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Is it legal to kill, cook & eat your own pet?

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Comments

  • #62
    Noreen1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,654 ✭✭✭Noreen1


    It is illegal to kill your own animal. Animal welfare laws are very definite on that.
    Any animal killed for human consumption must be slaughtered in a humane fashion, in a registered slaughterhouse.

    As to how the local butcher (assuming he has a slaughter licence) would react to being asked to slaughter a dog........ The mind boggles :eek::D

    On a different note, I'd personally prefer to eat meat from an animal that has enjoyed a life of humane treatment, pet or otherwise, than one that might never seen daylight, or known one kind gesture from a human.

    I suppose it all depends on your opinion - but I watched a show on RTE last year called "Pig Business" - and I haven't eaten pork since, unless I know the source of the meat. "Cruelty" wouldn't even begin to describe what those poor animals went through. Ugh!!

    Noreen


  • #63
    It wasn't me!
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,034 ✭✭✭✭It wasn't me!


    Noreen1 wrote: »
    It is illegal to kill your own animal. Animal welfare laws are very definite on that.
    Any animal killed for human consumption must be slaughtered in a humane fashion, in a registered slaughterhouse.

    Could you point to the law please? This is not true. There are standards with regard to the commercial preparation of meat, but nothing requires all meat to be killed in a slaughterhouse. If I am required to shoot more deer than I can personally use to fulfill my cull plan, the rest will go to a game dealer after I've filled any hungry friends' freezers. They will have been shot on mountains and in valleys, far from any slaughterhouse, but it's perfectly legal. There are requirements with regard to slaughterhouses, but that's a different end of the stick.

    There's nothing illegal about killing an animal you own yourself provided it's done in a humane fashion. It's worth noting that humane doesn't mean pretty, either. Blunt force trauma with a heavy hammer will make a hell of a mess, but it's totally humane. Once you've decided to kill something, going half-arsed about it by trying to keep everything neat and tidy is a bit perverse - it's not a neat and tidy business. I'm mentioning this because I seem to recall (and I might be wrong here) some sort of prosecution for someone who killed unwanted pups with a hammer.


  • #64
    Coriolanus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,879 ✭✭✭Coriolanus


    It wasn't me! wrote: »
    I'm mentioning this because I seem to recall (and I might be wrong here) some sort of prosecution for someone who killed unwanted pups with a hammer.
    It was in Canada, but yeah, I remember that.
    Puppies killed with a hammer

    [URL="javascript://"]CLOSE [X][/URL]

    Gwen Young, a pet owner and volunteer at the Oromocto, New Brunswick SPCA, is outraged that a man from Minto, New Brunswick was acquitted Tuesday of killing five small dogs, even though he admitted to hitting them on the head with a hammer.

    "It's an absolute shock to think this would be OK in today's society," Young said Wednesday.

    "Right across Canada for years, animal rights activists and [URL="javascript://"]More..[/URL] SPCA people have been talking and arguing and fighting with political powers that be to change the system. They have been dragging their feet for years."

    Keith Barton, 73, was found not guilty on five counts under Section 446 of the Criminal Code of Canada of killing a dog when he appeared in Burton provincial court Tuesday.

    The charges were laid in connection with a visit to his kennel by SPCA officers March 6, 2008. The SPCA was preparing to seize the animals.

    Instead of letting that happen, Barton opted to use a hammer to kill the Pomeranians. Only one survived.

    Barton was found guilty of one count of injuring a dog under the Criminal Code and of three counts of failing to provide adequate water for the animals under the provincial SPCA Act.

    Judge Patricia Cumming said as the law stands in Canada, animals are the property of the owner and that person may dispose of that property providing it doesn't cause unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal.


  • #65
    Noreen1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,654 ✭✭✭Noreen1


    It wasn't me! wrote: »
    Could you point to the law please? This is not true. There are standards with regard to the commercial preparation of meat, but nothing requires all meat to be killed in a slaughterhouse. If I am required to shoot more deer than I can personally use to fulfill my cull plan, the rest will go to a game dealer after I've filled any hungry friends' freezers. They will have been shot on mountains and in valleys, far from any slaughterhouse, but it's perfectly legal. There are requirements with regard to slaughterhouses, but that's a different end of the stick.

