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Wow... Nicky, I'd really like to know why you ask such a stringent question? Are you a vegan? Or do you just find the conversation distasteful? I'm not complaining either way, I'm just curious.
I agree that "cruel" treatment of any animal is inhumane and immoral. I do believe that the killing of an animal for food, however, is part of nature. It is for many species, in fact, and humans just happen to be one of them. For those not in the know, or think otherwise, or body is physiologically designed from the ground up to be omnivorous. In fact, there are several WELL reknowned health journals throughout the world that have recently started putting in articles showing that vegetarianism and veganism is not very healthful for humans. You deprive yourself of vitamins and minerals that vegetables do not have, and that pills have in forms that are not as easily digested into the body. The biggest of these being calcium and potassium from bone-based broths vs. vegetable and "meat-flavored" broths.
I also think that, whenever possible, doing things the old way and using as much of the animal as possible makes it "more humane" I suppose. Use the antlers for knife handles or something. Use the fur. The animal is dead, it won't miss it. Make a rug or a covering for something. Use the bones whenver possible, either for cooking or some utilitarian use. The guts? Some can be used, some can be fed to pets, others can be mulched for fertilizer. I think items like that keep you more in line with our natural need to hunt. Obviously fish aren't good for much other than their meat... but that's not our fault, it's just how they are.
In a need-be situation (life or death or serious injury) I could kill anything I needed to... including another person. In a day-to-day situation, if I knew I was going to actually USE the animal in question, I could kill it without remorse. I may say a few words for it after. In the end, I would be at peace with myself.
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