How do you think people would react to this?

[QueenOfIce]

Having a conversation with a vegan and we wondered If a butchers counter was set up with animals (that had died naturally) dead cats, dogs rabbits etc all skinned labelled like they do in butchers. Would people get the resemblance between those classed as pets and those in fields bred especially for food?

catinapatchofsunshine, all I meant is that shock value of the experiment would be particularly acute with the specific example of cats and rabbits because they look almost identical on a butcher's block. And that it still wouldn't put me off. I'm aware that I feed my cats meat, and that they hunt.

MasterLen yes, sorry my post wasn't really a reply to yours so much as it occurred to me as a result of reading yours...

My point was more that the owners of carnivorous hunting inclined pets would make hypocritical vegans!

I wouldn't want to eat a land dwelling carnivore, nor an animal that had died of natural causes (except maybe road kill).

Sounds like a waste of time and money. The only good it would do is cause self-congratulation among some already smug people and will make sod all difference to the cattle in the factory.

Our local butcher is a posh one and has skinned rabbit carcases and whole deer hanging up a lot of the time. Not cats, to be fair, but then cats are vile predators (I'm about to own two) so perhaps all the game birds hung up at the butcher's represent the cat's prey. My mum used to draw and pluck our hens in the kitchen and I happily ate them.

Your friend does know that even vegetarianism is practised by less than 10% of the UK population, yes? I'm not saying that's good or bad but the vast majority of the population simply don't feel the way he does about dead flesh.

Indeed, catinapatchofsunshine, it's a difficult thing to square away. I know a few vegetarian cat owners (who aren't the kind of idiots to try and make their pets veggie too), some of them very dedicated rescuers. It seems part of their general benevolence towards animals.

I don't know how much of the pet food industry is a by-product of the human food industry that would otherwise be wasted.

So fed up with people like you wondering about how they can stop people eating meat. This was not just a general wondering it's you thinking you are better than people who eat meat because you don't, this was clearly a discussion as to how us terrible murdering meat eaters could be put off eating meat.

Are you having a bad day Thewhale? Don't come on this thread and have a pop at me the same way you did to others on the S&B thread.

I don't give a shit if you eat meat, you have bigger issues to deal with.

QueenOfIce
Don't know what thread that would be?
No one gives a shit if you were wondering wether people who eat meat would still eat meat if butchers stuck pets in their shops for us to eat.
What a patronising thing to say.

Would people get the resemblance between those classed as pets and those in fields bred especially for food?

I understand the resemblance.
I understand the connection.
I’ve made sure that from they were tiny my children understood the connection between living animals in the fields and the dead meat on their plate.

We all still happily eat meat.

And if society collapsed I’d hunt, kill and dress meat too if that was what kept my children fed.

And if we were starving I’d kill and eat a pet without compunction.

People who eat meat don't sit and think how could we get vegans to start eating meat. That's because no one gives a shit. The fact you are having the conversation in the first place clearly shows that's exactly what is on your mind. Get off your high horse and don't put such stood things on for people to read and comment on if you don't want their opinion

I don't know anyone stupid enough to not know where their meat comes from and thus would see your experiment as a light bulb moment.

Do vegetarians and vegans honestly think that people who eat meat are that stupid?

FancyADoughnut
No what they sit and wonder is how they can shame us into not eating meat, if we had to eat our pets, which I'll point out plenty of other countries do eat dogs and cats.
A lot of people eat rabbit, we keep rabbits as pets!

Thewhale2903 don't they know if I ate my own pet dog I wouldn't have anyone to go for a walk with or listen to me talking rubbish all day.

They Wpuld rather kill it, skin it and stick it in a window at an attempt to get you to stop eating a cow or a pig!

I wouldn’t eat a cat, they are predatory animals and more likely to carry disease.

We are hoping to start raising meat rabbits this summe

I have worked in abbatoirs. I have worked on farms. I have dissected all sorts of animals from small to large, companion animal to food animal. I have euthanased the same, both via injection and gun, from pets to farm animals.

The differences are actually far greater than you would realise, unless you have done the same. We choose to eat farmed species for reasons other than their basic anatomy.

Go into any butcher and you can see the carcases. In fact, I was in a restaurant recently that did on site butchery and you could see them.

I am not a vegetarian.

Even though our cat is hugely fat, still not sure he'd feed all my family in 1 meal.

Plus, cat is horrid. It's almost as unpleasant as swan. If cat tasted like venison, there would be a lot less cats around.

Do vegetarians and vegans honestly think that people who eat meat are that stupid?

Clear at least one vegetarian and one vegan do.

Please could a vegan explain to me what would happen to the animals of no-one ate them for food? I mean they aren't going to be kept in retirement homes are they?And they aren't going to be bred just to look pretty, so presumably they will become extinct?

QueenOfIce
Asked a question what was the S&B thread? I don't remember giving anyone a hard time?

www.bbc.com/future/story/20160926-what-would-happen-if-the-world-suddenly-went-vegetarian

Lois this article is interesting. If everyone became vegetarian it would be good for the rich West but not necessarily great for everyone else.

And yes, I’d think the vast majority of ruminants would have to be slaughtered. Small numbers would live wild or in zoos.

No it was more of musing on an experiment to see if meat eaters were so horrified to see animals they Class as pets would they then consider stopping eating meat?

Nope.

I often walk in my butchers point at something that maybe looks different and ask "what's that?"

The response either makes me say "ooh I'll try a bit of that, how would you recommend I cook it?" Or "er no, not for me"

I wouldn't see a meat cut from dog or cat any differently in this situation.

(And my local butcher DOES have skinned rabbits on display btw, lots do!)

Thanks for the link, I found that article really interesting. I think that there is evidence that rare breeds of pigs/cattle have been saved from extinction only because they have been bred for slaughter, often promoted as ( if I can call it this) high end produce. I was brought up on a farm and showing dead animals doesn't stop me eating meat. I believe we are omnivores by nature as are other primates. I do however feel that animals deserve better treatment.