Do you care how the animals you eat are treated?

woodoo

I watched a very disturbing video last night about the treatment of animals in abattoirs, industrial farms etc.
Its below if you want to see it. I sat through it all even though i wanted to turn it off. I watched it through because somehow i felt i at least owed it to these animals to not just turn it off and pretend it doesn't happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eoF6w7R9oI

The question i have is do you care how the animals you eat are treated in these factories, boats, abattoirs, industrial farms etc. I'm sure most right thinking people would say yes they do care. But then that wouldn't be reflected in their buying habits in the supermarkets.


I think its unrealistic to expect the people of the world to all become vegetarians, so is there a way that we can ensure decent living condition for the animals we eat and a quick and humane method of slaughter for when they die. This article may be an example of how industrial scale farms can provide a decent life for farm animals.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2545647/Farm-ageddon-No-birds-No-bees-Our-countryside-laid-waste-And-billions-animals-never-blade-grass-book-warns-terrifying-threat-todays-gram-mega-farms.html

wazky

Treated?

As in appropriately seasoned before I eat them?

Phill Ewinn

Basted OP

Hello_MrFox

Not really.

Gran Hermano

No; as long as it doesn't affect the quality, taste or my health.

Mint Aero

Not really. As long as they're not bate, made stand in confined spaces for long periods of time etc. but sure why would anyone do that to an animal

The hippies can eat their 5 star organic treatment bull.

catallus

If I had to choose, I suppose I'd eat the unhappy ones ahead of the happy ones....

MadsL

Yes, if any chef mistreats my steak by overcooking it, I get very upset.

mikom

woodoo wrote: »

I watched a very disturbing video last night about the treatment of animals in abattoirs, industrial farms etc.
Its below if you want to see it. I sat through it all even though i wanted to turn it off. I watched it through because somehow i felt i at least owed it to these animals to not just turn it off and pretend it doesn't happen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eoF6w7R9oI

Let me guess.............. American shite

Vito Corleone

I've seen a few documentaries on that sort of thing (including the one that video is from). They are treated terribly in a lot of places but I just love meat too much to care.

woodoo

I think you should that the 11 mins to watch the video.

BanAllFirearms

Nope I couldn't care at all
They are all only there as a food source for us
So why should I care how they end up on my dinner plate and how they are treated when I'm going to end up eating them I think theres more important things to worry about to be honest

J_E

It's a consequence of mass produced meat. I know it's not 'right' but as long as I eat meat, I don't have a problem with it.

Sir Osis of Liver.

As long as theyre not kicked or stabbed to death Im not too bothered tbh.

Days 298

Hopefully someone kills them first.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

That would be fairly hypocritical, seeing as you're gonna cook them, chew them up, swallow them and sh*t them out.

As long as it's not black mullet, or rodent I'm being served up I couldn't care less, once it's fresh.

dazzler454

The fanatic carnivore that I am I hold quite an odd soft side for the animals that I eat. I mean to think they torture Chickens/Ducks/Cows/Geese in such a manner is sickening, however the taste is not so. I can't resist!!

Gran Hermano

woodoo wrote: »

I think you should that the 11 mins to watch the video.

Someone should set up a Facebook campaign.
We could save a cow with every like

woodoo

When all the attention seeking dies down maybe we will see a serious response.

Jester252

I do, most of the meat I eat I can trace back to the farmer who raised it.

Gran Hermano

Alternatively we could save the sermons for the religious fora.

Busted Flat.

Watched a bird being caught by a cat and then eaten, a while back I seen a sparrow hawk take a bird out of the air. Its called the food chain, which the clowns in the green party refuse too accept.

woodoo

Busted Flat. wrote: »

Watched a bird being caught by a cat and then eaten, a while back I seen a sparrow hawk take a bird out of the air. Its called the food chain, which the clowns in the green party refuse too accept.

This thread isn't about people not eating meat. Its about treating the animals we do want to eat less cruelly. So they don't live an absolutely miserable existence before arriving on our plates.

