On Animal Rights

A friend sent me a link to a NY Times editorial on the proposed animal rights bill coming up for a vote in California. I read the article with some interest because it was sent by a good thoughtful friend and because the author had an opinion that reflects my own.

I'm a meat eater, occasionally feeling guilty about it, but unlikely to change into a vegetarian. I love a good hamburger, a steak off the barbecue, or some great fried chicken. I love salad too, but not enough to give up the pork chop or Thanksgiving turkey dinner in preference for lettuce and tomatoes.

One of the great things about our home in the country is that we raise chickens, sheep, and pigs. We can buy a steer and have beef from a local ranch. Our eggs come from chickens that dash about chasing bugs. Our mutton tastes like lamb and has spent its growing days gamboling over the pasture. The pigs sleep in the shade and root around in a large grassy pen. The hamburger source has grazed contentedly on a near-by hill. I was suburbia-raised so butchering day is never spent without some remorse on my part, but knowing the animals we eat are treated humanely helps my politically correct side make peace with my omnivore nature. Because I recognize the carnivorous part of humanity I have a problem with the extremists in the animal rights movement. As Mama once said "Moderation in all things"!

Before we lived in the country I never gave a thought to how the animals that provided my daily bacon, chop, or meatloaf were treated. In one generation our country went from family farms to mega-meat-factories and we consumers didn't notice that cruelty was added into the plastic-wrapped package or carton. I guess it is time to look at how we treat our pets and provide the same consideration to the animals we kill for food.