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You agree to the first but then say the last ?
That would not be an acceptable statement in India.
Actually, milking cows, even in this country, do not primarily exist be to eaten.
But since the OP asked why we eat cows, he was very clearly specifically asking about beef cattle. Perhaps I presumed too much to expect readers to be able to then follow that beef cattle were clearly the subset of cows about which I was talking in my response. If you were confused and thought the OP was asking why we eat milking cows, sorry - that's your problem, not mine.
You're quite right about India. So? That's an example of a cultural consideration, which is precisely my point. And in Muslim countries, they won't eat pork for similar reasons - cultural considerations. The question was "Why do we eat some animals and not others?". I gave some reasons. Are you under the impression that we on these message boards consists primarily of Indian Hindus? I'm not.
I mostly object to people eating endangered species. I'm pretty picky about what I eat in general - no organ meats, mostly organic chicken and grass-fed beef. My feelings about how pigs are treated have caused me to limit my pork consumption. If I was starving, pretty much anything would be fair game though.
But eating dogs? I really get upset about that. I was raised with a lot of them (my dad had hunting dogs), and research I've read indicates that they are our evolutionary puzzle pieces. We literally evolved into what we are today because of the domestication of the dog. I've known various cats and horses very well over the years, but dogs... I just can't wrap my brain around how anyone could eat one unless they were starving.
I mostly object to people eating endangered species. I'm pretty picky about what I eat in general - no organ meats, mostly organic chicken and grass-fed beef. My feelings about how pigs are treated have caused me to limit my pork consumption. If I was starving, pretty much anything would be fair game though.
But eating dogs? I really get upset about that. I was raised with a lot of them (my dad had hunting dogs), and research I've read indicates that they are our evolutionary puzzle pieces. We literally evolved into what we are today because of the domestication of the dog. I've known various cats and horses very well over the years, but dogs... I just can't wrap my brain around how anyone could eat one unless they were starving.
We literally evolved into what we are today because of wheat, too. So?
The argument against eating dog (aside from the fact that the human palate tends to prefer the meat of herbivores, not carnivores or omnivores) is emotional. It is emotion, not reason, which makes someone refuse to eat a dog because of some connection our ancestors of tens of thousands of years ago had with the similarly-distance ancestors of dogs.
I'm not interested in eating dog, either, but it's irrational emotion at work in what you express, not reason. And it's really not hard to wrap ones mind around the fact that some people simply aren't constrained by irrational emotion.
It occurs ot me that the majority of animals consumed by humas are herbivores. Dogs and cats are meat-eaters. I was told as a kid that eating the meat of a meat-eating animal is a bad idea due to toxins, bad taste, etc.
On the other hand fish that humans eat do consume other fish and pigs eat meat sometimes (omnivores ?). I believe that the taboo against eating pork in muslim and jewish religion may stem from the high risk of deadly echinoccus tapworm hosted by those animals especially in the warm middle eastern climates:
From Wikipedia:Echinococcosis is a zoonosis; humans are dead-end hosts. The definitive hosts are carnivorous predators - dogs, wolves, foxes, lions. The adult tapeworm lives in their small intestine and delivers eggs that are excreted with the stool. The intermediate hosts are infected by ingesting eggs. Sheep, goat, cattle, camel, pig, wild herbivores and rodents are the usual intermediate hosts, but humans can also be infected.
It may be related to that or not but I also noticed that the excrement of meat-eating animals (including humans) has a much more offensive smell than the manure of e.g. cows or horses which is more tolerable . Evidence of harmful bacteria?
Last edited by Bart0415; 01-30-2014 at 07:33 PM..
Reason: typo
I will eat about any kind of meat. I raise much of it and have always told my Kids there is animals you make Pets out of and there is ones you eat. Don't play with your food. I had a Goat I was going to butcher my Son made a Pet out of it then had a fit when I butchered it.
Many people are repulsed by Road Kill, at this time I have Freezer full of Road Kill the State has given me
Picked up a Wild Turkey on the Highway on way to visit my Son in the city. Was out front of his house cleaning it. Our Daughter drives up What you doing? When I told her, she shook her head and says Dang Hillbilly and Hillbilly ways.
Why do most people have no problem eating cows, but get repulsed by the thought of eating horse or dog? And what makes cats so special that they can't appear on our dinner plates? And why do some vegetarians eat fish? Are fish not animals? I understand the people who eat no meat, by why do those who do eat meat feel that some animals are ok to eat and others are not?
Culture, plain and simple. Every culture makes it's own "rules" about what is/isn't OK to eat... a Muslim would see eating bacon in the same way they would see the Chinese eating cats or Americans eating at Arby's.
It's rooted in human emotion which itself was created and nurtured by the culture a given person grew up in.
What animals are considered ok to eat is generally drawn up among intelligence lines - thats why so many would balk at the idea of eating whales, monkeys and dogs (even though this occurs of course).
Pigs are the problem there - given their reported intelligence.
What animals are considered ok to eat is generally drawn up among intelligence lines - thats why so many would balk at the idea of eating whales, monkeys and dogs (even though this occurs of course).
Pigs are the problem there - given their reported intelligence.
Not true at all. Cultures around the world eat monkeys, dogs, and whales (where whaling is still legal).
Has nothing to do with the assumed intelligence of the animal.
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