Friday, October 14, 2005
Bunny's chickens
Bunny McIntosh wants to get some pet chickens. This is a decision I would strongly endorse, as the presence of pet chickens might get nearby people to reflect on the evils of farming these wonderful animals in awful ways. And since Bunny is a blogger who takes excellent pictures of herself and others, there is a possibility that cute chicken pictures and stories might spread righteousness far and wide.
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4 comments:
You're smarter than me, and think chickens are a good idea.
Sold.
Have you seen this ad? Please Help These Chickens?
Probably have: it was in the New York Times. If not, though, I found it really interesting how soi-disant poultry are considered to be totally exempt from requirements for the minimally human treatment applied to mammals.
I'm thinking if I ever get a pet autonomously, I'd like to have one for whom I don't have to buy meat. I'm thinking a norweigan rat or something would be possible route, or possibly some kind of parrot. I'd like to have a kinkajou, but that would require lots of money and care, and I'm not really sure if they're acquired through ecologically sound means (I know that this is a problem with Philippine tarsiers, but I really don't know about kinkajous).
I'm not sure it really helps for people to think of chickens as cute. I don't know if Babe or Charlotte's Web has done much for pigs (or spiders, for that matter). I think most are already morally repelled by cruelty to animals like chickens and pigs: it's just that they don't really associate that will the frozen hunks of meat wrapped in plastic that they find at the supermarket. Maybe it does help, but I don't think it's a forgone conclusion.
Well, due to the people here and some other information I have read, I have come this far: I'm not becoming a vegetarian, but I have begun seeking out and buying humanely raised poultry/meat (and eggs). Because it tends to be more expensive, I am eating much less meat. I'm still not too picky about fish/seafood, though. One step at a time.
Mary, your position on this seems pretty much the same as mine. I'm okay with the mere eating of chicken -- what bothers me is that factory-farmed chickens live miserable lives. A world where a bunch of chickens live short happy chicken lives before being slaughtered with minimal pain and eaten is fine with me. (It may actually be better than a world where nobody eats chicken, because I'd rather have some temporarily happy chickens than no chickens at all.) I am proud of any effect I may have had in bringing you towards this view.
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