[quote=harvey]Just about everyone’s ethical stance regarding animal treatment has contradictions. Why are dogs and cats subject to different rules than animals bred for food? It’s ok to be cruel to something you are going to kill, but you have to be nice to something you aren’t going to kill? The list goes on…
The vegans probably have the most logically consistent framework, but I like lamb and veal way too much to go that route.[/quote]
I freely admit my own stance is pretty arbitrary. I choose to avoid veal (aka tortured baby cow) and lamb and try to minimize my beef consumption. I view chickens and fish as stupid creatures and don’t mind eating them.
Dogs provide companionship and historically were working animals. It’s the same reason humans historically don’t eat horses. They provide more economic value alive than as food. I’m not much of a cat person myself, but I imagine their meat would be pretty stringy and gamey. They also do provide potential economic value in their traditional role as hunters of rodents and pest birds.
