But the pictures creep into our lives and if you are the curious sort, like I am, you dig a bit deeper. And I learned (perhaps this should have been obvious to be, I just never imagined it) that lamb really is the baby sheeps, not the adults. And veal really is the baby cows. And the picture I am guilty of laughing at too- the one with a cow stuck halfway over a fence? There is a story behind it. That's a mother cow trying to go after her babies who were taken away. I would do the same.
In all the controversy I've found myself frustrated by some things. First- the carnivores who get all judgy about the herbivores and vice versa. And then the belief that it has to be one way or the other- that all meat products are cruelly gotten and none should be eaten. I believe there is a middle ground. I can't feel right supporting the places who give the animals horrible poor quality of life. I still support them in my purchases, but my goal is not to.
But what if we were to free all the domesticated animals and not eat any things they produce or their meat? There have, to my knowledge, never been wild herds of chickens roaming the fields. While the pigs would go back to being wild, mean things, the chickens would go extinct. And why do this when there are animals who can live very happy lives with humans. If a family has some goats and they milk the momma goat after the babies are done nursing, than it hurts no one and the goats have warm, sheltered, happy lives. They sure don't mind being "exploited" for their brush clearing abilities! And the sheep can be warm and sheltered with food provided as well- When its done kindly I don't think they mind one bit giving up their winter coats in the spring.
And if hunters are using as much of the animal as possible and not giving them a long and horrible death than why not? These animals are allowed to grow up in the wild, doing their little animal thing.
I have an uncle who raises cows. Those happy cows are roaming about and named and live very happy little cow lives. Some will let you pet them while they eat. And then periodically he has them butchered. They are killed humanely and the meat is free of antibiotics and all that nastiness. Best of all, while I hate to think of them dying, I remember looking into their happy eyes and watching them laze about in the sun and I know they had a good time for a cow. Its people like that I want to support.
I get tired of people vehemently saying there is only one way or another. In this issue, as in many others, I believe there is a lot of middle ground.
