Should People Eat Animals?

I'm not a meat eater but do eat fish and eggs. It's a personal choice for me. What others do is up to them. Good Hub.

I think a level of reverence should be taken toward eating animals. They are all precious creatures. I do not take a stand against eating meat, but I do take a stand against cruelty. Such a well written hub for such a delicate topic. Thanks for sharing this information!

This was a well-thought out Hub on a subject that affects people in different ways. I was a Vegetarian for over 10 years - and - now - I might have some cold cuts in a sandwich. I have the film - Food, Inc. and that was a shocker for me. Your photo of the chicken slaughterhouse was terrible. We can pray - contact your politician - start a petition for changes that need to be done. So many comments to this Hub - it would take until late into the night to read them all. I love animals so much and it is so inhuman that people treat them as they do without regret. So sad.

Useful - Awesome - Interesting - Up. Excellent.

I for one have never been able to eat animals - ever. Since very young I have had a complete repulsion for eating animals. Vegetarianism for me - always! I enjoyed reading your very informative hub.

Recently, I read about a new type of farm. The farm raises cattle, pigs, poultry and goats. Each type of animal rotates through a large feeding meadow - the cattle graze there until all the grass is gone, then a flock of several hundred chickens is brought in who feed on stray seeds and insect larva. Then the goats come in, and they eat the weeds that neither the cattle nor the chickens want. The farmer bulldozes all the droppings together(there are quite a bit at this point) and then laces the pile with corn. Then he lets in the heavy hitters, the pigs. The pigs use their powerful snouts to root through the you-know-what to find the corn, which at this point is fermenting. This manure makes particularly excellent fertilizer once the pigs have finished their time with it. The author of the essay said he had never seen such happy pigs (I guess there is truth to the old saying), and since he had visited pig slaugtherhouses, the contrast between these hogs and those kept in miserable tiny pens, where they had no outlet for their natural digging and searching drives, was particularly acute. These animals are all destined to be slaughtered as meat for people; the difference is they live lives according to their natural drives. They are treated with respect, even though we plan to eat them. A part of the operation of this farm is that the slaughtering floor is open to the public. People can also slaughter their own animal, and have the meat packed for them. The effect, said the author, is profound. Like all omnivores, our bodies thrive on animal protein, but how we treat the animals makes all the difference.

I personally think meat eating is not so much the problem as the cruelty of factory farming. The animals we raise are, after all, prey animals, and in the realm of nature would be captured by predators when they get too old to run away anymore, if not long before. In nature they also get to experience being a part of their herd, running or digging or flapping or whatever, and having the contentment that comes with living according to their nature. As long as we do not rob them of this, I think we can keep our meat farming moral.

Well the pictures down here are too scary , well i totally agree with the question about eating animals . Well i used to eat chicken and meat say 5 years ago but then once i had gone with my grandpa to slaughterhouse and that was the day when i actually gave a deep thought of my eating habbits and now i eat it just occassionaly and that too like once in blue moon say 6 months or like that , to which again i am thinking of giving up

Gosh, disappointed I didn't get to see it! ha!

I just read the comment that True Talk wrote to memories 1932. I am totally disgusted by the person who wrote it and I am totally disgusted at you for accepting it. I can just imagine how memories1932 feels. If this were my hub I would have never accepted such a nasty comment. Do the right thing and remove the comment. I am not a member of hub pages and as long as there are heartless nasty people on here I will never be a member. Do you have a heart?

I was not personally attacking anybody I was just voicing my opinion. If anyone got offended by my comments it's because they felt guilty and responded by attacking me. The trouble is that you can't say anything now days because somebody might be offended. Most likely true talk is a hunter and he probably doesn't care that I'm offended by the fact he kills animals so I don't care that I offended him. Why should I have to be the one to consider the other person's feelings when most likely they do not consider mine. I have quit hubpages because of this incident and the only reason I am commenting now is because I personally know Sueswan and I was checking out her comments. If there are people like true talk on hubpages I don't want anything to do with it. I am even more against people now because of it. I am a nice person and I didn't do anything wrong. Goodbye hubpages.

