[foot-loose]

Also I don't see the point of pets. Its against nature.

How d'ya mean?

Aint it good to get along with animals?

Plus, we have had domesticated animals since we worked out how to draw things on cave walls?

[nickynoo]

YOU EAT LENTILS?????!!!!! I have 3 pet lentils ( Ron Peanut and Whiskers) and would not eat them even though they are herbivores OOHHH wait a miniute scratch that, they are Guinea pigs not lentils always get those mixed up!
Have tried Smurf in Greece once and like so many new meats to one's palate it tasted of chicken but it did turn my tounge blue!

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

Also I don't see the point of pets. Its against nature.

How d'ya mean?

Aint it good to get along with animals?

Plus, we have had domesticated animals since we worked out how to draw things on cave walls?

I think the things they drew on cave walls were animals they wanted to kill.

I have no problem with humans and animals co-existing but pets are taking wild animals and making them dependent on humans.

[Yudster]

Plus, and I am quite possibly wrong here, but aint wood pigeons numbers sorta drastically declining?

Incredibly and enormously wrong - ask any arable farmer.

Plus, we have had domesticated animals since we worked out how to draw things on cave walls?

Yes - domesticated them for food, its called farming.

While I understand yer point, I can't see how it would work. We already have many "pleantiful food sources". Too much food, some would say - too much waste.

Yes, the food sources we are currently using are incredibly wasteful - which is why I would prefer not to use them. I don't want to financially support an industry which is so appallingly regulated. Utilising wild food is one very small way in which I can move towards that ideal. Producing my own is another, and it is my dream to become a smallholder at some point in the (hopefully) not too distant future, and I can actually practice what I preach properly.

But aside from the species control, why would you do it?

Culling of things like deer or squirrel is species population control - the food aspect is a happy spin off. Wildfowling is a way of providing top quality food for the table without putting yourself at the mercy of factory farmers and suppliers And some people enjoy it too.

Aint it good to get along with animals?

Yes. But that doesn't preclude eating them.


DID I JUST DO A QUOTE-A-THON?!!!!!

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

zzzzzzzzzzzz whazz that? zzzzzzzzzzz

[Yudster]

Sorry Gaspode!

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

Shorter words and sentences my brain has been fried today. I was getting irritated by everyone at work today we had one woman who was getting posher and posher by the phone call and another with the worst false laugh ever.

[foot-loose]

I have no problem with humans and animals co-existing but pets are taking wild animals and making them dependent on humans.

I can see your point kinda, but I think there are some very good arguements on keeping pets.

One of them being teaching kids responsibility, respect for other creatures and the planet, and how to care for something other than themselves.

Aside from that, we have had a dog all my life and they are a very close member of the family. Its one of these things that if you haven't experienced it, you prob couldn't understand.

My sister has two horses that I take nothing to do with (far to big and the hay makes me sneeze) but she sees them as a part of the family as well. Hard to explain.

Incredibly and enormously wrong - ask any arable farmer.

I thought I might be, so no I wont be approaching any farmers on this topic, arable or otherwise.

Plus, we have had domesticated animals since we worked out how to draw things on cave walls?

Yes - domesticated them for food, its called farming.

We had dogs and horses trained to help us with the farming.

Yes, the food sources we are currently using are incredibly wasteful - which is why I would prefer not to use them. I don't want to financially support an industry which is so appallingly regulated. Utilising wild food is one very small way in which I can move towards that ideal. Producing my own is another, and it is my dream to become a smallholder at some point in the (hopefully) not too distant future, and I can actually practice what I preach properly.

Ahh, fair enough. I thought you were trying to get everyone to be buying freshly shot rabbits and squirrles outta the local supermarket. While I have no problem with that, I doubt the rest of the nation would a) agree with me and b) actually buy it if it went on sale.

Culling of things like deer or squirrel is species population control - the food aspect is a happy spin off. Wildfowling is a way of providing top quality food for the table without putting yourself at the mercy of factory farmers and suppliers And some people enjoy it too.

Pretty much as I said above. Go to a good quality butcher and you'll get some tasty venison.

Aint it good to get along with animals?

Yes. But that doesn't preclude eating them.

Course not, as long as I don't have to eat my dog then I'm happy.

I want to try alligator meat, but the only place I can find it is on the net outta tin can. I don't think so.

DID I JUST DO A QUOTE-A-THON?!!!!!

I'm not sure. You didn't name it in a comedy style film fashion...





To summerise for Gaspode - get a dog and live with it for a year - then tell me the same thing.

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

I have had pets... cats, birds, fish, rabbit, guinea pig and a crow at one point. I also walked the dogs of a family for a few years as they were too busy and we had foxes in our house as a kid (they stink).

