What should we do with farm animals if we stop farming?
SOME vegetarians / vegans stopped eating meat and animal products because they disapprove of the way SOME farms treat their animals.
For those of you who feel this way, if we stopped farming animals, what do you suggest we do with those animals (cows and pigs and such). If we and send them back into the wild, they will be killed by predators. If we send them to a zoo, they will be enslaved.
I hope you’re kidding.
Domesticated animals can’t live "in the wild." They aren’t appropriate for zoos, either.
We humans have (collectively) supported the selective breeding of various species to the point they are crimes against nature. We have cows that produce grotesque amounts of milk and sheep that can’t shed. Meat chickens reach slaughter weight by about 6 months of age, at which point they’ve been so grotesquely selectively bred, they often can’t support their own weight.
These creatures do not exist in nature. We’ve selectively bred them to be more docile, and have lost many of their natural instincts they’d need to survive on their own.
Thus, humans have a duty to care for all domestic animals in an ethical, responsible, and compassionate manner.
That won’t change if animal use/abuse ends tomorrow. Ethical care of those animals is the duty of all humans. We created them. We’re resposnible for them.
As I have done with dogs, cats (and other domestic/domesticated) animals for pretty much my entire life, I would support the care of domestic animals for the rest of their natural lives…until the last domestic animal died out. Sure, if they were no longer profitable to the farmers/companies that own them, some sort of aid program would likely be put in place. That would be very expensive for the government I.E. taxpayers, animal welfare/rights groups, and private citizens, to provide good care for the years, even decades, these animals can live. (Beef cattle, for example, are usually slaughtered by 9-12 months of age, even though they could live 30-50 years under more natural circumstances.)
There are lots of injustices that require people to pay more and to do more, in order to right a past wrong. If all animal enslavement were to end tomorrow, I would hope it would be no different. "Suck it up…care for domestic animals until the last one dies…move on."
Someone once gave hope that, in the future, people will look back and say, "Can you believe they were still eating animals in the 21st century" kind of in the same way we can’t believe humans used to boil people in oil or sell other human beings.
I’m vegan not because I oppose eating meat, but because I oppose domestication, captivity, cruelty, and factory farming. I wish all creatures had the autonomous lives nature and evolution intended.
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john h February 5th, 2010, 5:46 am
eat them all
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answers smartass February 5th, 2010, 6:06 am
farming isnt gonna stop so the point is kind of moot. There are too many people that dont want to jusrt eat kelp and tofu
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praise seitan February 5th, 2010, 6:52 am
let them live in nature.
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Valentin February 5th, 2010, 7:15 am
Just relaase ‘em
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Sarah February 5th, 2010, 8:05 am
It’s not like there going to stop all the farming all of a sudden in one day. If one by one farm shuts down then the breeding of animals for the farms would slow down and eventually stop. Keep in mind that the farms breed for their purpose, if the farm isn’t there then neither are the excess animals.
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Jody February 5th, 2010, 8:30 am
I hope you’re kidding.
Domesticated animals can’t live "in the wild." They aren’t appropriate for zoos, either.
We humans have (collectively) supported the selective breeding of various species to the point they are crimes against nature. We have cows that produce grotesque amounts of milk and sheep that can’t shed. Meat chickens reach slaughter weight by about 6 months of age, at which point they’ve been so grotesquely selectively bred, they often can’t support their own weight.
These creatures do not exist in nature. We’ve selectively bred them to be more docile, and have lost many of their natural instincts they’d need to survive on their own.
Thus, humans have a duty to care for all domestic animals in an ethical, responsible, and compassionate manner.
That won’t change if animal use/abuse ends tomorrow. Ethical care of those animals is the duty of all humans. We created them. We’re resposnible for them.
As I have done with dogs, cats (and other domestic/domesticated) animals for pretty much my entire life, I would support the care of domestic animals for the rest of their natural lives…until the last domestic animal died out. Sure, if they were no longer profitable to the farmers/companies that own them, some sort of aid program would likely be put in place. That would be very expensive for the government I.E. taxpayers, animal welfare/rights groups, and private citizens, to provide good care for the years, even decades, these animals can live. (Beef cattle, for example, are usually slaughtered by 9-12 months of age, even though they could live 30-50 years under more natural circumstances.)
There are lots of injustices that require people to pay more and to do more, in order to right a past wrong. If all animal enslavement were to end tomorrow, I would hope it would be no different. "Suck it up…care for domestic animals until the last one dies…move on."
Someone once gave hope that, in the future, people will look back and say, "Can you believe they were still eating animals in the 21st century" kind of in the same way we can’t believe humans used to boil people in oil or sell other human beings.
I’m vegan not because I oppose eating meat, but because I oppose domestication, captivity, cruelty, and factory farming. I wish all creatures had the autonomous lives nature and evolution intended.
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Willie B February 5th, 2010, 9:15 am
Forced breading would stop and they would be allowed to live out their lives.
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btbam xx February 5th, 2010, 9:44 am
just because you have them living on a farm, doesnt mean you have to kill them. Don’t breed them, but let them live and graze and have a normal life without a brutal death being the end for them.
I’m quite sure there are many ways to exsist with farm animals without killing them…..
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Harry V February 5th, 2010, 10:14 am
They should breed more cows, you can’t have enough steak.
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Run4it February 5th, 2010, 10:25 am
Nothing.
Leave them alone.
They’re not ours to do anything with.
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Julia S February 5th, 2010, 10:58 am
You mean between about 95 and 99% of farms? Grammatically, that qualifies as "most" farms. (Figures come from the industry.)
I’m not sure why this is always such a difficult question for so many people. I figure that the solution would be obvious. Use what we have, stop making more. If you want to switch to whole wheat pasta, you don’t have to keep buying semolina and throwing it out. Use what you have, stop buying it, and start buying whole wheat instead. It really is that simple. There aren’t extra farm animals to put in a zoo or set free if you don’t breed them.
I don’t know a single vegetarian who would suggest setting domestic animals free or putting them in zoos. I don’t know why so many people seem to think this is the case. It makes about as much sense as suggesting that people who are concerned about overpopulation support randomly killing people to reduce the population. Um, no. They usually think that the solution is to decrease the birth rate.
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freeyourself1anarchist February 5th, 2010, 11:45 am
It is simple let them live out the rest of their lives in a sanctuary and then let them all die off. Almost ALL farmed animals (not just some but most) are born and bred for human consumption and are very little like they were when they were in the wild so it is important too stop breeding and just let them die off.
I have heard of ZERO farms that don’t mistreat their animals in some way even those ""happy"" cow farms are cruel and inhumane or at the very least the animals are killed. Sorry but you could treat me like a freakin’ king but if I am going to death for someone else’s sick pleasure that is pretty inhumane and cruel. If you look behind the scenes at farms and not just the smiling on their packaging you will see cruelty.
Here is a site dedicated too exposing the myth of humane treatment:
http://www.humanemyth.org/
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Vegan and animal rights activist
David February 5th, 2010, 12:07 pm
Care for the captives till they die of natural causes, that’s your punishment for enslaving them in the first place.
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Dna Denizen February 5th, 2010, 12:16 pm
We stop breeding them for food. The end.
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