How Do Feel About Killing Animals

[snookums]

Ewwww!

I'm thoroughly creeped out....I can't stop thinking about it ... shuddering. Its fuckedup my day.

I have killed

a small furry animal

in the most cruel and unusual way.

 

We've had a bit of a plague ( I tend to exaggerate btw)....of rats - the old ratus ratus or the ship's rat.

 

This morning I heard a stange loud noise coming from the combustion heater (wood)...listened carefully and figured it was a rat. SOunded too heavy for a bird.

For some reasons I immediately lit a small fire, with a few pieces of newspaper and a 'firelighter'. I figured I'd create a bit of smoke..to smoke out that varmit...

Jessuschrist I wasn't thinking ...I hate those things...nasty nibbly sharp teeth. & I didn't want anymore of em' in the house.

 

Next thing...as the fire starts to take hold...I hear...'crash, bang'......'squeek, squeek'...and imagine I see a small, dark shape through the glass of the heater..so I timidly opened the door...the flames are going well....and I see the rat hanging upside down.....charcolled with its white teeth showing.

 

Poor thing was dead...I'd fried it!

 

Yuk....!

Now what.?..do I build a bigger fire...add more wood so the thing turns to ash.....Nah...I can't bring myself to do it.

 

I hate the idea of killing animals -...well except...cane toads.

 

There was one time...I was gardening, using the hedge shears. I knelt down to slide off some underbrush and shock horror!!!! I had sliced off the feet of a bird......Ewwwewww...I still shudder about that.

 

 

Even now....I'm seeing movements that aren't there out the corner of my eye.....are more rats coming!.........I'm having a very real feeling that I've done something S. King would take as a sign - that I"m goin ta be very sorry for what I've done.!

 

*smiles*

[Mike D]

I don't like killing anything unless I feel it's a threat. I've never seen a rodent in my house so i've never killed one to my knowledge, but since some insects are poisonous (i.e. spiders, wasps, etc.), if I find them in the house I will kill them. Although I still hate doing it and feel bad. I have found crickets, geckos and scorpions in my house and I have put them in a cup and took them back outside. Live and let live whenever possible I say....

[♦ nivek ♦]

Only thing I feel when I take an animals life is recoil..

 

kL

[pandora]

The Rat King is going to come get you!!

 

But I'm like you... I can't stomach the thought of killing something myself. Except for ants. When I was little, I liked to take a lighter to ants and watch them squirm.. awful, huh? My general rule is that if I can look into it's eyes and it looks back, I can't kill it.

[Kurari]

I try not to kill animals unless it's for a specific purpose, such as food (I love to go fishing) or for humane reasons like the animal is dying and in pain.

 

Though my mother's place had horrible rat problems so we had to set out poisons. We tried all the humane reasons to discourage them but there was no other way.

 

And don't feel too bad. I've had a few careless accidents too and I still feel bad about them. I tore the shell off a crab once by accident while it was still alive and that image still freaks me out.

[snookums]

Only thing I feel when I take an animals life is recoil..

 

kL

 

Really ...not even respect for the animal?

 

I hope you are a great shot.

I hate the idea of 'hunter's' practising their marksmanship on the poor animal. Gawd...its an unfair contest...the animal doesn't even have a gun.

 

Like to see hunter's use only their bare hands....

 

 

but....before I go....I have to mention that I'm being a bit of a hypocrite....I eats flesh...YumHo! & a bottle of rum...there's a bit of prirate in me!

 

Haha...hope the Rat King doesn't get me for writing this post.!

 

Kurari......yes I also cried and cried for carrying out a biology project...I pinned a huge moth right in the middle of its.....middle bit...i've forgotten the biology term.

[HuaiDan]

WHy would you want to kill a cane toad? Toads are beautiful creatures. Eat nasty mosquitos, flies and such. At least you're justfied in killing rats, as they cause property damage and spread disease. Toads are responsible for neither. Lay off the toads, man.