I guess i come from more of a farming background which views animals in a different way.

[Yudster]

Pretty much as I said above. Go to a good quality butcher and you'll get some tasty venison.

But I won't know who shot it, and where it came from. I'd rather shoot it myself, or get it privately than through a retailer.

[Mcqueen_]

One of them being teaching kids responsibility, respect for other creatures and the planet, and how to care for something other than themselves.

Tamagotchi's my friend.

[DemonHorse]

Yeah they didn't last long did they... bit like real pets for most young kids.

[SAV1OUR]

Visiting the local slaughterhouse (or whatever they're called today) has never been high on my to do list, I eat about as much meat as there is available, I just dont want to see it getting killed, I reckon I'd eat cooked meat that I'd just seen get killed, but I could never actually do the killing. Going back to our origins when we had to use spears and whatnot would be good for me, but I dont think that particular kind of hunting activity would be made available to me on my typical 18-30 package.

Once I've got round to seeing whether I can shed my morals and kill, cook and eat, then I'll see if I can take on horses. That said though, you serve horse-meat up to me without telling me and I find it delicious then it would be all too convenient for me to say, "Aww, I like horsies, me"

Dead meat or not, animals are fine by me. Maybe I'm more fussed about real animal cruelty, the stuff that ends up in the papers.

[foot-loose]

I have had pets... cats, birds, fish, rabbit, guinea pig and a crow at one point. I also walked the dogs of a family for a few years as they were too busy and we had foxes in our house as a kid (they stink).

I guess i come from more of a farming background which views animals in a different way.

Fair enough. I was around farmers when I was younger and could never understand the way they thought of animals as things rather than the cute ickle lambs that I could see. I can appreciate it now tho.

Each to their own.

But I won't know who shot it, and where it came from. I'd rather shoot it myself, or get it privately than through a retailer.

Again, fair enough, but I couldn't be arsed with having to deal with it after it had been shot. I've worked in a butchers and its a messy business.

Besides, you should be able to get a fair amount of info from a respectable butchers about where the meat has come from. You prob wouldn't be able to get a phone number for the guy that pulled the trigger, but at least something about where it lived etc etc

[Ballbag]

Although I have Lionel and Elton, and am very fond of them, in fact I'd go so far as to say I would miss them terribly if they went missing. At the same time, if they (God forbid) snuffed it and I was presented the offer of a having a "cat pie", I'd probably give it a go....... it's all about the food chain, and we are right near the top.

[Boboff]

I like pussy pie too !

[Yudster]

Besides, you should be able to get a fair amount of info from a respectable butchers about where the meat has come from. You prob wouldn't be able to get a phone number for the guy that pulled the trigger, but at least something about where it lived etc etc

True enough. Far more desirable than a supermarket, although they are very good for other things.

[claradooblue]

I agree with Yudster for the most part. I very rarely eat meat, but when i do, it's either deer or rabbit that has actually been caught by someone i know. I don't agree with animal farming in any form, which is why i only eat fish caught wild and not farmed. I thought supermarkets were quite honest about that until i read in the Guardian that some supermarkets are mislabelling thier fish. Oh well.

[Yudster]

You're right, and fish - thats a whole other issue, don't get me started on that!

[claradooblue]

People always think that fish is a separate issue. They still have eyes and a brain. The complicated bit is whether it should be ok to eat over fished fish like cod.

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

Its another issue because they swim in our excrement!

[Boboff]

whereas vegetables are not grown in our excrement at all.

*sarcasm= South west water dispose of more human waste on land than into the sea. lots of blue flags, but have you wondered about the "wild" tomato plats you see in hedges ? the seeds pass through the human gut undamaged !

[Walter Sobchak]

whereas vegetables are not grown in our excrement at all.

*sarcasm= South west water dispose of more human waste on land than into the sea. lots of blue flags, but have you wondered about the "wild" tomato plats you see in hedges ? the seeds pass through the human gut undamaged !

The farm next to the school where I work used human waste as fertiliser last year, what a stink!

Wanna buy some.....
http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=614
"the lawn has never looked better"

http://environment.newscientist.com/article/mg19125694.400.html

[Johnny 1989]

Plus, and I am quite possibly wrong here, but aint wood pigeons numbers sorta drastically declining?

Incredibly and enormously wrong - ask any arable farmer.

Aren't they protected though, I'm sure this used to be the breed that was used to make Pigeon pie, or have I got that wrong?

Also I would eat a horse. How is it any different from eating a cow or sheep?

[foot-loose]

I wouldn't argue with her Johnny - she has an arable farmer close at hand with a whole concotion of facts and figures.