several reasons. However I had to kill a rabbit that was injured on the road literally in front of me one day - it was that or leave it to die slowly. It's back was clearly broken, so I did it. Horrible experience.
I'm not vegetarian any more & although I don't have to kill animals for food, I could. I have skinned & cut up game animals that DH brought home from work (overstock / perks of the job / culled rabbits etc in winter killing the young trees etc). Free food, isn't it. I'm not about to turn it down - we never buy game as it's so expensive.

OTOH, I wouldn't touch caged eggs, "traditional style" veal, or foie gras with a barge pole.