The Elephants Got Me Thinking

I used to ignore at the abuse claims like those leveled against the circus — but now I think about my dogs and how I wouldn’t treat them that way. I’m not against keeping animals, whether it be for pets, to do work, or as an agricultural product, but there’s no excuse for it not doing it humanely.

Some people will say that there’s no humane way to kill and eat an animal, that we’re just tricking ourselves into feeling good when we insist on ethical farming practices. I understand that viewpoint and it weighs heavily on me.

Take these pigs for example.

They are treated better than any pigs you’ve ever seen and spend the day rooting around for whatever it is pigs enjoy rooting around for. The location of their pen is peridically rotated so they have new rooting territory a couple of times a week. When I stopped to look at them and take their picture, they seemed genuinely satisfied. But despite all that, in the end they will be eaten.

I’m struggling with this, and that’s good. Maybe the best I can hope for is finding a place where I’m comfortable with my food, because I’m increasingly uncomfortable with what we’ve done to keep up with our demand for meat.

4 thoughts on “The Elephants Got Me Thinking

  1. Highly recommended book to read while wrestling with these issues: http://www.amazon.com/Some-We-Love-Hate-Eat/dp/0061730866

    I ate no terrestrial meat for about a dozen years, after I had developed the same sort of inability to happily reconcile “pig” with “pork” or “cow” with “beef,” but then I decided after my Dad passed suddenly and unexpectedly that I didn’t want to end up in a hospital bed someday wishing I had eaten more hot dogs . . . so now I eat what I want, and try to compartmentalize. The book referenced above does a great job covering how and why folks do that, as well as such interesting topics as cock-fighting, animal hoarders, etc., etc. A really good read.

    1. I don’t see giving it up, but I might become one of these people who wants to know where his chicken lived and how it spent its days.

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