I know the person True Talk is referring to.

She has never mentioned this incident to me so I am not speaking on her behalf and I am not defending her or her comments.

She is an animal lover and is not crazy about people.

I tell her that there are good people out there. Also I have told her it is ok to disagree with somebody but there is no need to personally attack them.

Example: I don't think people should eat meat. Not all people who eat meat are selfish bastards.

Words can hurt more than you know James. So if True Talk thought he or she was been personally attacked he or she could have counterattacked without being so viciously cruel.

You didn't agree with everything she said but you did not attack her.

It's me True Talk and you know I am a rotten person and I don't deserve to live. Please delete my comment. I am a coward and a bully I will probably change my mind about this comment and deny it but please ignore any denials and do the right thing DELETE MY COMMENT.

I am a vegetarian and don't eat any animal products at all. Vegetarians are a lot healthier than meat eaters but I don't do it for health reasons,I do it because I truly love animals. It's funny how meat eaters can always come up with excuses and reasons to defend the fact they eat meat. I hate when people think that they come first and that everything is here for their benefit. It's a shame that animals have to suffer just so people can satisfy their selfish desires. I realize animals kill each other in the wild but that is natures way of keeping things balanced. Animals don't have factory farms and they don't use guns to hunt. If someone wants to hunt, they should do it without any weapons. I bet no person would be willing to do that. Anyone who can pick up a gun and shoot an innocent animal is nothing but a selfish coward.

I really liked this article. You explained everything in a balanced way and though the organic route would be ideal you have explained that there just would not be enough of it to feed America. I also like the way you say "...removed from the concept that there are animals involved at all" because this I feel is the key to it all. When we can detach ourselves like this we are capable of great suffering and cruelty and this would not be just towards animals. Thank you.

LOL! Sometimes I'm witty and nobody "gets it," and then sometimes I'm witty by accident.

Yeah - there was a front page article. . ..or maybe I got it from Hubpages on Facebook, I'm not certain. I'm not sure of the title, but it was something like "What Tigers Eat In Zoos."

I'd read there about some pathetic Zoologist that thought that their Zoo's Tigers should be fed soy. Of course I can't verify any of that, but it sounds all too real.

Things get seriously stupid when the Zoologist a Zoos think that soy is what should be fed to the Tigers - instead of meat.

Some of those "Vegan" types are so hysterical that they think that they can judge the morality of a Lion or Tiger's diet. . . . despite the fact that a Lion or Tiger is the product of untold millions of years of adaptations towards becoming exactly what they are, superior meat eating killers.

I've no intention to stop eating meat - but certainly, were I the one doing the slaughtering, then I'd cut down on it's consumption.

Hi James,

I came upon this hub late, but will comment anyway.

I think you hit on the crux of the matter with two items...1.) Are the animals being treated inhumane? 2.) Is the food supply safe?

As for cattle, I do believe that they are for the most part being treated humanely. My wife and I have in the past kept a small herd of about thirty head, and I can tell you that most cattle are raised on ranches where they are treated well. A rancher does himself no service to treat his/her cattle otherwise. It is obviously in the ranchers best interest that his animals be fat and healthy since he earns money based on those two factors. The antibiotic question is less about weather it makes the animal unhealthy (it does not...quite the opposite), than it is about creating resistant strains of bacteria that will lead to untreatable 'super-infections' in the human population.

It is primarily the feedlots, where cattle are subjected to poor treatment. This is where most disease is transmitted to otherwise healthy herds, and where they are fed meal that is partially comprised of animal parts, to include beef! Cows are obviously not omnivores, nor are they canabalistic by nature. In the feedlot, in the name of fattening them up for the final few weeks of their lives they have no choice, and that is one reason for the spread of disease to include Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease). The close quarters, and general filth of some feedlots promotes the transmitting of disease. As for the way that they are ultimately killed in the slaughterhouse with a Captive Bolt Pistol, which renders them unconscious, and then the juglar vein being severed; it is generally quick and humane if carried out properly.

