--->Why HUMANE for Vets to KILL, but not ME? <---Serious Question?

Question

I'm just wondering why it is considered humane when you have a vet kill your animal, but if you kill your animal it's not humane? What is wrong with our society? They are animals, nothing more! We eat cows, dear, lamb, pig, etc... but if we eat a dog or a cat that's grounds to be criminally prosecuted. Butcher's kill animals and no one questions them. Why is it differen't when an average joe kills an animal, it's no longer considered humane? Anyone know the answer to this question?

Answer 1

As someone else previously mentioned it is not who does the killing, but how it is done. As far as I know there are not laws prohibiting you from putting an animal down, but there are laws against torturing them or treating them inhumanely. For most people it is easier to get the vet to do it or animal control as they do not want to be the one personally doing it. If you are of strong enough character to put your own animals down without doing it for sport (other than hunting) and your intention is to relieve the animal of suffering, then more power to you. I personally could not put my own dogs to sleep. As far as whether eating dog or cat is gross, that is purely an American conception, as most other countries do eat them. Most of the American laws against their consumption came about to protect people from getting their animals stolen to be used for this purpose. We as a society have dictated that eating cats and dogs are taboo. Butchers and meat processing plants are heavily regulated and do use humane methods to destroy the animals they are processing for consumption. What seem like brutal methods to the average person are in fact humane in nature. What makes a process humane is whether the animal has prolonged suffering, like bleeding to death, or dies instantly, as in the case of a gunshot to the head. As far as farm animals are concerned, in my experience, the people put their own animals down due to necessity. If you live 50 miles from the nearest vet and you have a cow suffering in delivering a calf, it is more humane for you to put the aminal down than to wait for the vet to arrive, who will most likely not make it before the animal bleeds to death.

Answer 2

There are alot of issues you bring up here... but let's just start with the first question. If you are a vet, you are a licensed medical professional and that brings with it certain rights that are not extended to the general population. Now, if you decide to go and kill your dog because you think it is the kinder option, you may be prosecuted for cruelity to animals. The key points you would look at in your defense is how you, as a person without detailed medical knowledge, arrived at the conclusion that killing the animal was the best, and most humane option. Second, how was the animal killed, and would that comply with what is currently considered a humane way to kill an animal. That would be it - at least as long as you were the owner of the animal, otherwise there would be civil issues related to property. Of course, farm animals would be considered differently (though there are other laws that surround this).

The next issue you bring up is "they are animals, nothing more!" Yes, though it would probably be wise to point out that people are also animals. We look at different animals in different ways. There is no doubt that the more highly evolved animals have capacity to feel pain and emotion. So, for their benefit, and also for ours, we tend to try and deal with the necesity in a calm painless way. Most slaughterhouses now use methods that are considered "humane." Are they? I don't know, and I often have the impression (as I just mentioned) that such measures are often more for the consumer than for the animal.

Answer 3

I sort of got the feeling when I read your question's information, you were confused about some issues. Killing an animal is dependant on how it is done. If an animal is killed quickly, then it is humane. To allow the animal to suffer during the process of killing it, this is inhumane. There is no known law at least that I know of, that says you cannot eat dog or cat, providing it isn't someone else's pet. And for butchers killing animals whether this is humane or inhumane? Think again. Just because a butcher gets by with inhumanely killing animals, doesn't make it right. It just means that he hasn't been caught yet. If you know of any butchers that are not killing their animals properly, then you need to notify the people at www.hfa.com. These people have been exposing and getting people prosecuted that don't treat the animals humanely.

Answer 4

If a butcher or vet kills an animal they do it because it is their job and not for fun.

An average joe killing an animal would be considered to do this maybe out of a perverse sense of fun just to see the animal suffer or to feel superior for killing something with a life.

If you killed your pet when terminally ill, no one should think the owner was not humane.

As far as eating cats or dogs they eat them in China as a delicacy or maybe because they are cheap meat, but they would not be pets.

In Western society killing a pet animal seems like killing a friend, and that is not very nice.

Being humane or not just depends on the reason why you are killing an animal.