Aphex

Busted Flat. wrote: »

Watched a bird being caught by a cat and then eaten, a while back I seen a sparrow hawk take a bird out of the air. Its called the food chain, which the clowns in the green party refuse too accept.

A cat or a sparrow can't go to Tesco.

Doctor Ironfist

Busted Flat. wrote: »

Watched a bird being caught by a cat and then eaten, a while back I seen a sparrow hawk take a bird out of the air. Its called the food chain, which the clowns in the green party refuse too accept.

Do you really expect us to swallow this tripe?

Busted Flat.

woodoo wrote: »

This thread isn't about people not eating meat. Its about treating the animals we do want to eat less cruelly. So they don't live an absolutely miserable existence before arriving on our plates.

What do you suggest having an inspector in every cow shed in the country. They would be very busy in the winter months.

brummytom

Not really. If I'm happy for them to be slaughtered for me to feast on, I can't pretend to be moralistic about their welfare beforehand.

Magnetics

I do and I don't understand how so many people don't give a ****. Always do my best to buy meat that I know hasn't been factory farmed and always try to buy Irish

Busted Flat.

Magnetics wrote: »

I do and I don't understand how so many people don't give a ****. Always do my best to buy meat that I know hasn't been factory farmed and always try to buy Irish

:D

Mountainsandh

I do and would buy free range eggs mostly, it's more difficult to make a choice as regards beef etc... I know from living surrounded by farmers that their animals at least are very well treated and I would guess that is the case for most animals in Ireland, so if I can afford it I buy Irish.
I've heard that abattoirs' standards vary widely, I would be happy to boycott meat from animals slaughtered in cruel abattoirs if I was able to distinguish.

woodoo

Magnetics wrote: »

I do and I don't understand how so many people don't give a ****. Always do my best to buy meat that I know hasn't been factory farmed and always try to buy Irish

There does seem to be a bit of uneasy bravado about peoples attitudes when the subject comes up. I'm sure there is a little bit of guilt involved.

DoozerT6

There are videos on youtube showing how ducks and geese are force-fed to produce foie gras. It's awful to watch. Now that truly is unnecessary suffering, solely to benefit our stomachs.

coin

Most peoples knowledge of meat extends to a plastic package they get in the refrigerated aisle in tesco.

Opinions might be different if they went to the farm or actually killed an animal themselves I'd imagine.

JupiterKid

Yes, I would prefer if the animals that end up on my dinner plate are treated as humanely as possible. Happier animals IMO makes for tastier meat.

PizzamanIRL

Not really. I hope they don't get treated badly but if they do then that's out of my control. I don't look at the breast of chicken i'm about to scoff down me worrying about how it lived its final days.

Pumpkinseeds

I don't eat meat.

PizzamanIRL

JupiterKid wrote: »

Happier animals IMO makes for tastier meat.

Yep. A happy cow is a tasty cow.

Gael23

They should be treated humanely and with respect of course. I cant say i think about the animal as im eating my dinner though

SamAK

If abbatoirs had glass walls some of the attitudes here might change slightly.

I went to one in Cahir, Co Tipp, back when I was about 12 or so, my friends dad was a farmer and was taking a cow there that he'd sold.

Even now, 15 years on, I still vividly remember the sounds, the horrific smell, the conveyor belts loaded with organs and the gutters channeling sh1t and stomach contents away to who-knows-where, and the noises of all those cows that were well aware of their fate.

All that aside, has anyone considered how impractical and wasteful the process of meat farming is? We grow food, to feed to the animals that we eventually eat ourselves. In Ireland it's pasture, green grass or whatever(consider that Ireland was roughly 90% forest 'back in the day', and what is it now?)....but in other countries like the USA, hundreds of thousands of acres of the earth have been deforested or otherwise cleared to allow millions/billions of animals to graze. This in turn leads to desertification. Desertification is a phenomenon caused by overgrazing, and can/does lead to changes in climatic conditions.

I still eat meat, and that's no surprise. After all, monkey see, monkey do. But in the last few years I've done some serious thinking about the knock on effects of mass animal farming, and nowadays I can easily go several days without having any meat in my diet. Probably because I can actually be bothered to make an effort and think of perfectly tasty and nutritious meals that don't revolve around dead animal. I eat much, much less meat than I did a year ago, and i'm working towards quitting it altogether. It's hard, being a broke student living in a box in the city, to eat healthily and ethically. It's incredibly hard to go against the grain, especially so with the meat-eating issue.

