What do you think about this?

Question

My father was talking to me about this the other day. I asked him "Daddy how do you feel when you put the lobsters inside the hot boiling water and watch them die" He said "Honey, its food. Think about this if the seacatchers never caught any fishes,lobsters,crabs,shrimps,mussels,clams etc you couldnt even go to the beach and put your feet in the water there would be so many things in there, some vegetarians dont know that if we didnt kill the animals like pigs there would be to many left. Now im sorry that we are killing the poor animals but what other purpose did god (or whoever made the world) put animals like pigs,cows,and chickens on the earth. For them to be around humans and play? Cows dont like to be around humans so what other reason is there to keep them here." Do you agree or disagree?

Well first off thank you everyone for your answers. And second, my dad did not tell me this i made it up i wanted to see what everyone would say, my dad became a vegetarian 4 years ago he didnt feel very good but he eats veggie burgers and other vegetarian things now-a days along with meats. I think that killing the animals is mean but if we didnt the world would go mad, so many people are hooked on chicken and steak so if they stopped slaughtering animals completly most people will go nuts.

Answer 1

I love eating animals of all kinds, but your dad is wrong. Populations would naturally equillibrate without human help... Starvation, increased predation, and disease would balance out any trends of overpopulation. Look at the example of white tailed deer. We eliminated all their natural predators, and their populations exploded. Now we have to hunt them to keep the population in check... We're replacing the natural predators such as wolves, bears and mountain lions. However, even if we were to stop hunting, their populations would increase dramatically for a short period of time, then they'd begin to die off from starvation and disease to come back into balance. The question then becomes - what's a better way to die? A hunter's rifle, or slowly starving to death?

Answer 2

I disagree completely. I'll just pick apart each section because it's easier to respond to it that way.

"Think about this if the seacatchers never caught any fishes,lobsters,crabs,shrimps,... etc you couldnt even go to the beach and put your feet in the water there would be so many things in there,"

- No. Our oceans are becoming dangerously over fished. People are not required to control the population of animals, nature does this quite well on its own.

"some vegetarians dont know that if we didnt kill the animals like pigs there would be to many left."

- Too many left? Pigs don't breed in the fields, the farmers impregnate as close to the exact number of pigs, or any other farm animal, that they are expected to need. If people did not buy them, they would not be born in the first place. It's simple supply and demand.

"Now im sorry that we are killing the poor animals but what other purpose did god (or whoever made the world) put animals like pigs,cows,and chickens on the earth."

- How about to live out their own lifes without being bothered by egotistical humans that feel they have a right to trample the earth and kill everything in their path? Animals exist for their own reasons.
This is like saying what other reason were humans put on the earth for if not to ruin the whole damn thing? We obviously have other reasons to be here that vary from person to person. Animals are no different.

"Cows dont like to be around humans so what other reason is there to keep them here."

- Leave the wild ones alone, and quit breeding the domesticated ones then. This statement is demonstratably false anyway as anyone who as ever visited a farm animal sanctuary can attest to.

Edit:

@ Fred the dog
"If we didn’t eat cows, no one would take care of them and their would be NO cows. So my question to vegetarians is why do you want to take away cows life of ease and condemn her to NO life at all?"

You must be joking right? Yes their would be no Cows, just wild ones, that's the idea. Life of ease? Living for a year in cramped conditions, standing in manure eat an completely unnatural diet of grain and ground up cow parts full of hormones, getting trucked with no food or water in a open air trailer all year round for up to 26 hours, and then getting slaughtered and most likely skinned and dismembered alive? And that's if their lucky, tack on getting artificially impregnated by a farmer, milked twice a day with utters that are most likely infected, having your baby ripped away from you when it's hardly 24 hours old and sold into veal for dairy cows. Life of ease? Hardly.

Answer 3

Most people forget that farm animals are domesticated, and have been bred and changed for years, they are not what they used to be. If we did not domesticate farm animals then they would have stayed living in the wild looking after themselves. If the animals only purpose on the world is to feed us, then why did God make them feel fear, pain, love, pleasure just like we do? and why do we have to convince ourselves that we are doing the right thing, the thought of animals dieing to feed us bothers many people. Why did God create us in a way that we feel bad about it if we are supose to do it, isn't the right thing supose to feel good? Does the sound of a dieing animal pleasure you? Probably not.
Does the sound of a dieing animal pleasure a dog or a cat? of course it does! cause thats how God made them. Killing does not bother them.