Answer 5

First thing vets give animals a shoot it's like going to sleep and never waking up if you had to kill your own animal what would you use to insure the animal felt no pain and saying they are animals and nothing more is wrong we are animals as well. The food chain is one thing even though i do not eat meat my self dose not make it all wrong if you hunt you own food and kill it to feed your starving family that would be just what lions etc. do in the wild but when you buy your meat you can be sure that the soul you are eating was tortured and pumped full of hormones before making it to your plate.As far as eating Cats&Dogs Goes i guess if you already choose to eat store bought meat it would make no diferance what kind but most americans don't want to know or see the face of what they are eating being walked down the street every day.

Answer 6

Vets provide a service to a pet owner by taking an animal out of this life in the most humane and aesthetic way possible. Other methods that are just as painless, but more traumatic to the owner, are felt to be cruel today, possibly because people assume that just because someone can stand to look at the severed head of their beloved dog means the person himself must be evil. "Cruelty" isn't what people are objecting to; it's actually cold-bloodedness. But even the most cold-blooded person on earth can be kind.
Another thing people object to is when "the average joe" kills an animal for no reason. If they value animal life at all, killing animals without justification is a crime. When they say inhumane, they mean criminal. Reasons range from a squirrel getting into your garden bed to an alligator mauling a child; people draw their boundaries in different places.
When someone shoots stray cats, people are shocked because they assume the cats have some value higher than what they consider vermin. They like cats. The value they attach to them comes from the good experiences they've had with house cats, and they don't distinguish house cats with their lifetime of training and socialization from feral cats, who live for themselves alone.
Since we became distanced from death---dogs die in vet's offices, cattle die in slaughterhouses, people die in hospitals---we put taboos around death that doesn't occur in its proper place. Death is regulated. What starts out as discomfort with strangeness becomes a binding rule, or even, as you mentioned, a law.

Answer 7

A vet is a professional and will put the animal down in a humane way with the least discomfort as possible to the animal. If you you think pets are just animals than you have never opened yourself up to having pets as a member of a family and you are missing out.

Answer 8

Think of it in terms of people. Executioners who inject the chemicals or flip the switch on their job, cannot kill anyone on their own free will, while at home, or outside of their professional association. Likewise a vet STILL can NOT kill an animal in his/her own house, whenever he/she decides.

Second to that, It's more a matter of licensing and training/education etc; if a vet does it who is licensed and a professional, then they have MEDICAL REASONS for what they've decided to do- you on the other hand, not beind a vet, cannot say "well the dog had a swollen spleen, and was suffering" or "it had a fatal tumor and I ended its life sooner" like they can.
They can just view it as a selfishly motivated thing, even if it wasnt, because you cannot prove why you did it.

Answer 9

Well, the Vet gives your animal a shot usualy when it is there time and mother nature just hasn't run her course yet, or the naimal isn't sutible for placing in a home. If you were to do it, it probably wouldn't be comfortable for the animal. They do it in a comfortable enough way.
A butcher is killing non domestic animals, cats and dogs are domestic animals. Most likely, that dog or cat is someones pet. In this country we love our domesticated animlas, most of us don't eat them. Honestly I think it would be in humane to let someone who sounds like you own an animal.

Answer 10

First of all:
It is 'humane' for a vet to kill an animal who is injured or dying. I'm certain that it is NOT humane for a vet to EAT A DOG OR CAT. If your pet was suffering and you wanted to give her a quick 'put down' needle instead of having her die in a dark vet office, that's fine. Does that mean you can EAT her, of all things? I would hope not.

Secondly, butchers kill animals because they are paid to. They kill animals that are meant for eating. They don't go around killing cats and dogs.

And finally, in response to your comment about animals being 'just animals, nothing more', humans are animals too. It is ok to go around eating children because they're 'just animals'? Animals of all kinds have nerves. (Crude example, I know, but honestly.)

Why is it ok for the government to prosecute and kill people, but it's not ok for your neighbor to go frolicking out to kill someone? HMMM.

Need I say more?

Answer 11

I dont know that it is cruelty if you kill an animal for food. I believe the cruelty comes into play in the manor in which the animal is killed. I do not agree nor disagree with eatting animals that others would consider companion type animals. I do believe if one does eat any type of animal I would like it to be killed as quickly and humanly as possible. Below is a fairly good article on the subject