I realize before I even ask this question that a lot of people will take it wrong?

Question

However, I will still ask it. With all of the elderly all over this country who are starving or in dire straights why do we still euthanize pets? Instead of eating rats because they cannot afford 'real' food, why doesn't the government or some other system allow for euthanized pets to be processed into food?

This is also, just a question that will affect thousands of elderly this year as well as every past year. The newspapers and the media always play this routine every year somewhere in the U.S. and I was just wondering.

Answer 1

Your question is thought provoking.It is really painful that some of our elderly have to starve, just because they are old and have no one to depend upon / or not financially well off. In this respect, it is again we who are to blame. Lets leave aside the question, of eating euthanized animals, for the time being and deliberate upon the very fact - as to why, in the first place, such a situation has developed and what makes us so callous towards our elderly ? The reasons are not far to find. Thank God, that I come from India, which is still bound to its traditions and culture. The sons, are bound to look after their elderly parents. I do agree that the influence of west,has started taking its toll here also.But by and large, the practice still continues. The elderly's are also responsible for such a situation from developing. I need not emphasize here the importance of "disciplined up bringing". With the family fabric coming apart, the traditional values ,got lost in the process.The kids have seen their parents showing scant regard to their parents and in turn they also have learnt the same . So now who is to blame.Anyway,coming to the point of eating animals,it is again a question of morality and ethics.Who has restricted elderly from taking to such things.What to speak of euthanized animals there are countless stories when hunger makes a cannibal out of a man.But do you mean to say that some elderly be also sacrificed to satisfy the hunger of others.I hope you have got my point and your answer.

Answer 2

Ok, I am going to give you the Islamic perspective: This life is a test. How we approach it, how much we appreciate what we have and the good we do is all up to us. Evil exists because we have free will and Shaytan (Satan) influences us but there will be justice in the end. On the day of judgement, for example, people who killed other people will be lined up side to side with their victims and will have to answer for their actions. We have to remember that this life is only temporary and is like an illusion. When we die, we will look back on our life and think it lasted only a few hours but in reality it was years and years (that is how short this life is in compared to life after death and the life of the universe). There is a reason for everything, and how do you know that if you suffer now you won't gain an even greater reward later? You can even see this in little examples in daily life: example if you are running late, you think "omg why?!? This sucks" but but how do you know you weren't meant to be late so that you would avoid a car crash? ----- **edit: So the best we can do in this life is try to be a good person, treat others how you want to be treated, thank God for what you have and try to appreciate what we have. If you don't believe God exists then I have a question for you that I once read: If you found a watch in the sand in the middle of a desert would you think that it appeared there all by itself? Obviously any rational person would say that it had an intelligent designer, since it is complex and can tell time. You know that someone made that watch and that someone probably dropped it there. Well, every day, the sun rises and sets. It is so accurate that scientists can predict time from it.... yet some people continue to insist that there is no intelligent maker of the universe. Is this logical?

Answer 3

I've heard of the elderly or indigent eating dog or cat food. Also that fast food restaurants stopped putting catsup and saltines out in packets because senior citzens filled their pockets and dined on tomato soup when they got home. But I've not heard of anyone eating entree you suggest ... not in America ... but then I live a sheltered life so can't say it doesn't happen.

I do think it terrible that people think nothing of feeding and caring for a stray cat or dog but will walk by a homeless person sleeping on a bench and ignore it. Many of us have warped idea of life's priorities. Also, many make a big production of giving the needy a wonderful meal for Thanksgiving or Christmas but never consider the other 363 days of the year.

As to how to help the case of hunger in America, I agree that it is not about a shortage of food - there's plenty of it in this country, just like there is plenty of gasoline. It's all about money. How are the CEOs of companies going to earn their their million $ paychecks if they don't make their profits high. Giving food away or making it cheaper does not help the bottom line and that is more important.

Off subject but I've always thought that the world would be a better place if ... instead of the computer industry making Bill Gates and friends billionaires many times over, they would have been happy being only millionaires many times over thereby making the prices of computers and software cheaper. Everyone would then benefit.

Answer 4

By this country, do you mean the USA? In the USA, people don't starve because there is not enough food to go around, though I suppose some do starve because they cannot afford it, I have not experienced this. What I have seen, though, with elderly people in the USA, is not that they can't afford food, but that they lack the desire to fix and eat it. They forget that they haven't eaten because they aren't hungry, and suffer slow malnutrition, which doesn't kill them, but leads to things that do. That is why Meals On Wheels is such a great program, because they not only bring food, but they often stay while the person eats, offering them some companionship.

I will add that in the USA, we have a perhaps illogical aversion to eating dogs and cats. I wonder if they taste like chicken???

Answer 5

Do you have enough good answers yet? It wouldn't be cost effective. Euthanized animals are normally old or diseased - except the ones from shelters. There is plenty of food in the US and programs in place to get it to people who need it. I don't think anyone took this the wrong way. Give us some credit.

Answer 6

We do have good programs in place but it is not all reaching those in severe need. I used to have a little neighbor lady( 80's) that sat all day with nothing to eat. In her day she didn't make enough to pay in to SS so her welfare check was about 85 dollars per month. Her son lived with her and made 2 dollars an hour and walked 5 miles and back everyday to work.

I started taking her groceries and trying to see that she had something to eat. Our government should be ashamed but they are not. They get fat checks and fat raises every year.

Answer 7

Gosh Wally, don't we have ENOUGH chemicals in our food already? A euthanized horse can't even be used for dog food in my state. It is donated to the University for research & study purposes or sent off to a "rendering" plant to utilize the hair & skin, then boil down the rest of the body & use it to manufacture cosmetic & soap products! Are you smiling yet?

Answer 8

The government pays farmers not to grow food every year. Perhaps, they should pay for the food to go to the people who need it the most. America has more than enough food to feed every man, woman and child in this country. Perhaps we should start looking into how that can be done.

Answer 9

Pet care,preservation,grooming,food and supplies are a major industry today.

Do you really think that millionaire Jewish monopolies care what elders have to say?

We're headed that way,sure enough,with the price of food right now
But America prides itself on feeding minorities first,they are the sacred cow

Then the white elderly with teeth, may get a dog or two.
The last time I ate a dog,it was damn hard to chew

Answer 10

The thought puts a bad taste in the mouth (pardon the pun).But there are cultures that dine on what we consider pets and the native American indian did dogs. I used to raise chickens, pigs, and calves. Have you ever looked into a calfs
eye or held a chickens head under your neck ? (they almost sound like a cat purring). We are carnivors after all, think you have a valid allbeit unpopular idea -- no it ain't solent green unless we give them the proper send off. ((( Who REALLY knows what's in a Mickey Dee burger ???????)))