With the amount of cattle processed each day, I am surprised that we have only discovered one case of Mad Cow Disease in the U.S. The real problem with that particular disease is that it takes a very long time (20 to 30 years) to manifest itself in humans. In humans it is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Today CJD is only found in about 1 in 1 Million people in the United States, and those cases are not directly traceable to the meat supply. However, it is worthy to note that cannibalism has led to encephalitis in human cannibal tribes...'Kuru' is one such disease, and it carries the scientific name 'Transmissable Spongiform Encephalopathy'. It was first discovered in Papua New Guinea in the 1960s.

I noticed one of the comments you had earlier asked about cancers, and that is certainly a legitimate concern. Here's what I believe from having raised cattle in the past: It is my opinion that feedlot growth hormone, and the repellant chemicals that are regularly applied to cattle for the purpose of keeping insect pests (bot flies etc.) away from the cattle are a far more likely candidates for rises in the occurance of bovine cancers than are antibiotics.

I know very little about how chickens are raised and slaughtered in large operations, but I have seen a couple such operations up close, and from the density of the chicken populations in those cases, I am somewhat confident in my own mind of concluding that they promote the same sort of problems encountered in cattle feedlots. I also know that the filth in the operations found to be at fault for the recent egg scare was cited as the source of the Salmonella food poisoning...Chickens living in and being slaugtered in their own fecal matter, and being fed a feed that was tainted with rodent feces were determined to be the cause. Salmonella microbes flourish in the intestinal tracts of fowl and mammals, so it make sense not to shit where you eat!

Fish is my personal favorite choice of a 'meat' source, but even prior to the Deep Horizon gulf oil spill there had been warnings about eating gulf oysters. I am generally a conservative, and I was upset that little was mentioned about the 11 men that lost their lives, but it doesn't take a Biochemist to see that we can't sustain a healthy ocean fish population in a cesspool of oil and dispersant chemicals, and in the end it may be a lot more than 11 people that suffer as a result.

I guess from looking back at what I have written, I would conclude that chemicals and overcrowding/filth is the main concern in the meat supply. Although I would not want to slaughter animals as a career, I can say that butchering (field quartering) an occasional elk is not something that bothers me in the least. I also have no problem plucking and gutting pheasant or duck. There are some activists (Peta types) that are critical of hunting activities, but like so many pseudo environmentalists, 'they don't know shit from shinola', or they would be aware that culling is necessary to maintaining healthy populations.

At any rate James, the hub was a good read and brought up some interesting questions. Now you have 'my two cents worth'.

Hi! Good Hub!

The photo's after - Submit a Comment - Wow. Even seeing those photo's I still believe in a balance diet... some chicken for a meal and some red meat for another meal.

Great hub, James. People have a free will of meat consumption, and too much of the fatty kind, can lead to health problems. I say that vegetarians, who stick to eating vegetables, are benefiting themselves and their love ones. The human body not made for only meat consumption diet, but a balanced diet of plant, and grain regiment.

Since moving to Nebraska in October of 2010, if I can't fish, hunt or grow my food in a backyard garden, I don't need to eat it. I have shot 2 deer this year and have caught numerous fish. I feel healthier for eating the fresh meat, fish and veggies. I understand how some people look at a deer with those beautiful eyes and say "how can you shoot that?" or kill a rabbit for dinner. Amazingly, people who have not grown up on a farm don't understand were meat really comes from. These same people get grossed out when they see how cattle are slaughtered then go out and purchase hamburger to put on their grill.

Maybe there is a more humane way to provide meat for the everyday dinner table. For me, it's called hunting, one shot, the animal is dead and I can eat for a year.

In reality the cattle are humainly slaughtered, it's the "bad" videos that get published and these should not be published.

If the general population would only realize that all slaughter houses are not the same. However, the end result is; with dye and chemicals put in the meat weather it be beef or chicken.

