On Sun, 07 Oct 2007 00:24:26 -0400, Tom Bri <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Folks.
>
> I can sympathize, I used to find cute animals difficult to hunt. Don't
> know
> exactly why I changed, but the thought does not bother me now.
I intend to eat my neighbours - a family of beavers. They don't look so
cute after six weeks of tearing a hole in their dam which they mend
overnight.
>
> I have no trouble eating horse, dog or whatever. Never actually had dog,
> but
> I don't see why I shouldn't. I have had whale.
It's like there is a social contract between us and our domesticated
livestock. We care for them, and they provide us with life by means of the
flesh of some of them; this does not apply to pets. Many people see horse
and dog as pets. Different contract.
>
> As for the stress hormones, that doesn't worry me either, from a health
> standpoint. I do think animals should be treated with the least practical
> cruelty, so some shipping and killing methods are out, but actually
> eating
> animals that were stressed? No problem.
I'm guessing that animals experience shock, such that we feel no pain
after a serious injury (stress) for some minutes (about 20?), so the meat
should not be full of pain-generated hormones.
A lot of naturally hunted animals
> have been stressed by being chased and drug down by predators, or wounded
> and hunted down by human predators over hours. Quick, clean kills were
> invented along with gunpowder, or the occasional lucky bow-shot.
IMHO you underestimate the skill of our paleo ancestors. I think that they
were capable of lurking and pouncing. The flesh of exhausted animals,
caused by running after them, is not worth eating.
Anyway they can run faster than us, except for porcupine and mice.
>
> Why not eat horses? Just because they are pretty and fun to ride? Not
> trying
> to be rude here, but horse people puzzle me.
>
They see horses as pets.
I knew a man who grew up as a farm boy. He raised a flock of geese when I
knew him. Broke the farmers' rule by making pets of them. When it came
time to slaughter, he could not do it, and could not eat their flesh
either. No Christmas goose. :(
William
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