    There's nothing illegal about killing an animal you own yourself provided it's done in a humane fashion. It's worth noting that humane doesn't mean pretty, either. Blunt force trauma with a heavy hammer will make a hell of a mess, but it's totally humane. Once you've decided to kill something, going half-arsed about it by trying to keep everything neat and tidy is a bit perverse - it's not a neat and tidy business. I'm mentioning this because I seem to recall (and I might be wrong here) some sort of prosecution for someone who killed unwanted pups with a hammer.

    I was assuming the OP didn't have a pet deer lol. Deer are classified as "game" afaik, and different legislation would apply. I have no idea how the law is applied to cats, dogs or goldfish, either, BTW.:)

    However, for the average pet pig, lamb, or bovine, this would apply:


    6. A person shall not have in his or her possession without lawful authority a product of animal origin unless the product complies with the food law of the European Communities.
    from The Irish Statute Book,
    S.I. No. 820/2004 — European Communities (Trade in The  Production, Processing, Distribution and Introduction of Products of  Animal Origin For Human Consumption) Regulations 2004



    Which means you have to comply with animal welfare legislation, re: Housing, Feeding, Veterinary care etc., and have to be registered with Dept. of Agriculture, and have a Herd number for keeping farm animals.
    This herd number is subject to an inspection by an officer from the Dept. of Agriculture, re housing, feed, medication etc. Then you have to comply with legislation re: Humane killing of said animal/s.

    There is probably a lot more legislation that I am not aware of - I just happen to know this much because someone I know raised two pigs, then decided to take them to the butcher for slaughter, and had to have a herd number. So, he wound up with a raft of paperwork to contend with.

    AFAIK, the main focus is not on the actual killing of the animal, it is on the fitness for Human consumption (or not:D) - of the meat - which is why a vet has to examine the carcass at a slaughterhouse, for instance.

    I'm pretty sure that the EU have disease control laws as well, to prevent anyone unwittingly transmitting a disease from a slaughtered animal - and no, I'm not going to research them.:D:D

    I have no idea how all of the above relates to deer, but the next time you have a surplus of venison, I'd like to try some.......

    Noreen


  • #66
    ChocolateSauce
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,892 ✭✭✭ChocolateSauce


    Game, fish, cats, dogs, horses, cows; it's all the same: animals. Either is is okay to kill (humanely) and eat them all or it isn't okay to kill and eat any of them.


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  • #67
    rgt320q
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 573 ✭✭✭rgt320q


    In the words of Clint Eastwood, "Just keep your hands off my dog."


  • #68
    DeVore
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,387 ✭✭✭✭DeVore


    You know we have a Legal Discussion forum (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=633) if anyone of you wanted to pose the questions there....


    DeV.


  • #69
    generalmiaow
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 865 ✭✭✭generalmiaow


    Noreen1 wrote: »
    I have no idea how the law is applied to cats, dogs or goldfish, either, BTW.:)

    This is the question at hand, though. Obviously no one will be prosecuted for eating their own goldfish, but is this covered by the animal welfare laws? I can't seem to find anything relevant to the OP's cat-eating aspirations.

    This makes it legal for a garda to kill a cat or dog that has been fatally injured, obviously that is a different case. It's part of an amendment of the protection of animals act which predates independence but this is a cached copy of it. It legally defines a knacker. It says nothing about killing cats though, but plenty about causing suffering and so on.


  • #70
    Dunjohn
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,345 ✭✭✭Dunjohn


    Is it legal for pets to eat each other? 'Cuz I have a budgie but I'm also looking after my sister's boxer dog and the political situation there is delicate.


  • #71
    Noreen1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,654 ✭✭✭Noreen1


    ChocolateSauce wrote: »
    Game, fish, cats, dogs, horses, cows; it's all the same: animals. Either is is okay to kill (humanely) and eat them all or it isn't okay to kill and eat any of them.

    Try telling that to the guys who write the laws, lol. In fairness, different animals may present a Health threat to other animals through cross-contamination. (BSE for instance)

    Then again, some animal diseases are transferable to humans, and may mutate to infect other animals.

    So there's disease control (other herds/flocks) and food safety/employee safety regulations to consider.