People have to eat, yes. There are many ways to provide you body with the proper amount of protein. Then again, if people didn't hunt for their food, we would be over run with wildlife.

Hunters never take anymore than what they can eat in a seson that's why there is a limit on how many animals you can hunt. There's nothing like pheasant, turkey, deer or fresh fish for dinner.

I think we all crave protein and the obvious source is usually meat. My daughter is a vegetarian and she's the healthiest person I know!!

You know I am coming to a crossroads in my life where I am just now beginning to put my health as an important factor in my well being. I have been fortunate enough to have been healthy all of my life. I have weighed around 175lb for most of my adult life. I have ate, pretty much whatever I wanted.

I realize that today's "mass" produced meat and poultry is loaded with "who-knows-what".

Along with my wife, we are trying to eat more fruit and vegetables and be more conscience of our health.

Very interesting hub!

I am a happy vegetarian! I "live, and let live", but it upsets me to see how animals are treated and marketed for the consumer. Your hub is excellent and you certainly have a good variety of comments. I would just like to say "Amen" to Saddleridders comments. Thank you so much for all of your work in preparing this article.

I wonder too if the meat is healthy, I also wonder is that's why we are having cancer cell in our bodies! As far as being cruel is a matter of an individuals thought process. It seems to me they treat these animals very well for the kill, so to speak. But some of the procedures might not agree with our body. I often wonder why they don't just put these animals to sleep and then kill them, they wouldn't suffer so much. Maybe that would be too expensive? I just wanted to share what the Bible said about it. Again GREAT HUB!

James a very interesting Hub here and you know I'm going to the Bible with it! lol, lol,

The Bible is filled with numerous specific examples of faithful servants of God eating meat with no implication that they did wrong. Examples of People Who Ate Meat:

Genesis 25:27,28; 27:1-4 - Esau was a skillful hunter. His father Isaac loved Esau because he ate what Esau killed.

Genesis 43:16 - Joseph had an animal slaughtered for his brothers to eat with him.

1 Samuel 25:18 - Abigail brought sheep dressed to eat as a gift to David and his men.

1 Kings 4:22,23 - Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, ate oxen, sheep, deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fowl.

1 Kings 19:21 - Elisha slaughtered oxen to feed people.

1 Chronicles 12:39,40 - David and the people ate oxen and sheep when he was named king.

Nehemiah 5:17,18 - Nehemiah provided for those who ate with him oxen, sheep, and fowl.

Matthew 3:4 - John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey.

Note that many of the people ate, not just fish or birds, but "red meat": cattle, sheep, oxen, etc.

If eating meat is immoral, then all these people were immoral and sinned in eating meat. Yet the Bible presents them as good people and never once implies they did anything wrong in these cases.

[1 Sam. 16:20; 17:18; Gen. 10:9; Prov. 9:2; 2 Sam. 17:29]

Passages Where God Specifically Approves of Eating Meat

Consider passages where God either approves of eating meat and animal products or even provides it for people to eat.

Genesis 9:1-6

After the flood God gave animals into the hand of man (v2) and said that "every moving thing" is food for us, just like plants are food (v3). Killing man is forbidden because man is in God's image, but killing animals for food is authorized since they are not in God's image. This passage expressly states, both that God permits man to eat animal meat, and that God's rules against killing people do not apply to animals.

Some claim this was just a temporary provision till plants grew on earth after the flood. But the passage nowhere says this. God had put both animals and people on the ark to save them alive (6:19). He had provided sufficient food for people and animals on the ark (6:21) till the earth was able to provide for them (clearly the dove did not return because there was food for it elsewhere - 8:12,13). If there were no plants so people had to eat animals, then what did the animals eat and how did they live to repopulate the earth?

Others say that, as with divorce, God simply tolerated people's desire to eat meat under the Old Testament, but never really approved it. However, we know this is what God did regarding divorce because the Bible clearly says so (Matt. 19:3-9). Where does it clearly say this is what He did regarding eating meat? Furthermore, Jesus clearly stated that the New Testament would return to God's original teaching regarding divorce. Where does He clearly say that He does not want us to eat meat? We will see that He says just the opposite.

