Quote:
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by the views of man by which he judges his own behavior.
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Origin:
orig. stress var. of human
1. characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals, esp. for the suffering or distressed:
humane treatment of horses.
2. of or pertaining to humanistic studies.
From Dictionary.com
You actually make my point for me Skybird, though perhaps I failed to make it clear. You cannot judge what an animal feels - because you are incapable of feeling what it does in the manner it does - so the only way to relate is to project your own understandings of fear and pain that you have - onto the animal - thus creating a sense of compassion for that animal. Yet it is a projection - and not real.
You make a great deal of the known abuses that can and have occured in factory farming - yet the ones you bring up are not the norm for the industry. Yes, animals are genetically altered to weigh more, grow faster, etc. But does it break all their legs? Obviously not - or every turkey you could buy would have broken legs. The real issues here is does a person feel it is ok to raise an animal purely for the intent to eat it, and if so - what level of "care" should that animal be provided before it is slaughtered.
Again, make no mistake - I am not ok with mistreatment of animals regardless of the destiny that awaits them. But each person must decide for themselves - when it comes to food animals - what mistreatment consists of. Is it being herded onto a truck for transport? Is it being overfed? Is it being manipulated so it grows to full size in 6 weeks (as chickens are dealt with), etc...
The reality is - if you eat meat then there exists a demand - and where there is a demand, abuses to fill that demand are possible. The same applies in any other area - bank loans, gas prices, etc. There are laws that govern what is "societally" acceptable regarding factory farming - at least here in the US. Purchasers of such animals - when notified of abuses - stop dealing with companies that do not abide by the guidelines. Workers are fired when they act outside those guidelines.
In 2003 - PETA launched an 18 month investigation into chicken processing.... out of all the processors they dealt with - they found one instance of mistreatment at one location. While they were appalled - because of their own views regarding animal rights, by the "standard" workings of the industry, all but one investigated entity was within the guidelines.
Like PETA, you may disagree with what the laws are regarding the treatment of food animals - so work to change it. But don't take the worst (and rarest) instances to try and pain the entire industry with.
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Next time you pass a farm, hold for a while and watch the animals, and try to figure out if you could kill one of them with your own hands, and then deal with the cadaver until you got the steakl you desire so much for dinner. If you cannot do that yourself, if it is too hard a thing for you, then stop eating meat immediately. If you can do that, buy at a local source wehre there is no factory involved as far as possible, but the butcher does his job right in place, whereever possible.
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I disagree - your paying others to do something you may not be willing to do yourself. Unless you want to use the same logic that you should start composting your own crap - or stop taking dumps - because someone is keeping the sewer system running for you - so you don't have to. Maybe you shouldn't go see a doctor as you haven't been willing to go through medical school and watch a human cadaver be cut up?
For the record - I love venison. You can't buy it at a grocer or at most meat markets or butcher shops. I want venison, I go out and as my lady says, kill bambi. I dress it, with all the gore that is involved. I do the same thing with bear. So ultimately I could chop off that chicken's head and pluck it, or slaughter the cow or pig for a steak or a slab of bacon.
If your not happy with how animals are treated - then work within the system to change the rules that apply. The only other options are to accept it for what it is - or act like a moronic idiot (not that you would) like the leader of sea shephard, violating laws.