[SilentLoner]

Animals don't care about each other. They really do not care about us. The only thing they have is instinct. We have a higher order mode of thinking.

 

I completely disagree with that statement.

 

I highly doubt I would ever be able to kill an animal if I weren't threatened by it or were near starving.

I make an exception for insects, but even then I have standards: for example, with spiders, they have to be either 1) big or 2) in or near my room.

No standards-insects i dont mind killing include: moths, beetles, roaches, mosquitoes, ticks, did I say moths?

I would never hurt an ant, tho. They're just too fascinating in my opinion.

[Lycorth]

Only thing I feel when I take an animals life is recoil..

 

Well-put.

 

Silent Loner - off-topic, but isn't the egg in your sig supposed to have hatched by now?

[white_raven23]

I killed a baby duck once.

 

It was dying anyway....and I thought I'd "put it out of it's misery". I thought swinging it headfirst against a wooden post would do it.......it didn't.

 

That's when I got ill.

 

I had to repeat the action. Felt entirely horrible about it. And there was no solace anywhere. I felt terrible, but anyone I shared the story with was disgusted with me; and they felt I should feel entirely awful about it, and they seemed pleased to maximize my guilt as much as possible.

 

Bastards.

 

Like if they didn't make me feel like shit, I was going to go out and start snapping the necks of small critters everywhere.

 

Fucking Bastards.

[Thackerie]

OK, I'm a hypocrit. I do eat meat occasionally, but I could never kill an animal myself ... unless it was to put it out of its misery (White-Raven, you don't have a thing to apologize about).

 

I remember that in the fall of 1998, shortly before my mother died, mice got into the house where she was living with my brother. When I was visiting them, I discovered a nest of new-born mice in a kitchen drawer. I suggested that I could set them outside, but my mother said, "Don't do that.The mother will come back and she'll grieve if she can't find her babies."

 

Being the kind of people who can't bear to cause grief even for a mouse -- and, I think, because what my mother said made me and my brothers think more about her and the inevitability of losing her rather than the mother mouse's grief, I shut the drawer and we left them alone.

 

But, my brothers did set out mousetraps in a few weeks (after the babies were all grown up) . OK, I guess we can all be hypocrits sometime.

[Kurari]

WHy would you want to kill a cane toad? Toads are beautiful creatures. Eat nasty mosquitos, flies and such. At least you're justfied in killing rats, as they cause property damage and spread disease. Toads are responsible for neither. Lay off the toads, man.

 

Cane toads are also dangerous pests. They are destroying the enviroment in Hawaii and Australia. They are native to the Southern US and South America, but were imported to eat beetles and protect sugarcane crops in Australia. Unfortunately, toads will eat just about anything and they are poisonous. Without their natural predators, they have become a huge problem. They poison pets, humans, and native animals with their toxins, they eat large numbers of honey bees, creating a management problem for bee-keepers, they eat vegetation and prey on native fauna, are decemating populations of native amphibians, and carry diseases that are transmitted to native frogs and fish.

 

People are encouraged to kill the toads whenever they can because nothing else will.

[♦ nivek ♦]

Snookums,

 

Issue for me isn't *feelings*, so much as knowing that at the top of my food chain is me with the ability to take or leave the critter in question.

 

Done all the blood.sport.hunting I care to do, killed all the critters that challenged my slight ability to be a game taker.

 

Have taken game to eat, never to display or show how big my testicles and shiney new gun happens to be.

 

"Bambi-itus", feeling for the critter isn't part of my chemical.mental makeup.

Something gives its flesh and/or compment parts so that I may live.

 

Oft it is the butcher who does my dirty work, giving me prepared beautiful cuts of meat in sterile plastic wrapped trays, bought in stores at prices per pound that cannot be replicated by 'hunting'.

 

As far as respect for the animal who falls beneath the muzzle of my firearm, the tip of my arrow, the snare or fall, his parts and pieces, hide and marrow used and never wasted.