Other Old Testament passages

Genesis 18:2,7,8 - Abraham showed hospitality to visitors by feeding them butter, milk, and a calf he had killed. Note that Abraham offered them - and they ate - not just dairy products (butter and milk), but also red meat (beef - veal) which he had killed.

These visitors were actually angels, one of whom is called "the Lord" (vv 16-19). He praised Abraham as a righteous and just man. If killing and eating meat is immoral, would a righteous and just man provide people meat to eat, and would the Lord eat it? Hebrews 13:2 commands us to show similar hospitality.

Exodus 12:3,6,8,46 - God commanded each family in Israel to kill and eat a lamb for the Passover feast.

Deuteronomy 12:15,20-22 - When Israelites offered animal sacrifices, they and/or the priests ate much of the meat. This was God's blessing to them. [15:19-23; 14:26; Num. 18:9,10; Ex. 29:32; Lev. 7:15; 8:31]

Leviticus 11:2,3,9,21,46,47 - Under the law God forbade eating unclean animals, yet He expressly authorized the eating of many clean animals: mammals, fish, birds, and insects. [Deut. 14:4,6,9,11,20]

Leviticus 17:13,14 - Blood of an animal must be poured out before the animal was eaten. But with this provision, animals and birds may be hunted, caught, and eaten.

1 Kings 17:4,6 - God nourished Elijah by providing him bread and meat. Did God provide food that would be immoral to eat?

Proverbs 27:23-27 - Flocks were not only a legitimate source of riches and clothing, they also provide milk for food (v27).

Exodus 3:8,17; 13:5; 33:3; Leviticus 20:24; Deuteronomy 27:3; Jeremiah 32:22 - God blessed Israel by bringing them to the promised land of "milk and honey." The Bible views drinking milk as a great blessing from God, yet animal liberation says it is immoral! Does God bless people by promoting evil? [Even taking honey would be "stealing" from bees, if animals have rights!] [Deut. 32:14]

New Testament passages

Acts 10:9-16; 11:5-10 - In a vision God commanded Peter to eat unclean animals. When Peter refused, God explained that he should not consider as unclean things that God had cleansed.

This was primarily a symbol that Gentiles could receive the gospel; but would God have commanded Peter to eat, if he would have sinned by doing so? How would an immoral act serve as a proper symbol of something that Peter ought to do? This serves as a fitting illustration only if the animals that were unclean under the Old Testament may now be eaten.

1 Timothy 4:1-5 - Some people forbid the eating of "meats" (KJV, ASV) or "foods" (NKJV). This is a doctrine of those who depart from the faith and follow doctrines of demons.

Some claim this refers, not to meat, but to forbidding "foods" in general. But no one forbids humans to eat all kinds of food, so the verse must refer to people who forbid certain kinds of foods. The fact this includes eating meat is confirmed by v4: Every creature of God is good and not to be refused if we are thankful for it. So the doctrine that forbids eating meat (God's creatures) is a false doctrine taught by those who have departed from the faith!

1 Corinthians 8:8,10,13; 10:25; (Romans 14:1,2,15,21) - As a matter of personal conscience, some Christians would not eat meats that had been offered to idols. People are not required to eat meat - a vegetarian diet is not wrong. But the truth is that eating meat is not wrong of itself. If we eat we are no worse, and if we do not we are no better (v8). It is wrong only if it violates someone's conscience (v10; Rom. 14:14). So those who did not eat were "weak" - (Rom. 14:2).

But meat bought in a meat market, should just be eaten with no questions asked - 10:25. So clearly eating meat is not inherently wrong. And people sinned if, as with modern animals liberators, they viewed eating meat as inherently wrong a matter of morality and condemned those who ate meat - Rom. 14:3. Remember, to forbid eating meats is false doctrine.

Colossians 2:16 - Since the Old Law has been removed (v14), no one should judge us regarding old laws of food and drink, such as clean and unclean animals. Clean animals could always be eaten, and under the gospel we may eat even those that were formerly unclean. Those who would judge us for so doing are wrong.

