humane treatment of animals used for food

[Guest guest]

We live overseas (in Mongolia) so we get lots of different TV stations from

different countries. One of them is DW TV from Germany. They often broadcast

in English. I was watching the other day, and a commercial came on that

showed a chicken with the word " jailbird " underneath, then a rat or mouse

with the words " lab instrument " , and finally, a pig with the word " meat " .

The last part was a screen saying " Animal protection...testing our

humanity. " The sponsor seemed to be DW TV itself, sort of making it a public

service announcement, which makes me wonder if this is a government position

in Germany.

 

Though it seemed straightforward, I saw a conflict in the message they were

trying to deliver; it obviously had to do with humane treatment of animals,

but they seemed to be saying, " Don't think of a pig as meat. " It's doubtful

that they were trying to say, " Don't eat pigs. " Rather, they were probably

trying to promote humane treatment of pigs before they go to slaughter. I

was torn in my response to this commercial. I loved that they were promoting

animal rights on an international level (and not for profit which is the

only reason you'd see a major network in the US publicize such a cause). And

I'm all for humane treatment of animals, even if their final destiny is to

be slaughtered. My point is that if you intend to eat the pig, regardless of

how it's treated before it's killed, you still have to think of it as

" meat " . Does it make it OK to eat an animal if you treat it well before it

dies?

 

Kalli is too young to read, and even if I tried to explain it to her, I

don't think she would understand, but I have to wonder how meat-eating

parents would explain that commercial to their children.

 

Melanie