 

Yes, recoil is all I *feel*, as long ago my mind was made up for doing what needs done.

 

Respectfully,

 

kL

[Friendly Misanthrope]

I would never hurt an ant, tho. They're just too fascinating in my opinion.

 

Oooh...how I hate those little bastards! One time when I was about three (and ignorant as an appalachian who just fell off the turnip trup) I stood at a spot in my front yard for too long. I was covered in a sea of swarming seething little red dots (they were fire ants). I got covered from head to toe with red welts, and went into anaphylactic shock (I got allergies up the wazoo). I was rushed to ER, and was able to survive.

 

Oh, but since that day...if ye be a fire ant, ye best not shack up near me abode, lessen ye've got a deathwish!

[SilentLoner]

QUOTE(nivek @ Jul 3 2006, 12:40 AM)

 

Silent Loner - off-topic, but isn't the egg in your sig supposed to have hatched by now?

 

Yeah. it turns out i should have read the fine print:

 

*hatching days will vary

 

and I spent a whole month waiting for a computerized egg to hatch...

[Guest Shiva H. Vishnu]

To those who say that being personally against hunting for fun while still a meateater makes you a hypocrite, I don't think you understand the issue. I love to eat meat, and yet I have no desire to participate in the killing of the animals I eat, or of any animals, period. Were I to say that animals should not ever be killed for food while I gobbled eating a turkey leg, that would make me a hypocrite.

 

I'm just wondering what makes killing an animal when you don't need to do it so much darn fun to some of you guys. I've been told that it's the thrill of the hunt, but, if that's the case then there's no need to pull the trugger, or if you just have to pull a trigger to release the tension you've built up, why not blanks, or a paintball, or a gentle whoosh of air? I'm pretty sure that the killing is the big show, here.

 

Maybe copious amounts of testosterone are required for a proper degree of understanding in this situation. I also don't understand why some guys love football, pro-wrestling, headbutting, crushing beercans with their foreheads and giving weaklings wedgies

[AtheistMommy]

Ewwww!

I'm thoroughly creeped out....I can't stop thinking about it ... shuddering. Its fuckedup my day.

I have killed

a small furry animal

in the most cruel and unusual way.

 

We've had a bit of a plague ( I tend to exaggerate btw)....of rats - the old ratus ratus or the ship's rat.

 

This morning I heard a stange loud noise coming from the combustion heater (wood)...listened carefully and figured it was a rat. SOunded too heavy for a bird.

For some reasons I immediately lit a small fire, with a few pieces of newspaper and a 'firelighter'. I figured I'd create a bit of smoke..to smoke out that varmit...

Jessuschrist I wasn't thinking ...I hate those things...nasty nibbly sharp teeth. & I didn't want anymore of em' in the house.

 

Next thing...as the fire starts to take hold...I hear...'crash, bang'......'squeek, squeek'...and imagine I see a small, dark shape through the glass of the heater..so I timidly opened the door...the flames are going well....and I see the rat hanging upside down.....charcolled with its white teeth showing.

 

Poor thing was dead...I'd fried it!

 

Yuk....!

Now what.?..do I build a bigger fire...add more wood so the thing turns to ash.....Nah...I can't bring myself to do it.

 

I hate the idea of killing animals -...well except...cane toads.

 

There was one time...I was gardening, using the hedge shears. I knelt down to slide off some underbrush and shock horror!!!! I had sliced off the feet of a bird......Ewwwewww...I still shudder about that.

 

 

Even now....I'm seeing movements that aren't there out the corner of my eye.....are more rats coming!.........I'm having a very real feeling that I've done something S. King would take as a sign - that I"m goin ta be very sorry for what I've done.!

 

*smiles*

 

We cannot have life without death and vice versa.

 

Besides that, what do you think they'd do if it was the other way around? These animals would kill us, you know. Most likely for food and for play.

