Would you spare the life of a cow at the expense of watching children starve?

Question

I understand this may sound like a very biased question, but it is realistic.

In places like Africa where food is very scarce and people raise pigs and cattle as a means of survival, some people have no other means for food and survival.
Now, would it be unreasonable for them to kill those animals in order to eat and stay alive?
To what extent should "animal's rights" be protected when human survival becomes a factor?

Answer 1

Well you hit a sticky issue here. You can feed 16 vegans on the land equivalent that it takes to feed one meat eater. It takes a loooooot of grain and soybeans to fatten one cow and if that land was used to grow people food instead, it could go much further. The conversion for chicken is smaller than cattle because the reach slaughter weight at 6 weeks. Famine in Africa is really skewed by politics and is another mess in itself. In South America, croplands are used to raise cattle for export while the native populations starve (no kidding, your meat eating is far reaching). If the kids are starving, they should eat the meat, absolutely. I am a vegetarian because it is a worthwhile in a land of choices, given all the facts. I do not begrudge starving kids a cut of lifesaving meat, but everybody I know is fat and on some sort of medication to lower their cholesterol (hello, eat less animals, they are full of cholesterol!)

Answer 2

there is a fatal flaw in this question though: if there is enough food to feed the cow, then there should be enough food to feed the starving children. the real reason theat people are starving is because the land that SHOULD be used for agrucultural food production in developing countries is instead used to raise cattle. we should all be vegetarian, and then we wouldn't need to spare that important land for abusive cattle farming. the choice is not eat meat or die, it is supply meat to the first world and die, or don't support the first world and have grain and vegetables, but get bombed by the first world and shunned by the world bank and imf

Answer 3

I dont think there is any problems with that. I think with animal rights being protected in this kind of issues has to be very vague because it is a fine line between animal abuse OR just a survival factor

Answer 4

No. The life of a human is more valuable than that of an animal. However, my statement is based on the assumption that the cow is raised and killed as humanely as possible.

Answer 5

Animals are here for us. We are meant to do as what we wish with them. Animals are not equal to humans. They do not have feelings, emotions. The can not feel love or pain (emotional). They are in no way equal to man. Man has all the right to kill them and treat them as they see necasary. **** these hippies and this animal rights ****. When animals start walkin on 2 feet, talkin like a human, and start feeling emotions then we can talk about the ir right. Until then I see no reason to.

Answer 6

Killing animals is wrong and it hurts me to think about it.

But children should be more important. If it came down to either a cow dying or a human child dying, sorry Bessie. Time to go to moo-moo Heaven.

Answer 7

No. That's one of the reasons I have never become a vegetarian even though my two sisters are!

There is so much hunger in the world, that everytime I am being "picky" about eating meat I feel really guilty about people who are starving out there.

Answer 8

First, the most critical thing you are asking is how we would know what God thinks. The answer is that He has discourse with humanity. He has instructed the writing of many scriptures which have been with us for many centuries. And when you pray in faith, with real intent to act on what you receive, He answers your prayers. This is not something we can argue. I've had this experience countless times, so now you can call me a liar with as much anger and vigor as you wish to put into it. It's a pretty pointless conversation. Either take me at my word or not. The reason God's actions are hard to comprehend at times is because this world is not what it looks like from the inside. People starving to death kind of sucks, but He does not intervene to save them, because there is actually something of even higher priority happening here. He welcomes those children back to Him with open arms. For those children, things go pretty well from that point forward. For those mortal men who consciously take actions which lead to those deaths by starvation, things are not going to go so well. For us here on earth, obviously, the pain before death, and the loss of the families is all we see. We see and know how terrible it is to cause such a thing, directly or indirectly, or to allow such things through inaction. He sees how we respond to this reality and takes note. He loves even the most despicable among us, and is not seeking an excuse to punish, but He certainly will "separate the sheep from the goats" based on what we make of this life. He has a purpose for each, and will not forsake either, but only those who seek to do good in this life are capable of receiving the finest blessings that he has to offer. The "damnation doctrine" has been horribly misunderstood and misrepresented in most of the Christian community. God cares a lot less for whether we label ourselves Christian or atheist or whatever religious designation than for what we do with the time we are given here on earth. Your question revolves around morality, independent of salvation. And you seem to me to have your priorities straight in that regard. God would rather you save starving children than to ignore them and focus on resisting the temptation to masturbate. However if you mean to suggest that masturbation, or abortion, or any such thing is a good method of reducing starvation (by reducing population), God's message to you is that you are missing something huge. The message of the cross is absolutely vital and is a whole other area of discussion, but rest assured that the hypocrites, who think they can excuse a lifetime of sin and blasphemous claims of ownership over God because they said one prayer once upon a time, those hypocrites have earned nothing in the eyes of God. As the master said "They have received their reward." meaning they received it here on Earth in the form of self-congratulatory pats on the back, with nothing forthcoming in the hereafter.

Answer 9

i myself am a vegetarian and perfectly understand where you are coming from. That is why i don't eat meat due to the fact that i don't need to survive off of it. Why ruin our economy by raising so much meat when certain people don't need meat to live.

Answer 10

Not a chance I would but, there are many societies in which cows are "sacred" and shall not be killed, let alone eaten. Just shows the ignorance that remains in the world!