If all farm animals dissappeared - talk.politics.animals

Message from discussion If all farm animals dissappeared

Michael Saunby

More options 12 Jan 2004, 16:55

Newsgroups: alt.animals.ethics.vegetarian, talk.politics.animals, misc.rural, alt.agriculture, sci.agriculture, alt.sustainable.agriculture

From: "Michael Saunby" <msau...@despammed.com>

Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 16:55:44 -0000

Local: Mon 12 Jan 2004 16:55

Subject: Re: If all farm animals dissappeared

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"Rat & Swan" <lab...@cybermesa.com> wrote in message
news:btuiaf$kh2$1@reader2.nmix.net...

> > My understanding is that some domesticated animals can be
> > re-introduced into the wild, so my assumption would be the latter.

Doesn't it ring alarm bells when you consider that the wild ancestors of
domesticated animals are not very common? When did you last see a wild
cow, or a wild sheep, or even a wild dog or cat? These species owe their
very existence to domestication. You complain about exploitation but then
seem quite content to discard entire species when you alone feel you no
longer have a use for them. Not very ethical.

> Then we would have to reduce human population drastically -- a very
> good idea, I think -- and work on recreating more diverse and
> natural ecologies where the re-released animals could live -- also a
> good idea.

It seems that vegetarian apes generally have very small populations anyway,
and always have done. Perhaps non apes on the planet might be better of
with all non-vegetarian apes being removed. But is it your choice to make?
Best decide soon though before all the non human apes have gone, or there
will be none.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3383425.stm

"Orang-utans 'may die out by 2025'..."

...

> Again, reducing human population would be critical to success.
> I think we should consider that we could do much more in terms of
> re-creating more of a gathering culture than we have now.

I could agree with this. I would fully support any proposal that people
may only purchase a proportion of their food, thuse ensuring that everyone
takes the trouble to learn how to forage, to cultivate, to store, to cook,
to fish, to hunt, etc.

> There is no reason why humans couldn't harvest foods from wild
> areas, as long as they were ecologically sensitive in the ways
> they did it.

Indeed. Though most who do so at present will also take meat, eggs, etc.
as members of our species, and related species always have done.

> Think of such traditional activities as gathering
> pinon nuts in the dry uplands of New Mexico which are not
> suitable for farming without massive irrigation. The ecology
> was degraded significantly by grazing "food" animals on it,
> but gathering native vegetable foods actually improves the ecology.

Or traditional european activities such as hunting deer and boar.

.....

It's all good food :-))

Michael Saunby

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