FACTORY FARMED ANIMALS TORTURED AND SLAUGHTERED TO FEED SO CALLED "COMPANION ANIMALS"

[Nath Miles]

It is becoming clear that as a society we are becoming more and more speciesist.

 

What do you think about those who feel it is completely ok to factory farm, torture and slaughter animals so as to feed them to sustain so called companion animals (dogs and cats) rather than having them put to sleep?

 

 

Does this not seem to be completely hypocritical?

 

Many prominent animal rights advocates struggle with this question.

With many feeling the best way forward is the one with the "least harm" to ALL animals.

If this is the case then it would appear that the "least harm" would then be to humanely put the huge over population of excess companion animals to sleep as to keep them alive and sustain them hundreds of animals would have to suffer and  die.

 

So why is it that our society has become so speciesist?

 

[Nath Miles]

Sadly Carolyn it appears anyone who opposes winograds speciesist ideology is attacked.

[blackpanther]

As I'm french, forgive me for my mistakes.....and I won't participate in the winograd debate, as I don't know about it...

My opinion is that in an ideal world, which we all long for, people would all be vegan and no animal would be exploited any longer. We all fight for that.......

But in the present situation, the world isn't like that. What should we do with the homeless cats and dogs? just kill them as some seem to say here? or do what we can to take care of them? I would NEVER buy a cat (or dog!). I didnt even adopt my 2 cats, they just came to me, and stayed with me because I took care of them. What should have I done? Let them die of starvation and illness in the most awful way? perhaps Nath is "vegan enough" to do that, I'm not! So, now they live with me, and of course, eat vegan food, that's the best I can do, in my opinion, the world being what it is.

The other thing I want to say is that industrial farming isn't meant to feed cats and dogs, but PEOPLE! and only the parts that humans don't eat go for dog and cat food. So the problem isn't to feed pets on that food, but to convince people to go vegan, so that industrial farming disappears forever.
Then, we can have that conversation again, and ask ourselves what our cats and dogs can eat.......or even if it's reasonable to live with cats and dogs.

As for the carbon footprints of cats and dogs, I agree, but are they those of animals being fed on vegan food?
and again, in an ideal world in which the USA for example, and China, and India, as well as Europe, would have done really big efforts to save the earth, we can talk about it. Anyway, I hope that people talking about the huge cats and dogs carbon footprints don't have a car........
Nobody is perfect! I'm not! but I try to do the best in the world as it is.......and my carbon footprint is very low, by the way........ when you're a vegan and an ecologist, you have a low carbon footprint.........that should maybe save my cats, if you take the "climate" point of view.................no, Nath?............

[Nath Miles]

Hey blackpanther

No those footprints are of normal fed animals.

[Nath Miles]

Also blackpanther many owners of dogs and cats feed there animals human consumption meat.

[Nath Miles]

Speciesism is the assigning of different values or rights to beings on the basis of their species membership.

Its clear that our society as a majority is very speciesist. Individul narcisists like Winograd who promote the rescue of only 2 species that being cats and dogs are actually making it worse.

[red dog]

I'm sure this isn't true. Dogs and cats make up the majority of the animals who enter pounds/shelters, the area he writes about, so obviously they're going to be his focus. Pounds and shelters also get bunnies, guinea pigs, chickens, pigs, cows, ostriches, parrots, etc. Winograd's shelter helped those animals too, and many other organizations wouldn't have.

Funny how you keep attacking people's character after being asked to be civil.

[Kerry Baker]

This is a question I struggle with. I am personally vegan but own two cats and feed them raw meat. I note the reply earlier about feeding cats vegan, so will look into that.  But while dogs can survive with a largely vegetarian diet cats are mainly carnivorous and I'm not sure about long term vegan food. I also agree with Barbara that 'companion animals' don't fare too well either. You only have to look at some of the horrendous practices going on and the number of dogs and cats killed by local councils to see that. I don't know the answer to this but I guess what I do try and do is to at least buy them food that has been humanely raised. I am also aware that in nature killing goes on and that's not always pleasant when you see it on film. Big cats killing other animals etc. I strongly suspect that if I were to stop feeding my cats meat they'd go out and kill something as this is their natural urge. I feel that animals have a right to live as naturally as possible, but have to manage companion animals that they do limited harm. In Australia for example dogs are routinely allowed to chase kangaroos. Kangaroos are animals with a very low tolerance to stress and often results in them dying a slow and painful death from myopathy. I think that the only way to manage these issues is to try and get people involved at grassroots and when they take responsibility, rather than rely on governments to manage these issues on their behalf, then and only then will things change. I for example started a group at work to learn about our wildlife and when they were actually able to see a baby wombat or kangaroo, their views change. I would like to see more people turn to vegan but I don't have the answer for companion animals.

