Feel like throwing up

[myLoki]

I'm watching the travel channel and they just killed and cooked a guinea pig. I am extremely nauseated. :vomit:The way they were holding the poor baby and it was making its little guinea pig sound. It broke my heart! I changed it before they ate it. I'm horrified. I knew they were eaten in certain parts of the world but why do they have to show the little things alive and well and then cooked on a grill!!! :cry4:


t.:tantrum:

 

[maherwoman]

Aww...poor little piggies...

I have heard of this before. In fact, my aunt and uncle visited South America and had a couple...and proceeded to get quite ill from it! GOOD! Poor piggies...

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

That is just sick! People are awful! Sorry you had to see that. You should complain to the network.

 

[undergunfire]

That is horrible. Piggies are our pets! Wouldn't it be shocking to many people if a television show aired with people eating dogs?


Arggggg.

 

[Butterfinger]

I didn't know people ATE THOSE :shock:

That's like....like....eating hamsters!

......
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.....:thud:

 

[Bassetluv]

undergunfire wrote:

That is horrible. Piggies are our pets! Wouldn't it be shocking to many people if a television show aired with people eating dogs?


Arggggg.

Many years ago I happened to be changing channels on my tv to see if anything interesting was on, and stumbled across a documentary-type show on one of the Canadian stations. I had no idea what it was, but they were showing little dogs - most were around terrier-size/type - in cages outdoors. Curious, I watched for a few moments, only to be horrified to witness one little guy get taken out and slaughtered right there (description not included...it would be far too graphic). Apparently it was a docu on China, and how their culture differs so much from North American culture.

I know this conversation has been discussed in the forum before...there are so many various cultures in the world; and some people would be shocked and horrified to see a dog/cat/guinea pig killed for human consumption, while others would be shocked to see a cow or pig used for human consumption. It is all a matter of how the animals are viewed, and the way that people are brought up to view them - as pets, as livestock, and/or as food. So a guinea pig being killed for someone's dinner will be horrific for you or me...but to someone in another culture, it is as much a part of their life as having pork roast is on a Sunday afternoon in N.A.

Truthfully though, when it comes down to it I think - for me, anyway - the shock factor is more in the fact that the killing of an animal, any animal, is actually shown on tv. I once also stumbled across another show where they were filming a slaughterhouse, and they showed them lead a cow in and, well...you know the rest. That image still haunts me, just as much as the one of the dog, because I cannot bear to see any animals hurt, let alone put down in such a way. My personal preference would be to see an end put to all consumption of animals for food, but then I'd be imposing my beliefs onto others. However, at the very least I would love to see such coverage on tv banned. In both cases I certainly wasn't expecting to see such personally shocking scenes. And even though it wouldn't disturb everyone, I would imagine it does disturb a lot of people...and running a disclaimer at the beginning of a program (if that is done) still doesn't stop people like me - channel surfers - from witnessing something that will haunt them for a very long time.

Guess that's why I haven't watched the news in years, either...:expressionless

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

The guinea pig rescue that i foster piggies for had a case and got a bunch of piggies that were bred for human consumption :shock: i never knew people ate them. So this is not only going on in other countries it goes on here too.:vomit:

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

That's ridiculous! Wow. Eck. Poor things.

I was just in an unwarranted discussion with this guy I know the other night, he likes to argue with me about rabbits:grumpy:. He was talking about eating wild ones, and specified that when I said not domesticated ones:?. But he went on asking me if there was nothing to eat and I would die, would I eat rabbit? No! Or squirrel or anything like-No, I'd die first. People just have their own odd views on stuff like that and nothing anyone says or does can change their thinking.:grumpy:

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

Even though this really grosses me out and I couldn't bear the thought of eating a GP...I can't help but wonder....what they woudl taste like?

But htey shouldn't show that junk on tv. My 7 year old sister loves her pig. what if she happend to watch that? She'd be horrified.

I do agree though that its just a matter of how we're brought up to view these animals. But thats why it disturbs us. GPs are pets. How can they really expect to get a whoel lot of meat off of those things anyways? And they seem to solid...it'd be like gnawing a rubber ball.

 

[tundrakatiebean]

My mom used to volunteer at a zoo and would be part of a group who brought petable animals to senior centers/preschools. One time she was showing a guinea pig and these 2 sisters kept wheeling their mother away everytime my Mom got near them. Mom finally handed of the guinea pig and went to ask wouldn't their mother like to see the guinea pig? and they said no because their mother would try to eat it!

JAK Rabbitry

How can they really expect to get a whoel lot of meat off of those things anyways? And they seem to solid...it'd be like gnawing a rubber ball.

People in Southern/Central America have big pens with about 20 guinea pigs in their homes and just let them breed so that they replenish. They don't expect to get a lot off of one.

 

[Leaf]

Guinea pigs are a food source for some, and actually began that way before becoming pets.

Cultures differ so much, but for me it would be hard to condemn anyone, as we are how we are raised, with some exceptions of course.



I watched a Korean documentary, and while the guy was "prepping" dogs for customers, his own pet dog stood beside him.



In a way I dont think my life is so much different - I work in a pound and constantly weigh one life against another. We dont euthanize for food of course, but out of another "cultural" necessity.

 

[Bunnicula]

I, too would be horrified to see a piggie grilled. But I think the point is well taken that it is because I view them as cuddly pets.

Truthfully, I cannot stand to see the big trucks stacked high with chickens or the eyes of the deer that has been hunted and is now being transported on the back of a pick-up. (And I wouldn't want to view their slaughter or hunting on tv, either. I can hardly watch wildlife programs where animals hunt one another and that is shown.) It is heart-wrending to think of any animal as being treated like a commodity rather than a life.

But I also am not a vegetarian...so I don't think I can judge people who eat any type of animals. What I have to do is make the choices that are right for me and that fit in with my beliefs. I believe that if I am going to eat animal protein I want to make every effort to only purchase from places where the livestock is treated with the utmost in dignity - given free range and a "normal" lifestyle for that animal. My husband and I have also chosen to limit our intake of meat, poultry, and fish - realizing that most of the world does not have the wealth of N American and European nations and that many peoples subsist on grains, fruits, and veggies. In many parts of the world animal protein is a delicacy, not the centerpiece of every meal. In fact, more arable land is used to produce grain that feeds cattle than for human consumption. If we all ate less meat and used fewer dairy products (and then used that land to grow crops to feed PEOPLE) it would go a long way in helping to lessen the world's hunger problems.

I have respect for those who choose vegetarianism because of their love for animals (or any other reason). I also respect those who raise animals for human consumption IF it is done in a humane fashion. I find my personal views somewhere in the middle - moderation in all things.

Three great books that I've read that have absolutely affected my views on this are: The Jungle (by Upton Sinclair), Fast Food Nation, and The Vegetarian Handbook (Gary Null).

Sorry to go:soapboxabout this. Guess the discussion just struck a chord with me.

What I love about this forum is how we can all share our thoughts and respect one another for them.

-Mary Ellen

 

[horselvrkc]

EWW! I am sorry you had to see that. I hate it how people eat pets, like RABBITS GUINEA PIGS CATS DOGS AND HORSES!!! They eat all of em!! I think it is so inhumane! I heard that horses that are so called "useless" just because to dont do well racing go to a slaugherter house and they shoot them and send them to china for dog food or somewhere else for meat to eAT!! I think its HORRIBLE!!!

:thud: