how much do you really love and care about animals???

I don't understand how people can say they love animals and then go ahead and eat a hotdog, wear a leather belt, go to a zoo or circus and use products that arent cruelty free.
i just don't get it
is it that cows, chickens, pigs, cute little lab rats and bunnies aren't important enough ?
don't say you love animals then, because you don't kill someone you love, thats for maniacs. do you?
i have this friend that talks about protecting animal habitats and and endangerd species, talks about specials and documentaries about animals and then goes ahead and eats one while hes watching it. i asked him how could he do that... he says that pigs, cows and chickens are fabricated for the purpose of eating them, and that thats what they are here for.
i just think its totally hipocritical.


just want to hear diferent views on this.
i don't want to start a fight, so please, behave

 

i totally agree with you.....thats why im a vegan.

Paris Hilton has been quoted over and over saying how she loves animals so much and she loved them since she was little. well, she wears fur and leather and eats meat.......she seems to think her chihuahua is great accessory to herself, and she's just said in a magazine how this christmas she is going to get herself a tiger and keep it in her apartment in vegas since theres are laws against exotic animals in los angeles. .....keeping a wild animal in a vegas apartment!!????
i guess money cant buy you intelligence or common sense.

(my mother buys all those celeb magazines so i end up hearing everything she's read everyweek)

 

http://www.magusbooks.com/catalog/searchframe.asp?detail=0965762807

 

i agree with you - but i also understand that people DO love animals but can still use them, i love animals but i still eat meat, i dont wear fur - because the whole animal isnt used and the way they kill it is wrong - but leather the whole animal is normally used so thats not as bad. People can still care alot for animals and still eat them

 

does it bother you how animals are forced to live and are treated before they are killed?

 

Yes of course it does - i hate the fact that chicken are forced into cages where they cant even spread their wings, cows are milked for ages and ages, the way they are treated like this for months then forced into a lorry and squashed and then taken to a place to be killed. So yes it does. And yes i know what happens - i try and eat as much free-range as possible though

 

I am not an animal lover.

I have a great respect for animals, and the rights they do/should have. So am an activist in that respect and working towards veganism (am already vegetarian). Have a great attachment to my companion rabbits, and look out for their welfare. Still I don't ever profess to 'love animals'. It seems a bit shallow and patronising to me, as if their whole purpose is just to be cute and adored/adorable. It's too all encompassing a term anyway, there are plenty of animals I haven't formed an attachment to for whatever reason, or never even met. Same with people, I would still uphold their rights but could only truly 'love' those I know and chose to hold in that regard.

That and most 'animal lovers' are really just 'lovers of their chosen species', and happy to exploit and abuse the rest (by proxy of course). So yes I do totally agree with you. It's an attitude I definetly do not want to be associated with.
Can accept they would think like that, and why. Also know that I don't, so shall be honest.

 

well if it were not for zoos many animals would be extinct..

 

Isn't this thread better for the vegetarian forum?
I know cows are cool, we got three trained oxen at the park where I work, cattle aren't stupid or anything. But I'll still eat meat, I like it too much. I buy free-range meat because I do care how animals are treated, however if they've been treated well during their lives it doesn't bother me too much to eat them.
And zoo's in most Western countries treat their animals quite well, far most of the animals have lots of room, good food, good veterinary care... especially the threatened species that are in the breeding programs. Most wild animals won't breed if they aren't happy (yes, with some exceptions, mice & rabbits and the like I think will always do it ). Also, we need zoo's for educational purposes. One of the problems we have with people maltreating production animals is that people don't realise where meat, milk, eggs and leather comes from -sometimes literally. Documentaries on television are cool, but seeing a real animal is just better.

 

I love animals, have worked in rescue and yeah I still eat animal protein on occasion. And I love animals.

What I don't love are people who tell me I'm a bad person if I'm not exactly like them. You know, sort of like nazis did.

Try a little tolerance.

 

I have 3 very pampered guinea pigs. They rule my household. Us fur-less family members have been well-trained that a plastic bag may not be rustled, nor a paper bag enter the house without the kings of the living room being given their taxes... fresh veggies & nose-kisses all the way 'round. And all visitors to our home must first make their appearance before the boys, to gain their approval before moving freely about the house. The boys can & will protest LOUDLY if these demands are not met.

I have a leather jacket. I wear it because I was given it before I felt it was wrong to wear leather, and I continue to wear it because now that the cow is dead, I want to make sure that his hide was used up thoroughly... I guess so he didn't die in vain? So far I've been wearing it for 13 years. And it's still going strong. No, I will not buy another one. But I just can't justify throwing this poor dead cow away. It would be like adding insult to injury.

I am also a member of the Minnesota Zoo. My husband & I have had a membership there for longer than we've been married. I feel that the species survival programs, and the rehabilitation & reintroduction programs in force in this & many other large zoos around the country do more help than harm. Smaller zoos are a different story. They just don't have the funding to help as much. But larger zoos can & do make a difference IMHO.

I am now a vegetarian. When I ate meat, I was careful to only buy from small local farms where I personally could see how the animals were cared for. Did it make it "right?" I don't know, but it definitely made me feel better.

Sorry, guess that doesn't add up to making a lot of sense. I've got a lot of rambling thoughts about this, and one whopper of a migraine right now. I guess my point was that a lot of things depend on how much you see/know about the circumstances. Do I hate animals because I wear a leather jacket? No, but someone could easily see it that way.
love,
mom

 

Just throwing a thought into the pot, how many of those that say they love/respect animals would include insects and the like in this?

 

me.

i dont "love" incests in that i dont find them cute or fasinating and i dont get that warm fuzzy 'i just wanna hug you' feeling when i see one. but they are living creatures that we share this earth with and i respect them.....if i find one in my home, even though it might gross me out to get near a bug sometimes, i still pick it up gentley and put it outdoors.

 

i take bugs outside too

 

zombie: I am very tolerant, I just find it odd. and wanted to hear other opinions. I met my bf 8 years ago and he ate meat during most of our relationship, he just recently became vegetarian... so that is prety tolerant to me
actualy I don't have any vegetarian friends or family...


I didn't make this thread on the vegi board cause there everyone is vegi so I would have the opinions I wanted... the post have been diverse, and thats what i was looking for.

it's not a hatter thread.

i find it more acceptable if you just eat meat because some ppl se it as necesary (i don't) but to wear fur or leather to me is hipocritical... there is no reason to...

 

no roach pray in my house... i try to keep it clean to avoid confrontations. i try to catch them with a cup before the cats tear him apart... usually they find them first... my little hunters.

with ants I use catnip... wich also keept the cats happy. i read catnip keeps ants away. Ants where a big big problem in my last apartment because they were red ants... i would speep them outside, I know maybe I hurt a few but what could I do... besides they bit me a couple of times too. karma.

i always help spiders out of the sink and shower... i feel terrible when i wet them by mistake and they go down the drain

i try my best

 

insects dont belong in my house and I kill them period..except for spiders which if they are not too big I tend to leave alone so they can eat other insects

 

Bugs? I'm alright with most bugs. But mosquitoes die if they land on me, and flies in my house get killed. If I won't catch a disease from it or it's outside, I'll give it some space though.
love,
mom

 

I eat animals but I also love them as creatures on this planet. I tend to eat a lot more cow products then I do chicken/turkey/pig products. I'm a picky eater. I can't help what I do and don't love as far as taste goes. It would be really hard for me to come up with a diet that I didn't absolutely hate the taste of it. If I could grow out of my picky eating habits and I had the money to afford the foods that would give me a ballanced diet, I'd probably highly consider it. Right now I don't even buy most of my food and most health food stores don't take foodstamps since I'm currently laid off for the winter.

I don't wear fur. I don't think it looks good at all. I used to have a leather jacket a long time ago but I just didn't like it (it was a beautiful jacket, but after my grandma died and I touched her and she felt like leather, I've always been a bit creeped out by the feeling).

Here's a thought. What about Indians (I'm talking about the way things were before America was settled). They ate meat but were known as some of the most appreciative people towards animals. They litterally worship animals. They used up all of the animal to show that no waste would be made of them. Does that make them hypocrites?

Other animals eat meat. It's natural. I don't think it's natural to raise an animal for the sole purpose of the slaughter. If it was up to me, I'd have natural reserves set up where people go and hunt for their food. Maybe they would appreciate the animal a lot more if they had to put some effort and actually see the animal they they were going to eat. I think people would waste a lot less animal products.

 

Sustainable farming was developed for a reason.

I don't see why animals lovers have to choose a vegetarian lifestyle. Humans will affect animal welfare regardless of which diet they choose. I do agree that farming methods can, and should, be hugely updated and improved though.

Also, with animal products it's a little tough. Animals that are killed solely for their fur etc is wrong in my opinion, but on the othe hand, if an animal is farmed for their meat, i dont see why the hide is discarded too. We should make use of as much as that animal as possible. Otherwise it's a waste. (as wiggy and some others have mentioned)

And yeah, Circus's are bad, but Zoos are essential for many species' surival.