In Reply to: Why we should have no qualms eating cows posted by C on November 09, 1996 at 03:01:55:
> - cattle, sheep and poultry farmers can no longer take their
> produce to the slaughterhouse to be turned into our meat products.
> - because the people who want us to stop eating meat also want
> us to stop harming animals, a population explosion occurs among
> these animals.
> -to continue feeding these creatures, who have by now evolved
> into things incapable of much else, we must turn over many
> tracts of land that could be used to grow plants.
> - add to that the continuous human population explosion, then we
> have a catastrophe maybe only fifty years away.> A lack of foresight may be responsible for this possible vision.
> It then has become a necessity to raise animals for the sole
> purpose of eating them, and therefore limit their numbers.> This also calls into effect our own overpopulation, and the
> lack of hospitable climate in Asia and Africa. What will be
> done about that, hmmm. I leave this in the hands of those who
> want us to end the animal agriculture industry.> And that relates to McDonald's, whose most important foodstuff
> used is beef.> ____________________
> McSpotlight Replies:
> hahahahha hehe hahaha haha ha hah
I thought it quite amusing too, but then thought that
it might be more helpful to try and help 'C' understand the
basic errors in his message.* Cows (of the variety purely bred for slaughter) would indeed
become useless, and could not survive on their own in the 'wild',
they would be wiped out by other creatures.
Solution: we just let them die out naturally and without cruelty
by preventing them from reproducing. This wouldn't take long,
I mean a cow's lifespan isn't exactly centuries is it ?* You seem to be unaware of the fact that energy transfer from plants
to humans via beef (cows eat grass, people eat cows) is very inefficient.
This means that the amount of land required to feed one person eating
a meat-based diet could feed at least SIX people eating a vegetarian diet.
So humans would actually have MORE room to live if we all ate vegetables.* Who cares whether cavemen couldn't eat many berries millions of years ago
because they were poisonous ? The point is that TODAY we have hundreds of
different vegetables which AREN'T poisonous.P.S. As I don't actually know, could someone tell me how long _do_ beef cattle
live if they are not slaughtered ?15 years or so ?
____________________
McSpotlight replies:
Thanks Stephen for writing your follow-up to 'C's message.
Cattle have been know to live upto about 25 years if not
slaughtered. However most are killed before they even reach
the age of six.Since it is most unlikely that the worlds population will ever
become vegan over night, there would never be a need to
'let them die out naturally'.Reduction in demand for meat would reduce cattle herds, since
it is obviously not economical to raise, fed and slaughter
livestock if there is no market.Eventualy livestock farmers would stop breeding further animals,
abandon the unprofitable meat industry and sell the last of 'their stock'.