As urban farming becomes more popular more and more people are beginning to raise livestock. First is the chickens for eggs and then, for some, it continues on to include other types of livestock including meat animals. A lot of us raise meat animals so that we no longer have to depend on Big Ag’s Industrialized Factory Feedlots for our meat. We want to know that our animals have been treated kindly, not just humanely, and we want to know what they’ve eaten and that their death was as fast and as painless as possible. I’ve written many times about my views on meat eating and slaughtering our animals.
But recently I’ve noticed a trend that I find disturbing. People talking about how exciting and “thrilling” it is to slaughter animals. About how much they loved the animal while it was alive but that they’ll love it more on the table. I’ve seen posts titled “The Joy of Chicken Slaughtering,” and seen slaughtering referred to as “better than skydiving.” I’m purposely not linking to these posts because I don’t want to give these people undeserved traffic.
Granted there are far more posts out there about people stating that it’s not an enjoyable task but those aren’t the ones that get seen by city officials or animal rights activists. They zero in on the posts of people saying how exciting it is and then we all get painted as violent people. But this is just a minor problem I see with this attitude towards animal slaughter (though it has the ability to affect all of us that produce our own meat).
My biggest issue is the lack of respect I see for these animals. Taking a life should never be easy and definitely not “better than skydiving.” Taking a life shouldn’t be taken lightly nor should it be viewed with this flippant attitude towards the animal. The animal that gave it’s life to feed us must be honored and thanked for it’s sacrifice.
I now step off my soapbox.
PDF
There are a lot of sick people in this world. I love raising animals for milk and meat, but I hate killing them.
It’s common and has always bothered me when many hunters kill for a thrill and leave the body but to raise and care for an animal and get some sort of thrill (I’m sure someone will say I’m exagerating) is frightening. You know the old saying about kids who get a thrill from killing animals. It never occured to me that an urban farmer would have such a mentality. It takes all kinds but I have been naieve it seems in thinking you had to have a certain respect for your food, be it veggie or animal. A bit more consideration than the average person.
Ugh, that’s disturbing and sickening. I admit to occasionally picking up a live animal, squeezing its legs, and thinking how it’s going to be tasty. (Every time I see a goose, I also think “yum.”) But I never look forward to the slaughter — it’s always a solemn affair, performed with respect. There’s an aspect of horror to it, especially with poultry who seem to take a while to leave this world.
I’m proud to add that I resisted the urge to Google those post titles! They won’t be getting any traffic from me.
Well put, as always! and I totally agree.
Death is hard and often sad, no matter whether it is human or animal. We do eat meat, but I feel making light of the killing of animals is in poor taste. I dread the day when I will have to kill an unwanted cockerel.
Even if an author is just using a shocking title to get visitors to a post, it is in poor taste, and can do much damage to any kind of urban or suburban homesteading or backyard chickens/goats/etc movement.
Thanks,
Leanne
James McFuckwadWilliams wrote about the skydiving one on his blog. I want to not care about what the vegangelicals say, but then I have to recognize that their rhetoric can create problems for us. Annoying.
As a hunter I have to inform you that there is a law that makes ‘wanton waste of game’ illegal. When you kill an animal you are supposed to use all the parts. The people that do not abide by this law are poachers, plain and simple, they are not hunters. Anyone that kills an animal and does not use the carcass is not a hunter.
That is not to say that trophy hunters are poachers, there is a difference, and in some cases trophy hunting is actually a positive thing that is a viable management tool and can help revitalize a community, like the Masai of Africa. In the case of international trophy hunting, the meat is utilized locally because the hunter cannot bring the meat home. And, I hate to say it, but if anything is ‘wantonly wasted’, there are other animals out that that benefit from it being left in the woods. Personally, I would never leave the ribs of a deer in the gutpile, I would take everything and make sausage out of it, but I have known other hunters to not share this belief.
Hunting is not about the ‘thrill’. It is about being involved in an animal’s life (and death) on the most basic level. Most hunters will tell you this. It is not about the ‘kill’, it is about the experience of being a part of the outdoors, of the beginning of our existence, and not being just a spectator. And it does not HAVE to involve taking an animal’s life. Just like ‘fishing’ isn’t called ‘catching’, ‘hunting’ is not called ‘killing’.
Just because you don’t waste anything doesn’t mean there aren’t those out there that call themselves hunters that don’t waste and give others a bad name. There are quite a few out there that will kill a deer and just take the back straps, or breast out the birds they kill leaving the rest.
That said, this post isn’t really about hunting. Did you mean to reply to another comment?
Thank you for this post. When i made the deicision to begin to bring animals into my family that one day will be food my stomach started to turn a little. Not in a “grossed out” way but in a visceral response to an actuality; death. I’m not sure that those who enjoy slaughtering animals aren’t simply empty ghosts who will find any excessive activity stimulating as they attmept to fill an unending void. i’m with you; eating meat is a PRIVILEGE our industrialized society has tricked us into thinking it’s a right.
I am a newcomer to your blog, Rachel, and I thank you for giving a voice to the small urban farmer. But I question linking the mind-set of a fringe few hunter-gatherer types that find a thrill in killing their prey, as “cave-men types”, and someone who loves an animal in life, and appreciates it’s gift of providing its life for food. I DID actually Google your references, and was shocked that one of them was from 3 years ago, an obscure reference to 2 guys taking a few drinks in order to work up their nerve to kill their chickens, and finding their drunken laughter offensive. The writer was a vegan who obviously had a hard time with the whole meat-eating approach anyway, regardless of how the animals were killed or processed. The other reference you give is someone who stated that they love their animals in life….and also love them on their table. Isn’t that the whole purpose of raising our animals for food? I have been a back-yard farmer much of my life, and to link enjoyment of the food we produce to someone who has to take a few drinks to work up the nerve to kill their beloved animals is a stretch. Let’s not make trouble where there isn’t any. Vegans will never appreciate what it takes to raise, love, and eventually process an animal to help feed a healthy family. And for those of us who raise our animals with consciousness, being linked to “killer mentality” is an insult. There’s lots to blog about in this part of the world….again, let’s not make trouble where there isn’t any. Let us enjoy our turkey dinner in peace….
Constance, thank you for your comment. I guess the background should have been clearer. Right now in my area there is a group of animal rights activists that are trying to ban all livestock raising for us urban farmers (whether we slaughter or not). The posts that I mention are ones that this group has presented to city councils to demonstrate how violent and abusive we are and that we shouldn’t be allowed to raise even a couple of hens in our backyard. The trouble has already started without me even saying anything. This should serve as more of a warning that these activists are watching us and if you wish to publicly discuss slaughter it should be done with more sensitivity.
Also I definitely did not say that those that raise their own meat have a “killer mentality.” But it is our job to help police ourselves and make sure that we aren’t linked to those that make light of killing because right now the activists are doing a damn good job at making us look that way based on the minority.
I’m also not sure that the posts you read are the same ones I am referring to because your description of them doesn’t follow what I had read. Neither of them were written by vegans and neither were about people having to drink to work up the nerve to kill the animals. Also, neither said anything about loving the animals they slaughtered.