Reflections on Our Animal Appetites

Some exquisite questions were raised the other day by the story about two young Cambodian men arrested for killing a German shepherd puppy for food.

In the first place, it seems there is no law against eating pets; so the prosecutor argued that the men killed the dog in an inhumane way. The judge dismissed the charges.

But that leaves the question of what is a humane way to kill a dog, or any other animal.

It is with apprehension that I discuss this question. The path is fraught with dragons on either side; taking sides is no less hazardous than taking sides on the gun-control question.

A simplistic view is expressed in a letter from Wes Kirchoff, who admits he is in the minority (according to recent polls) when he questions the integrity of the so-called “animal protectionists.”

He refers specifically to a TV ad protesting the fur coat industry (and those who wear fur coats).

He argues: “Can’t these people realize that man has subsisted from animals forever? Cavemen, Indians, pioneers, and indeed modern civilization relies on animals (and fowl and fish) for our very survival.”

He says he would like to ask protectionists a few questions. “Have you ever eaten a hamburger, a steak, a rack of lamb, veal chop, swordfish steak, lobster, oyster, roast beef, filet mignon, scallops, shrimp, chicken, duck, bacon, ham, rabbit?”

There are vegetarians among us, I suppose, who can honestly answer no to all those questions, but most of us can’t.

Kirchoff would also ask us: “Have you ever worn leather shoes, leather belt, leather watchband, leather vest or jacket, kid gloves, wool sweater, pearls?”

Most of those artifacts, it seems to me, are byproducts of the slaughtering industry. In other words, they are made of what’s left over from the animals we eat. As for wool, it’s my understanding that being shorn doesn’t do the sheep any harm, though he may find the evenings chilly for a while.

Kirchoff is right that man has been eating the other species since he came down from the trees. In the Bible we read of slaughtering the fatted calf. A modern woman, fastidious and dainty though she may be, can put away a T-bone steak with the gusto of a caveman.

Strangely, though, the slaughtering is no longer a part of the public ritual of feasting. Even in that modern refinement of the caveman’s fire, the barbecue, we cook meat that has been slaughtered in slaughterhouses that no guided tours ever visit. Out of sight, out of mind.

I admit I have caved in to the bulletins from protectionist groups protesting the treatment of calves in the production of veal, and have given up eating that delectable dish. But are chickens not also confined to small cages all their short lives? Shouldn’t I feel equally guilty when I bite into a succulent chicken leg?

As I say, since there are no public guided tours, I have never visited a slaughterhouse, but I doubt that they have developed ways of killing animals that are really humane. Some employee used to hit each one over the head with a sledgehammer, but surely that is archaic now.

In general, the law has held, in a reflection of civilized morality, that it’s all right to kill something--except another human being or someone else’s pet--as long as you eat it. Since it is possible to survive in health on a diet of fruits and vegetables, I’m not sure I subscribe fully to the underlying morality of that code.

In their campaign against fur coats, the protectionists have really made some headway. Though one sees many minks, which are made from the skins of animals raised for that purpose, as chickens are raised to be eaten, one rarely sees a genuine tiger, leopard or jaguar coat any more. The wearing of such noble skins has definitely become unfashionable. In any case, one wearing a leopard coat cannot plead that she has eaten the animal it once covered.

I am haunted by the fable of the man who dies and goes to heaven and just inside the gates is confronted by the hundreds of innocent animals he has eaten in his lifetime.

But my wife and I have nothing to feel guilty about. All we eat is microwave dinners, which are far removed from the real thing.