I grew up in farm country and my dad was a butcher. I have personally killed many rural pests, I have fished and I have also done a job similar to BigBen's with the chickens. I have been witness to the slaughtering and butchering of cattle and pigs as well.
I'm not squeamish when it comes to these sorts of things. For one, death is a part of life. Everything living dies; that some things have died by my hand doesn't bother me. Whether that groundhog dies because I shot it or by the rabies infection doesn't matter in the least to the groundhog. The fish may well be eaten by a bear (yes there were bears where I grew up, although I thankfully have never encountered one personally). The chicken.. well, they're too stupid to come in from the rain. The ways they die are without number.
Humans are carnivorous by nature. We require proteins that can only be had by eating meet and we have the teeth to back it up. We have sharp canines; even though they've receded, they are there and that's a carnivore trait. (Yes we have molars as well; this is because we are omnivores and thus possess traits of both carnivores and herbivores). Part of eating meat is killing the animal it comes from; thus I've caught my fair share of fish.
EDIT - And BigBen, it's interesting that you cite the intelligence of deer as a reason not to kill them. Do you support hunting as a means of population control? I'm of the mind that it's better to shoot the deer now than let it starve to death in winter, but I understand there are those who oppose this view.
EDIT #2 -
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Originally Posted by willravel
I just don't have the ability to seperate myself from making the connection between maet and animal when I do it myself.
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It's a learned thing, actually. When you see it from an early age, you get used to it. It's less about not making a connection between the two and more about accepting the fact that if I want ham that pig has to die for me to have it.
There's a reason I'm very vocal about wasting food. Well, okay, several. But being Scottish isn't the reason I had in mind.