Why would animals overpopulate if people stop eating them? Think about this... If we stoped fishing in the ocean, the creatues would not overpopulate, It would balance itselfe out. The world is an amazing place, it is not dependant on people, many many predotors live in the ocean and if the prey animals grew in numbers then the predators would as well and it would level out again. (the circle of life!) Pigs cows and chickens are changed and domesticated animals, if the amount of people who eat meat slowly drop, than so would the number of farm animals raised. Over a long time farm animals would be in very few numbers and maybe would not exist, hard to say. Most wild animals don't like being around humans, doesen't mean that the only purpose for them is to be eaten.

Think whatever you want though, but I disagree with your Father. I became a vegetarian nearly 8 years ago (going vegan now), and am proud I did, it has been good for my Body, Mind, and Soul. Also good for mother earth, and the animals living on her.

If you wan't more information I have a few links for you.

Have a merry Christams!

Answer 4

that is circular logic. The REASON there are SO many cows, pigs, etc is because we grow them as food. They are now domesticated animals. Have you noticed that there are too many bears in your neighborhood? What about any other animals that we don't eat? No? That's because we never raised them for food. It's so silly to say you couldn't put your feet in the ocean. That's plain dumb. Before there were so many people on earth, do you think that you couldn't put your feet in the ocean? When I go into protected wilderness areas (which I do frequently) I am NOT overrun by animals. Nature balances these things out when we don't interfere. These, now domesticated animals, used to be wild and in controllable numbers. sheesh!

Answer 5

thats like saying life is only there for humans to eat. BS all the way! i mean seriously, god would not favor humans that much, and people who believe that are selfish, the world does not revolve around you! do you want me to say the same thing about your dog or cat?
and we can use cows for fertilizer and milk

Answer 6

I have been given rid of the nauseating Superman! sd d: What makes you think of there are greater women human beings than men? final 365 days the international lady:male ratio replaced into 984:one thousand. Get your info right now. Abu M: investigate your individual link back. you have interpreted it the incorrect way around! ordinary muslim lack of information. Islam is an evil mysogynistic faith, between different issues.

Answer 7

A long time ago and far away man and cow made a deal. Man agreed to take care of cow. Feed cow all she wanted to eat all her life. Provide shelter and see she always has water. Cow would live a life ease, never having to work. In return cow would give her self so that man could live. This was a great deal, for cow could not grow fields of grass or harvest hay for the winter. Cow would die with out hay for the winter.
If we didn’t eat cows, no one would take care of them and their would be NO cows. So my question to vegetarians is why do you want to take away cows life of ease and condemn her to NO life at all?

Answer 8

I think the world would become over populated with so many living beings eating vegetation. We would soon have none the pastures would become barren once the cover is gone the good soils begin to dry and blow away its all a matter of balance if you change one thing it has an effect on other things

Answer 9

Your problem is something within your personality causes you consternation about killing animals for food. Other people, like myself, don't have any conflict, (and more importantly), any emotion about the issue.

Now I am not saying who's right or wrong but I am saying this:

If, for whatever reasons, you have an emotional reaction to using animals for food, all the logic and arguments in the world will not dissuade you. You will still FEEL the way you do. Much like all the arguments in the world couldn't change the fact that I don't have emotion about it.

In closing, allow me to say this:

Save animals. Put them in the refrigerator.