[2 Peter 2:12; 1 Cor. 3:2; 9:7; Heb. 5:12-14; 1 Peter 2:2]

The Example of Jesus

Some people actually claim that Jesus was a vegetarian. But consider: Jesus' teaching and conduct

Luke 5:1-10 - The event that specifically motivated the apostles to follow Jesus was a miracle in which He enabled them to make a huge catch of fish (vv 4-9). If catching fish is immoral, why did Jesus instruct and enable them to do it, especially when they had not been able to catch anything previously?

Luke 11:11-13 - Jesus said a father gives good gifts to his children, including bread, fish, and eggs. The parallel to the bread shows that the children would eat the fish and eggs (what other use would they be?). Jesus here justifies eating fish and eggs, and He says that those who provide these for food are doing good, not evil! Note that, not only is eating fis

Great hub - short, simple, reflective, and to the point! Oh, with cool pictures too! I've recently been doing a lot of thinking about diet and the source of food. I think the movies Food, Inc. and Foodmatters have caused me to question my food choice every day...and, strive to eat organic foods.

McDonalds is one of those things that cause me dissonance ... I am in favor of free enterprise, free choice etc. Mc Donalds success is a result of all of that. But what they sell is not good in the long term for people.

From a business perspective, I like the "Franchise" idea ... take a proven business model hand help hard working people become successful ... sadly, that makes for a boring world ... every strip mall looks like every other strip mall. That model does not reward creativity and innovation.

Nice hub. I am omnivore and as someone posted, if i have an option i would rather eat meat from a roaming animal as compared to one that has beer raised in a confined space awaiting death in its own refuse.

I would rather eat rice and vegetables.

But why has man come to raise animals in an enclosed environment? Ease of access and "cleanness" but the latter seems to be outdated with the various "disinfection processes".

Anyway, animals raised in batteries are out of their natural environment therefore lead an unnatural and in my opinion suffering life, they are packed too close together etc. and should not be eaten.

I think that as human beings, our conscience is developing, and hopefully we will realize that torturing animals as is done in experiments and forcing them to live in unnatural ways in unnatural environments has its consequences.

If more people believed organic, there would have been a change and enough food. There is so much waste of food about 40% of it.

Thoughts provoking hub that reminded me of a university movie students production that I had seen. It is so sad I was inspired, thank you:)

I'm vegetarian. I have been vegetarian for about 10 years now. Previous to that I only ate chicken and fish because I was worried about beet with the BSE scare. I think we cause a lot of our diseases by not respecting animals. I went vegetarian overnight in the end after dreaming about human carcuses hanging up in a van! Very good enlightening hub.

you are truly masterful at winning the interests of many. look at this! this is such a success! so small a hub but so many comments.

Thanks for the great Hub James, I hope it brings out more awareness about meat-eating.

It stupefies me how we as human beings are able to eat a diet of fruits and vegetables, one superior to a meat diet in many ways, and yet we choose to stuff ourselves with McDonald`s and Burger King. A society centered around money and doing things faster... it will leave our lives short and shallow.

But not even that, even if there were no additional benefits to eating fruits and vegetables as opposed to meat, should we as conscious beings do otherwise? To have these slaughterhouses opposes every ideal we stand for... at least if the same were done to another human being.

Unfortunately, I can't say I am a vegetarian yet, but I am working on it...

My partner and I eat as close to Organic as we possibly can. Avoiding slaughtered animals and antibiotic loaded animals is bad for ones health. Range fed chickens are the best tasting,salmon and tuna are two of our favorites. Lots of organic veggies as well. It's very sad to see the inhumanity to animals and how they are treated once they are cooped up and restrained before being slaughtered. Great hub, much appreciate your input.

James, you made up with the wonderful comment!! We should be united in the cause of upliftment of the poor, wherever in the World he comes from!! :)

I'm with those that have already said that they could not kill animals and eat them, at least that is how I feel. If I were starving....who knows? Do I eat meat? Yes. A quandry!