 

Not that I want to kill all the animals in the world, but I don't care too much if the animal is over populated. Of course, the more cute the animal the more most people care. That's just how our brain works.

 

I watched this show on how they were skinning dogs alive, it turned my tummy inside out. All this for a coat!? Oh hell no! A few years before that they were serving lion at a resturant in California. Is that wrong? I personally don't want to eat lion but I don't have a problem with them serving one for food. I know given a chance that animal would most like eat me and my family.

 

So is it wrong to kill an animal? I'm going to say it depends on the why.

[white_raven23]

I'm just wondering what makes killing an animal when you don't need to do it so much darn fun to some of you guys. I've been told that it's the thrill of the hunt, but, if that's the case then there's no need to pull the trugger, or if you just have to pull a trigger to release the tension you've built up, why not blanks, or a paintball, or a gentle whoosh of air? I'm pretty sure that the killing is the big show, here.

 

Er?

 

In what way do people "not need to"? Because cowflesh is widely available in grocery stores?

 

Now, personally, I do not hunt. I doubt I could hit the broadside of a barn anywhoo.....BUT the state I live in has plenty of hunters and fishers. Even if you don't engage in the sport yourself, you do someone a favor, like help them move from one house to another, or help out with their wiring (dad's an electrician), and your favor will most often be paid in flesh.

 

Halibut, salmon, moose meat, or caribou is widely available if you know the right people, and let them know you would like a bit. Folks here are pretty open about sharing their meat.

 

Now.....as for why. My reason is simple. The halibut and salmon sold in stores is of poorer quality, and is generally farmed fish which has a noticeably poorer muscle quality to those of us who have years of experience munching the wild stuff.

 

And as for moose and caribou meat......easy. They don't sell it in stores at all. Now while I personally find caribou too gamey for my taste...there is NOTHING, not even buffalo....that compares to moose burgers!!! YUMM!!!!!!

 

For as ugly and bug-ridden as a moose is, the meat is incredibly good! Puts cowflesh to shame!

 

Moose are in no way endangered, and caribou? A herd of 5000 head is a small herd. Quite easily more 'bou than humans here. And that is documented (2:1).

[Guest Shiva H. Vishnu]

 

Er?

 

In what way do people "not need to"? Because cowflesh is widely available in grocery stores?

 

Now, personally, I do not hunt. I doubt I could hit the broadside of a barn anywhoo.....BUT the state I live in has plenty of hunters and fishers. Even if you don't engage in the sport yourself, you do someone a favor, like help them move from one house to another, or help out with their wiring (dad's an electrician), and your favor will most often be paid in flesh.

 

Halibut, salmon, moose meat, or caribou is widely available if you know the right people, and let them know you would like a bit. Folks here are pretty open about sharing their meat.

 

Now.....as for why. My reason is simple. The halibut and salmon sold in stores is of poorer quality, and is generally farmed fish which has a noticeably poorer muscle quality to those of us who have years of experience munching the wild stuff.

 

And as for moose and caribou meat......easy. They don't sell it in stores at all. Now while I personally find caribou too gamey for my taste...there is NOTHING, not even buffalo....that compares to moose burgers!!! YUMM!!!!!!

 

For as ugly and bug-ridden as a moose is, the meat is incredibly good! Puts cowflesh to shame!

 

Moose are in no way endangered, and caribou? A herd of 5000 head is a small herd. Quite easily more 'bou than humans here. And that is documented (2:1).

 

I'm not talking about the people who sustain themselves and their families by hunting, or farming. I'm talking about the weekend warrior who gets his rocks off snuffing out a deer. Like I said, I love meat. It is quite tasty. I'm glad someone works in those slaughterhouses to provide me with fresh meat. Having said that, I'b be a little disturbed to know that the guy who cuts pigs throats on an (dis)assembly line everyday and loves his job actually chose his job because he likes cutting animals' throats. It's the enjoyment of the act of killing that I find a tad unsettling. Without a doubt there a many hunters who do hunt for that reason.

