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I grew up in a small town in alberta- but until I was 12, I never really understood what was involved to get my hamburger on my plate. I had always been a town kid, my dad always killed and cleaned the fish when we did go out fishing.
Around my twelvth sp? birthday we bought a farm and moved out into the country. I learned a lot that year, but one of the more interesting lessons was when I went over to our neighbors place to play. They raised cattle, and when I was over one day with keith one of the cows had a colic and was suffering horribly. I watched keith's father kill the cow with his rifle and butcher it in his shop. I learned how the different parts of the cow were used and what ground beef was and how it was made.
While this really took away the innocence of how the meat on my plate arrived there, I came to terms with it and my father and I have gone hunting quite a few times since then. I've killed and field-dressed a deer along with cleaning my own fish. I have no intent to visit suffering upon another animal, but I will commit to the decision to kill with no qualms.
Cruelty in my eyes is the unnessesary suffering of an animal- whether it be by bleeding out a deer instead of shooting it or gutting a fish before knocking it comatose. While muscle spasms by an animal after braindeath are disturbing, I don't believe there is any pain involved. The limited consciousness they have is gone, and there is no awareness of that questionable pain in the body.
I also think that senseless killing is a form of cruelty, but on a different scale. You should have a purpose for your kill, a reason you can justify, and not just rationalize.
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"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim
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