So...this happened.
Boy Who Shot Albino Deer With Crossbow Receives Death Threats, Family Says
And I stewed about it for a long time - and what bugged me about it was that people around me expressing genuine outrage - are in fact meat-eaters. So last night I posted this on FB.
Regarding the story of the extremely rare albino deer recently shot dead by an 11 year old kid in Michigan: I don’t think it’s any mystery that I have an acute distaste of humanity’s mistreatment, abuse and exploitation of animals. A story like this one seems to, on the surface, make that case for me. Humans thrive on killing beautiful, magical creatures right along with the rest of them that aren...'t as beautiful. It doesn’t matter how rare a beast it may be - 1 in 20k or 100k. This number, the rarity of course, does not give hunters' pause - it gives them a more appealing and desirable target. What a trophy that will make hanging in the living room, right? (For the record, though rare, if you believe killing an albino deer is uncommon, just google images of albino deer and count the dead ones.)
But I continually question why is it okay to teach our children that there is no value in an animal’s life - aside from the need to kill or exploit it for our own personal gain or satisfaction. The slaughter of elephants, lions, whales and other majestic wonders of nature takes place regularly - and a great number of people seem to show genuine distaste for this sort of thing.
And that there is a degree of outrage in these cases would be commendable - a spark of optimism on an otherwise bleak and hopeless wasteland of humanity’s lust for complete annihilation of everything that moves. I say it **would** be commendable - if meat eaters themselves weren't a high percentage of those outraged by these events. If this story, a kid killing a rare deer, or a cheerleader bagging a lion and other similar stories like these disgusts and dismays you - keep in mind that there are over 150 BILLION - (billion with a B) animals slaughtered for food **every year.**
So what is on your plate? If you eat meat, milk and cheese - you are a consumer and hearty supporter of this slaughter - which includes the torture, abuse, mistreatment and suffering of billions of innocent animals annually. I’m not suggesting that one couldn’t or shouldn’t be genuinely outraged by the killing of a rare deer and still eat meat. Humans are chronic speciesists. But this in of itself is something to think about. What’s that old cliché about walking the walk?
If you really love animals - then do so.
Boy Who Shot Albino Deer With Crossbow Receives Death Threats, Family Says
And I stewed about it for a long time - and what bugged me about it was that people around me expressing genuine outrage - are in fact meat-eaters. So last night I posted this on FB.
Regarding the story of the extremely rare albino deer recently shot dead by an 11 year old kid in Michigan: I don’t think it’s any mystery that I have an acute distaste of humanity’s mistreatment, abuse and exploitation of animals. A story like this one seems to, on the surface, make that case for me. Humans thrive on killing beautiful, magical creatures right along with the rest of them that aren...'t as beautiful. It doesn’t matter how rare a beast it may be - 1 in 20k or 100k. This number, the rarity of course, does not give hunters' pause - it gives them a more appealing and desirable target. What a trophy that will make hanging in the living room, right? (For the record, though rare, if you believe killing an albino deer is uncommon, just google images of albino deer and count the dead ones.)
But I continually question why is it okay to teach our children that there is no value in an animal’s life - aside from the need to kill or exploit it for our own personal gain or satisfaction. The slaughter of elephants, lions, whales and other majestic wonders of nature takes place regularly - and a great number of people seem to show genuine distaste for this sort of thing.
And that there is a degree of outrage in these cases would be commendable - a spark of optimism on an otherwise bleak and hopeless wasteland of humanity’s lust for complete annihilation of everything that moves. I say it **would** be commendable - if meat eaters themselves weren't a high percentage of those outraged by these events. If this story, a kid killing a rare deer, or a cheerleader bagging a lion and other similar stories like these disgusts and dismays you - keep in mind that there are over 150 BILLION - (billion with a B) animals slaughtered for food **every year.**
So what is on your plate? If you eat meat, milk and cheese - you are a consumer and hearty supporter of this slaughter - which includes the torture, abuse, mistreatment and suffering of billions of innocent animals annually. I’m not suggesting that one couldn’t or shouldn’t be genuinely outraged by the killing of a rare deer and still eat meat. Humans are chronic speciesists. But this in of itself is something to think about. What’s that old cliché about walking the walk?
If you really love animals - then do so.