 

 

Oh, and I do feel differently about fishing. Fish seem like big-ass bugs to me.

[Young Mother Atheist]

 

Einstein

 

 

and Darwin

 

would be sad to know about their rat cousin!!

 

But, those big city rats are dangerous. The tame ones we have are darling pets that would never bite you, though.

 

[AtheistMommy]

 

Oh, and I do feel differently about fishing. Fish seem like big-ass bugs to me.

 

That's so mean! I love my fishies

Seriously though, I hate hearing about these guys who go hunt deer on a ranch. WTF? If they are going to hunt why not do it the barbaric way? I'd pay to see these fuckers take that deer down in the wild with their hands.

 

I don't hunt I have gone fishing but I refuse to kill or touch the fish. We catch them and throw them back. Its more like finding out whats in the water. Anyway, I don't fish anymore. I refused to take my monsters anywhere near a boat or fishing hooks. These two would get into some kind of trouble.

 

 

 

But, those big city rats are dangerous. The tame ones we have are darling pets that would never bite you, though.

 

 

My husband loves rats. I can't stand them. But I've heard the same thing you wrote from other people who own rats. I think my kids would kill it if we had one. You should see what they've done to the fish.

[white_raven23]

I'm not talking about the people who sustain themselves and their families by hunting, or farming. I'm talking about the weekend warrior who gets his rocks off snuffing out a deer.

 

I'm still confused. What exactly do you mean by "sustain"? Because the folks I just described as hunters certainly aren't doing it because they can't afford meat. Nor would these folk qualify as "rural" either.

 

They DO fall closer to what you call a "weekend warrior" because....well....folks gotta work during the week! But I certainly don't see them as getting their "rocks off" doing it. And anyone who has hunted in AK has earned their kill just by having to haul it out of the bush (generally by hand, over and through terrain that some folk wouldn't consider trying to traverse even when they aren't hauling 80+ lbs. of moose flesh on their backs through bear country). It is really hard work! And not to mention the emotional strain of having to hoof 10 miles covered in blood. Don't suppose you've ever had the pleasure of reading "Alaska Bear Tales"? Want to take a wild guess as to when most purposeful attacks occur? Bears do NOT drop cleanly dead when you shoot them either. They can and have ignored being shot by high powered rifles long enough to kill people.

 

From what I understand from my hunting friends.....NO ONE wants to be in the woods with 'Mr Gung-ho'. They tend to be unstable, and accident-prone not only for themselves, but those who are hunting with them. Exhibiting behavior as though killing something is orgasmic to you is a grand way to find yourself hunting alone.

[jjacksonRIAB]

To those who say that being personally against hunting for fun while still a meateater makes you a hypocrite, I don't think you understand the issue. I love to eat meat, and yet I have no desire to participate in the killing of the animals I eat, or of any animals, period. Were I to say that animals should not ever be killed for food while I gobbled eating a turkey leg, that would make me a hypocrite.

 

Shiva:

 

But you furnish a substitue nevertheless: money, so you're indirectly contributing. Your argument essentially is that you will order a hit, but you will not do it personally. It's not hypocritical to hate the hitman you hired.

 

The slaughter industry sucks. They are paid well because it sucks. I doubt most anyone takes joy out of it, just like I doubt most people enjoy picking up your trash. And if you like that one, you'll love pig farming.

 

The only hunter who bothers me is the one who owns no land and has no vested interest in free ranging cattle, yet still roams around the countryside looking for vermin to cap off for fun because they are a "threat" to a non-indigenous species that has contributed to an unprecedented amount of overgrazing, destruction of inedible foliage, litigation, welfare ranching, and erosion of soil from a horribly inefficient stock adapted primarily to swamps in order to produce a food item that Americans find more popular: beef.