[DEN FRIEND]

I am an abolitionist vegan and share my home with a vegan teenager, 2 dogs, 9 cats and a hamster. The animals are mostly vegan. (I get my pet food from veggie pets for anyone who's interested). I am involved in rescuing animals, mostly dogs. The rescues I work with will only work with other rescues that have a no-kill policy. Realistically, despite this stance we are only saving a fraction of the dogs killed each year ! Weirdly some of those involved are veggie/vegans but not all. I have had the discussion along the lines of: so it's a crime to put to kill a dog or cat in a rescue but its perfectly ok for thousands of animals to be factory farmed, tortured and slaughtered to keep this dog alive? but it falls on deaf ears. A few of us have decided to be more pro active in trying to stop the animals being born in the first place and are due to start a campaign in the new year.  It is easy to say put abandoned/unwanted animals to sleep but we don't have to do the killing. Vets are sick of putting perfectly healthy dogs to death, can you imagine doing that day in, day out? Killing these animals isn't a solution, in fact it simply compounds the idea that animals are dispensable. Breeding has to stop. Veggie pet food has to become cheaper and more widely available. Incidentally when I first moved to Brighton 22 years ago Waitrose supermarket sold their own brand of tinned vegetarian dog food. Not any more!

[Sam Hillyer]

I really think blackpanther and Barbara have valid points here. The slaughter of farmed animals is not an industry built for the benefit of companion animals but for humans themselves. Humans never went hunting for meals for their companion animals, they were brought into association with humans through receiving leftovers amongst other things it is believed. As said the action needs to begin with changing human habits first, and the rest will follow.

It is speciest to favour our companion animals over those raised for their meat/flesh but in reality that is what we do, and will always do. To look at it in another way, you're going to favour the welfare and needs of your immediate family over those on another continent, or even down the street, if it came down to a life/death situation. Would you not agree? Please let me know. This is just my view, and I wonder if that makes us bad or not. We care foremost for the ones we connect with and I'm sorry to say that will always mean the companion animals will be thought of first. As somebody already mentioned, we can not be perfect, but we can try minimise the suffering in the world starting with ourselves.

[Kerry Baker]

Good points Sam and Den.  It is not surprising that veterinary industry has the highest turnover rate of practitioners for this very reason, that they end up killing animals which is not what they studied for.  It is a complex issue.  Attempts to control cats for example by mandatory desexing results in increase in the proportional feral population so the cats that are not so aggressive start to die out.  And governments choose to scapegoat rather than fix an issue, by branding people 'irresponsible' pet owners who don't desex or microchip. The fact is that the biggest problem is that people on lower incomes can't afford to register when costs for animals which aren't desexed can be unaffordable. Another side issue is that when you start to get rid of cats, rat and mice populations increase and can become a problem (although I rescue them if I see my cat stalking one!).  I agree that the numbers of companion animals should be managed, but it's humans who are creating the problems not they. People allow these things to go on mostly through ignorance. Where I live they are beginning to encourage suitable native species as pets as an alternative. Early days yet but will be interesting to see if this actually does any good. Companion animals are known to be a good thing, for example improving the health of people in nursing homes who get a visit from an animal or for people on their own.  I really think that it's about raising awareness of people who don't know what's happening.  Ignorance is bliss as they say.  I have managed to turn around a few people when I told them what really goes on in the kangaroo industry here, the cruelty is disgusting. these were people who swallowed the government rhetoric that they are in plague numbers. The foundation called Voiceless here produces some wonderful reports on animals in farming and have taken on board the kangaroo industry. Slowly things are changing, but slowly. I think our role can be to gently raise awareness when opportunities arise. My experience is that people are afraid of veganism, branding it an extreme diet and all the rest and then you get the meat industry continuing to tell people it's unhealthy. Perhaps this is my own wake up call, that feeding companion animals vegan/vegetarian is healthy.

[Nath Miles]

I totally agree the only way to stop this problem is to aim towards a no birth nation. Until then nothing will change.

 

Spey Neuter laws are a must, although these wont work 100% of the time, lets face it no law does. But it is a strong deterant and says to society that animals deserve better than being churned out by the tholusands only to end up being pts by the thousands.

[Nath Miles]

Kerry, you are wrong. It is the "irresponsible pet owners" who have caused this problem. How many backyard breeders are out there? Thousands!!

 

If people cant afford to spey or neuter they pet they should NOT own one. Its that simple. How will they pay for vet treatment if the animal becomes gravely ill?