I once read a book that I believe was titled Diet for a Small Planet. According to that book it takes far more grain to feed an animal up to the time it is slaughtered than the meat that we get from it. Therefore, more people around the world could be kept fed if we were not animal eaters. "Food for thought."

But did you see them chasing rats for dinner!! There are tribals in India who do that but that is by choice directed by their desire for rats and never by any compulsion!!

I dont know about the documentary you saw but it's a bad depiction!! For your knowledge, in Calcutta we also have the macdonald's, subway, domminos pizza and everything else you can ask for!!

Another fabulous hub!! As for your liking for omlette, we get country eggs here which are back yard products from a farmers house, that is without chemicals and better in taste than the commercial poultry product!!

However your comment that in Calcutta, people live in cardboard boxes and run after a rat is poor in taste for an accomplished hubber like you!! I am born and brought up in Calcutta, never known or heard anything like that!!

i eat meat, but not very often, and never eat pork since i saw a video where some guys were taunting some pigs about to be slaughtered. see, the thing was, the pigs were really smart and just knew where they were going. and these guys were poking them with a rod of some sort to move them along and the pigs stood their ground, looking all terrified and what bothered me was they were laughing at the pigs and it just upset me horribly that they laughed at their fear, so i can't in good conscience eat them anymore. i know if i looked under your comments box i would probably swear off any animal flesh for life, but my heart doesn't have the stomach for it. if i lived in a post-apocalyptic world where we had to grow our own food, of course i could slaughter an animal to feed my family but as Sufi said, i would do it quickly and cleanly and thank it for allowing me to sever its life so i could live.

p.s. i wish they would declare rabbits as pets so people and restaurants especially would stop selling it. as the owner of a pet rabbit, the thought of people eating little bunnies sickens me.

thoughtful hub. thank you.

Weather you eat meat or not don't eat anything that has corn syrup.I understand that eating corn syrup is hard on the liver ,enlarges your heart,and increases your bad colesterol levels.Corn syrup is not natural,and it bad for our health.It's also connected to diabetes.

Even though the bible states that we were given certain animals to eat, I have recently given up eating animals except fish. As a consequence I feel much better and have lost weight. This was as a consequence of high cholesterol in a recent blood test as I wrote in a hub recently. The new way of eating has been very successful One of the consequences of not eating meat would be that the fields would not have any animals either. Not a bad thing perhaps.

lol James. I was thinking more along the lines for a slogan, "We kill them with kindness," but that might meet with a bit of uh, well...let's just say disdain. :)

Hello James, I am brand-new to HubPages. I was drawn to your Payne Stewart hub while doing research on aviation accidents. I am very interested in your hubs. This particular one immediately grabbed my attention, as I was just reading about this very subject in the Bible! I am currently invested in a Beth Moore Bible Study: "A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place." Yesterday I read: Numbers 18:18,19 [This is God speaking to Aaron] 18"The meat of these animals will be yours,. . . 19Yes, I am giving you all these holy offerings that the people of Israel bring to the Lord. They are for you and your sons and your daughters, to be eaten as your regular share. - Knowing that we are now the "Priesthood" - through Jesus Christ we are under His authority to eat meat! Also, Chapter 18 is just a wonderful example of how God cared for those that served Him - the Levites. He was their provision. If I am understanding your hub(s) and replies correctly, it appears that He has been more than your provision! So, the meat that was theirs to eat were: bulls, rams, lambs, goats. [NUM 7:87]. God's first instructions to us: GEN 1:28-29 God blessed them and told them [He did what? Bless them!] "Look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants and all the fruit trees for your food . . . He provided very specific instructions to us as to what we could and could not eat - we as humans strayed far. . . [Genesis, Chapter 3] consuming that which was not intended. Thank you James, for submitting this wonderful hub! All God's Best ~ Anne

PS. How horrified are we at nations that eat cats and dogs? They are meat, so why don't we eat them? Simply because we have decided to put them on a higher level than other animals. We decided! As you can tell I have been thinking about this a lot.