 

My family owns 35 acres of land that was free ranged by the POA against our wishes and during a drought a herd of 80-120 cattle are systematically turning our acreage to dust. Amongst the prarie dogs, coyotes, porcupines, and other species indigenous to that area and are shot for being "vermin", I know of only one real vermin.

[woodsmoke]

Only thing I feel when I take an animals life is recoil..

 

kL

 

Really ...not even respect for the animal?

 

I hope you are a great shot.

I hate the idea of 'hunter's' practising their marksmanship on the poor animal. Gawd...its an unfair contest...the animal doesn't even have a gun.

 

Any hunter worth his blue card would never consider something as unethical as honing his marsmanship on live targets. We go to the range and set up plastic/paper for that, and head into the wilderness only when the season's come round and we're confident in our ability to make a quick, clean kill.

 

I said this in the other thread debating hunting and I'll say it here. Prey animals are not without defense, and anyone who says they are has, at best, a severely handicapped understanding of the nature of predator vs. prey. Skin shaded to act as camouflage, heightened senses, greater endurance and safety in numbers are all defenses in most prey animals' reportoire. Their best defense strategy is one of prevention, i.e. not being spotted by a predator in the first place, so that's what evolution has developed most in them. Animals have defenses, but most people don't understand them as such because they're proactive rather than reactive, something we don't normally associate with the term.

 

It's not fair for a criminal to break into your house and hold a loaded pistol to your head while you're wetting your smallclothes either. Tell that to the trigger finger. One of the most basic facts of life is that it isn't fair, and criticizing the actions of those who accept that is never going to make it so.

 

One last repitition; how is it less ethical to personally harvest and consume the meat of a game animal who's lived a happy, healthy life in the wilderness for several years as opposed to a cow or pig born into a life of growth-hormone injections, severly confined living space and no sanitation to speak of, all in a rush to get it large and fat enough to send to the slaughterhouse ASAP?

[snookums]

Nivek...Big Shiney Balls indeed *hehe*

 

I thank yea kind sir...for your reply.

I see you may have been onto my mirth making...

(did you note that I consume the bootie of animal slaughter...)

 

I was pull yer leg....to extract more of a rely from you perhaps.

 

Thanks..for obliging!

 

You sound a 'gentle'..man'....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaking generally........

I don't think you could say that about every single 'hunter' or 'shooter' that gets out in the bush or woods. There is no quality control in 'hobby' shooting or rat catching.

 

I'm on land here in Aust....very new experience to me. I couldn't 'grow' meat ...call it Daisy...look after it....create a relationship with the cow or sheep called Tinky......and then send if off for slaughter....

It would feel like a betrayal to me!

Silly I know...it is about 'feeling's'.....

I guess I have the 'city' type ones...that doesn't like to accept responsibility for my steak/chop all the way down the line.

 

What bother's me most about the MEAT industry is the live sheep export to the Middle East - that's so fuckedup. The poor sheep are abused and mistreated for the sake of 'custom'. I take it that the custom is a total disregard for the welfare of the sheep - hackem' up withOUT due care.

 

I'm all for the HUMANE Animal practises - that's what makes me human - the ability to care for animals and the environment. I agree....Not many people can really say the MUST kill an animal to protect themselves (maybe rodents with big sharp nibble teeth) ...but who doesn't primarily depend on the supply in the supermarket.?

 

I personally don't give a shit if its right or wrong to kill animals - people have done it since year dot - I'm not worried about that....what drives me are my 'inner' feelings for animals.

I love them - they are not my enemies......Okay...rats are cute but they are messing with my stuff and getting into the house because of the drought. ....but what a way to despatch a feral rat...by burning it alive. I'm so horrible!

 

Apart from the hunting thing........its very sad that christianity kinda condones the abuse or mis- use of animals.

 

I can say with hand over heart that I have never eaten rabbit! It was against my religion (SDAist) but.....who could?

check this out...cute or what?