Essays and Musings on Animals and Society

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Answers to "But Animals are Killed During the Harvesting of Vegetables" 

  1. Far more animals are killed when the plants that are harvested are fed to farm animals who are then killed for human consumption.

  2. Murder is worse than manslaughter. Intentional harm is worse than unavoidable harm. Swerving to hit the dog is worse than accidentally hitting the dog. When we create an animal solely for the purpose of killing him because we like the taste of his flesh, we devalue the animal's status to that of property; we strip him of intrinsic worth. We reinforce a master-to-slave, dominator-to-victim mentality. That is not the case when animals are killed as an unintentional by-product of vegetable production.

  3. The rodent killed on the vegetable farm did not have a horrid life of confinement, filth, and denial of natural behaviors. The rodent was not bred to be so obese that he suffered chronic joint pain and was at risk of heart failure while still growing.
To reduce your negative impact on animals and cultivate a more respectful attitude toward them, a) stop intentionally killing them, by adopting a vegan diet, b) favor organic and locally-grown foods, c) help brainstorm, encourage, and support more humane ways of farming, d) minimize your environmental footprint generally. Vegan bonus: since it takes less acreage to support vegans than to support meat-eaters, excess farmland can revert to thriving, undisturbed ecosystems.
Posted by: Gary / 10:54 PM
Comments:
Hi Gary

Great post as usual!

I would add
e) eat less generally, but especially of those foods that likely have a higher death/suffering to nutrient ratio. Obviously goes along with b...
f) similary - grow more of your own food.
g) reflect upon the fact that animals - humans included - are affected 'negatively' in almost every action one does - from driving (risk of accident, the pollution etc) to drinking a coke (the driving of the coke to the store, the killing of insects/birds etc in the creation of the coke factory)
h) similarly, empathize with this creatures that are affected - imagine being a member of a mice family that is killed or left homeless by a tractor etc. From their point of view, remember, purposeful or accidental - it's the same.

Oh hey, have you read the following paper (and, importantly, the reply linked to in it): http://www.courses.rochester.edu/nobis/animals/Davis-LeastHarm.htm
# posted by Blogger Ryan G : 2:49 AM
 
Thanks for the comments. g) is "don't let the perfect get in the way of the good."

On h), if we have sympathy for the mice, and wish to impart least harm upon them, we will ultimately and inevitably devise ways to accomplish that. As our society evolves ethically, we will increase our compassion for all living creatures (including members of our own species), and be more motivated to a) refrain from harming them and b) help them when they are in need, as Saint Francis counseled.

Thanks for the link. I added an anchor tag here to make it easy to visit (it may have been in your comment and gotten dropped in the shuffle.) http://www.courses.rochester.edu/nobis/animals/Davis-LeastHarm.htm
# posted by Blogger Gary : 8:39 AM
 
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