A lot of the comments here are flippant, and that's not a surprise either, given the 'out of sight, out of mind' attitude that is sadly so rife among the population. We're disconnected, and de-sensitized, and I think that the 'anti-hippy, green loony' attitude is just a little bit narrow minded.

We need to consider the bigger picture.

Busted Flat.

Anyone give a thought to the poor lobster.

ElecKtrA

I cannot bring myself to watch the video clip.....I think it would probably encourage me to go vegetarian...I can't understand cruelty to animals! I eat meat and it would make be sick to know if an animal was mistreated before their impeding death!!

Piper101

I couldn't watch the video clip either, it's documentaries like that that made me switch to vegetarianism a couple of months ago. I care very much that animals are treated and if needs be slaughtered humanely. Weirdly I'm not a big animal fan just don't like the thoughts of a vulnerable living thing being treated so horribly.

mixery

coin wrote: »

Most peoples knowledge of meat extends to a plastic package they get in the refrigerated aisle in tesco.

Opinions might be different if they went to the farm or actually killed an animal themselves I'd imagine.

Farmers and meat processing factory workers see it everyday and somehow they don't go vegetarian.

Call Me Jimmy

woodoo wrote: »

When all the attention seeking dies down maybe we will see a serious response.

I think the animals who have suffered and are suffering will suffer less because you watched them suffer

The other fella

It really is terrible the way animals are treated in mass farming.Yes,animals are a food source and are naturally intended to be.But mass confinement and forced artificial feeding methods are,or should be,seen as barbaric and made illegal.I eat meat (a lot) but i would prefer serious changes in how it gets to my plate.

woodoo

ElecKtrA wrote: »

I cannot bring myself to watch the video clip.....I think it would probably encourage me to go vegetarian...I can't understand cruelty to animals! I eat meat and it would make be sick to know if an animal was mistreated before their impeding death!!

If we could find a way to label food so that we are sure it has been reared well and killed humanely as possible then that would be good enough for me. Its unrealistic to expect people to stop eating meat altogether. But if there was enough pressure and interest then an industry would arise providing ethically sourced meat.

I'd urge you to watch it because you won't forget it in a weeks time and it might change they way you buy meat.

woodoo

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

I think the animals who have suffered and are suffering will suffer less because you watched them suffer

Maybe they will suffer less in the future if enough of us watch it and change they way we buy meat. If you buy meat from your local butcher and he can assure you it was raised by a particular farmer who treats his animals well. Or came from a responsible abattoir than that is a good start.

Vito Corleone

ElecKtrA wrote: »

I cannot bring myself to watch the video clip.....

It's really not that bad.

whatdoicare

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the majority of animals here free range? My uncles don't feed their cows and sheep anything other than grass or that fermented stuff with a top up of feed. Ireland has pretty much all year round green pastures. They send their animals off into the fields all day and bring them back into their heated shed at night...... What's wrong with that? Seems like a happy life for an animal to me.

I don't know anything about abattoirs except what was on that TV show and I saw nothing awful about that. Looked humane to me. So, I'm happy enough with that. My uncles see it up close most weeks and see nothing awful about it.

I'm happy to keep eating meat.

mixery

whatdoicare wrote: »

that fermented stuff

Silage .

woodoo

whatdoicare wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the majority of animals here free range? My uncles don't feed their cows and sheep anything other than grass or that fermented stuff with a top up of feed. Ireland has pretty much all year round green pastures. They send their animals off into the fields all day and bring them back into their heated shed at night...... What's wrong with that? Seems like a happy life for an animal to me.

I don't know anything about abattoirs except what was on that TV show and I saw nothing awful about that. Looked humane to me. So, I'm happy enough with that. My uncles see it up close most weeks and see nothing awful about it.

I'm happy to keep eating meat.

Its the processed meat from abroad i'd be concerned about.