Over the years I have been increasingly troubled over the morality of eating meat;and have been eating less of it and looking for alternatives. Yes, animals feel pain and fear and once they are killed we are taking in all that negative energy from their death.

I saw an expose on how the people that work on these plants mistreat and torture the animals for fun and one where if a pig was sick they put a chain around it's neck an hung it, because bullets were too expensive. The mother pigs were put in pins so small all they could do was lay on their side and nurse. It is horrible to think how these defenseless animals are treated.

The pig is one of the smartest animals. Remember Arnold,the pig on Green Acres? These animals are so mistreated especially fowl and pigs. Kept in tiny crates with little room to move, standing in their own filth.

We are paying for eating meat with our health as well. Now, animals are pumped full of steroids so that they can grow quickly and antibiotics to keep them healthy. Our children and we are obese and going through puberty quicker, from the steroids and we have to use stronger medication to fight disease because we become resistant.

True eating meat is a very difficult habit to break, but I believe we and the planet would be better off if we stopped eating it. I myself and working on going vegetarian.

A very thoughtful subject. I love meat, and I understand that in order to enjoy meat to eat, an animal must die in that whole process. But I think it IS possible to have heart AND good business sense, and that there are some folks out there who are in the meat business, be it on the farm or in the slaughterhouses, that do have some compassion for the animals. I am also certain that they are VERY few VERY far between. Perhaps that's the little niche left in the meat industry. If you can be compassionate, and if you can prove you are compassionate, that could sell your meat.

Well written Hub! I am a vegan so obviously that tells you where I stand. It makes me sick to know that animals are bred to die and how they're treated during their pathetic excuse for lives is heart wrenching! Dairy cattle are some of the most abused animals as are hens. Human are not omnivores. We do not even have the proper saliva to properly digest the enzymes in animal products. A vegan diet is proven to prevent and in some forms reverse certain cancers, leaves you with no cholesterol or heart disease issues, cures migraines, allergies and you just feel healthier and have more energy. Dairy is even being linked to autism now in children. It's no wonder mothers are staying away from these products. There are enough foods and wonderful companies in this world that make products that are not from an animal. Animals not ours to eat, kill, torture or use for entertainment. I would like to link this hub to a few of my hubs like my dairy cows or free range hen ones if you don't mind?

James, I was raised on home made sausage, pork, veal, duck, bacon and wines. I was in my twenties when I had my first Hamburger from McDonalds and my mother cooked with lard for years. My father would go to the slaughter house and bring home some horrible looking stuff, then proceed to make his own hot dogs etc. I bring this up because my whole family, despite our horrible diet, have always been healthy with low cholesterol and low blood pressure, and not obese. I couldn't imagine a world without meat, but like you I can't eat bloody or raw.

Most people don't have any idea what is in processed foods, I read an article recently that when the FDA recalls ie: beef, they don't throw it away but instead use it for frozen diners etc. Gross.

I just love your hubs, you have such a variety of topics

Hi James,

What would we do without a great tasting steak from a well fed beef? Another great Hub James.

Thank you for your most intimate thoughts about meat. I get the creeps too when I really think about meat...so primitive and bloody... and at the same time craving it like there is not one other day left. yeah...rare is too much to bear.

While I was in high school, in a husbandry class, we visited a house where they kill pigs and cows and make hot dogs. I saw the vat of remains and how they made hot dogs and I can not tell you what an education that our class received that day,

Awesome James! You are right down the road from my Dear Daddy. He would probable like a visit from you. He seems to be in good form and feeling his oats these days in spite some heath issues.

This is so great and I am going to start putting that CD together this weekend.

I think poor people in our county are fat because of all the bad, cheap, not really food stuff they put in all the middle selves of the super markets. Most of these foods are filled with trans fats and these things makes people big and sick. I am spoiled over here in California where we have many farmers markets and local organic food. I also grow organic foods and can stuff for the winter.