    After that, there's animal welfare law. Pretty strict on transportation, rest periods, not overstressing the animal before slaughter (in a slaughterhouse, anyway!) - and way down the bottom of the list is the actual slaughter process, itself.

    The morals of the thing are an entirely different matter to the legal issues.
    Personally, I have no problem with an animal being killed for food, provided it suffers as little as possible. I wouldn't eat a cat, dog, or horse, though.
    What annoys me is when I see needless cruelty in some intensive farms, meaning an animal spends its whole life suffering. That's just wrong!! No amount of "humane" regulations for the slaughter process can make that morally acceptable.

    Noreen


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  • #72
    Noreen1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,654 ✭✭✭Noreen1


    generalmiaow wrote: »
    This is the question at hand, though. Obviously no one will be prosecuted for eating their own goldfish, but is this covered by the animal welfare laws? I can't seem to find anything relevant to the OP's cat-eating aspirations.

    This makes it legal for a garda to kill a cat or dog that has been fatally injured, obviously that is a different case. It's part of an amendment of the protection of animals act which predates independence but this is a cached copy of it. It legally defines a knacker. It says nothing about killing cats though, but plenty about causing suffering and so on.

    Thanks for the link. I couldn't find that one, though I knew that something along those lines existed.

    I'm not sure the OP wants to eat his/her cat. The word used was pet.:D:D
    I was raised on a farm, and we sometimes ended up with pet lambs, because the sheep had triplets or whatever. Sometimes they were kept as breeding stock, sometimes they were sold, and probably ended up in a butchers.
    I also know people who keep a couple of pigs. They are raised pretty much as pets, in the sense that they are bought when very young, and more or less hand-reared, and held in very genuine affection by the owner - but they do end up in the slaughterhouse...
    It depends what kind of pet the OP has, and what his/her definition of "pet" is.

    Noreen


  • #73
    Piste
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,440 ✭✭✭✭Piste


    ChocolateSauce wrote: »
    Game, fish, cats, dogs, horses, cows; it's all the same: animals. Either is is okay to kill (humanely) and eat them all or it isn't okay to kill and eat any of them.

    People are animals, so no it's not the same. I would have no problem swatting a mosquito, but I wouldn't kill a dog. Some people place different value on different animals.


  • #74
    jay93
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,323 ✭✭✭jay93


    all killings of animals should be illegal its sick . we think we are superior to them when we are not its stupid ....how would you like it if another animal had the ability to slice us up and kill us :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: humans are sick


  • #75
    Precious flower
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,812 ✭✭✭Precious flower


    Doni Mack wrote: »
    Obviously I mean butcher them correctly etc....
    Is the recession getting to ya bhoy? :p


  • #76
    Max Power1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,179 ✭✭✭✭Max Power1


    jay93 wrote: »
    all killings of animals should be illegal its sick . we think we are superior to them when we are not its stupid ....how would you like it if another animal had the ability to slice us up and kill us :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: humans are sick
    hows that burger/steak/insert animal derived product going then?


  • #77
    OutlawPete
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,689 ✭✭✭✭OutlawPete


    jay93 wrote: »
    all killings of animals should be illegal its sick . we think we are superior to them when we are not its stupid ....how would you like it if another animal had the ability to slice us up and kill us :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: humans are sick

    What do you eat Jay? :)


  • #78
    Noreen1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,654 ✭✭✭Noreen1


    jay93 wrote: »
    all killings of animals should be illegal its sick . we think we are superior to them when we are not its stupid ....how would you like it if another animal had the ability to slice us up and kill us :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: humans are sick

    Ehhh..... Bears, Lions, Tigers.........
    All of them have been known to "slice us up and kill us" - and eat people, too!

    If you're vegetarian or vegan, then I respect your choice on the matter. But others are entitled to the same respect by you. I don't agree with you calling humans "sick", because they don't make the same choice you have........

    Noreen


  • #79
    Precious flower
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,812 ✭✭✭Precious flower


    jay93 wrote: »
    all killings of animals should be illegal its sick . we think we are superior to them when we are not its stupid ....how would you like it if another animal had the ability to slice us up and kill us :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: humans are sick

    Aren't we lucky we beat them too it then huh?;)


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