Chef Mark

Answer 10

I have to say, while I disagree with vegetarianism completely, your dad's analogy about the seaside is pretty wrong [read 'utter bollocks'].
It is true though that without domestication the pig populaion would be limited to a very small number of wild boars, which are extinct in many places these anyway.
If enough people went veggie to actually affect the industry at all, and the demand for meat decreased, it would mean animals which were surplus to requirement. You're kidding yourself if you think that would mean they'd live happily ever after, as they couldn't be sold no one would want to keep them, and they'd still be slaughtered.
Think about it, the second farmers couldn't sell their livestock, the second they couldn't make a profit, they wouldn't keep them any more. Keeping animals isn't cheap, and to keep them, without profit, would be hugely expensive to any farmer. How many do you reckon would be prepared to make that kind of loss?
Now, what'd happen then? Maybe a few wild pigs or goats would stay alive, but for the most part it would be impossible to release them into the wild. The vast majority would have to be slaughtered.
Even if it happened slowly and all that happened was a reduction in breeding, it still doesn't stop any animals dying.

I quote "If no one were allowed to farm animals, farms would grow crops instead. The first thing to go would be all the animals. Once the rural landscape were rid of cattle, sheep, and the like, fields would get larger, for the convenience of the combine harvesters, and hedgerows would go. Wild animals like rabbits would now be a more major pest. No farmer would want animals eating the plants, and so the war on such animals would intensify. Grown in the fields would be domesticate species of food crops, and so the number of plant species would decline."

I quote "In the wild, a sheep would have to look for food, compete for it, jockey for position in the herd, look out for predators, guard its offspring, and it one day would die because of some accident, perhaps a fall, some nasty illness, or it would become weak and have its throat ripped out by the local predators. By striking contrast, the life of a farmed sheep is rather different. A farmed sheep has complete protection from predators; all the food of exactly its favourite kind at its feet all day every day, for which it does not have to compete; no competition for mates; no need to guard offspring; free health care; free haircuts; it is very unlikely to die in childbirth, and unlikely to die a nasty death. True, half a ewe’s offspring are taken away and killed. However, in the wild, a ewe would lose most of its offspring anyway, and in nastier circumstances. By the standards of the natural wild, a sheep’s life is about as cushy as a life could possibly be."

This is true, animals in the wild invariably die violent deaths. the closest an animal will get to dying of old age is being picked by a predator because it it old and therefore an easier to target. Farmed animals invariably lead happier, healthier, less stressful lives than those in the wild. Now, I don't think it's mean to ask them to endure this life, when the other option is not existing.

To Barebackrider, I don't think most animals feel "fear, pain, love, pleasure just like we do". Yes, they can feel fear, pain, pleasure (I dispute love in most cases) and many feelings, but not quite like we do at all. I don't think most species of animals are actually conscious enough to even be aware of these emotions, and even the ones that are it can't compare.

"Why did God create us in a way that we feel bad about it if we are suppose to do it"

Well, you get celibate societies of people who think sex is always wrong; and people who think having fin is wrong, like the puritans of old, so I hardly think this is a conclusive argument.
Most people eat meat, even now. Go back to a time when almost everyone lived off the land or had much more contact with the animals and farming, and that number dwindles pretty much nothing. (I'm going to ignore religious vegetarianism, as religion makes lots of people do strange things (Merry Christmas), but most Hindu's and Buddhists have always eaten fish and often other meats as well anyway, and there were no real vegans in these groups). The reason some people feel bad about it now is because they are detached from the rearing of animals for food, it's not something most people have to deal with any more. Why do you think most vegetarianism happens in towns?

"Why would animals overpopulate if people stop eating them? Think about this... If we stoped fishing in the ocean, the creatues would not overpopulate, It would balance it self out."

Well, that's not always true, but admittedly this is mostly our fault anyway. To give an example, in the New Forest in the UK there are very large populations of deer, but man has exterminated all the wolves and bears in England so they have no natural predators, except for foxes which will go for new borns. If they were not regularly culled, they would overpopulate, and the group that wold hurt most would be the deer: rather than a well fed, healthy population there wouldn't be enough food and a weak, undernourished, albeit large, population would come about. Thus deer have to be culled, and it's be a shame to waste all that lovely venison wouldn't it?
Similar things happen with rabbits. Even though we have lots of foxes they often end up with huge populations near crop fields as there is an over abundance of food and the rabbits become real pests, so out come the shotguns and it's rabbit stew for dinner.

Incidentally, both venison and rabbit are very nice meats (and I know from experience), but by eating them you definately aren't harming their population, and you can hardly claim they were raised in awful conditions as they aren't farmed for food but were born free and wild.