The Myth of the Happy Cows
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Lets just start with the big idea: Everyone going vegetarian means we get to make the cows extinct.
The false dichotomy that is set up by many vegetarian activist types is between terrified animals living torturous lives in cramped conditions waiting to be slaughtered, and happy animals living perfect, fulfilled lives roaming the plains. It is actually much more complicated than that. There are many shades of grey, and the “good” option they argue for is not based in reality.
The animals that provide our food sources have been so domesticated that they could not live in the wild. They are not used to searching for food, avoiding predators, or even dealing with the usual conditions of the world. Not to mention the untold damage to nature that would be done by huge herds of cows trying to survive, especially in Australia. They would trample wildlife, injure themselves navigating the natural environment, eat all the food that local species require and probably all starve to death, or die from injuries and disease, or be killed by predators, or hit by traffic.
The end result would be cows most likely being extinct. The same is likely with all other domesticated species who no longer have an extant wild ancestor. Sure, some species may survive in pockets, or adapt to certain conditions. This has been shown with escaped horses, cats and dogs, but those cases usually involve singular animals. Whether similar outcomes would occur in a mass release is highly debatable.
Sure, the “bad” case presented is not an ideal situation. We should try to keep animals in good conditions, if only because the meat tastes better. The fact is that in Australia our farming is mostly done in ethical ways…. Chickens are the only real exception. The giant cramped cattle feed lots you see in docos don’t exist in oz. BUT, if the choice we have is between animals suffering and humans starving to death then the ethics are not as clear cut as PETA would like us to believe.
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I’m a vegetarian activist and you are completely wrong.
“Lets just start with the big idea: Everyone going vegetarian means we get to make the cows extinct.”
No, as you may or may not know, Hindus, who live in India are vegetarian, and, they hold the cow sacred. Rather than farm the cow then, it is permitted freedom and you can see them roam in the cities and countryside mostly undisturbed. I’m kind of confused how you completely forgot that fact.
As for your argument of mass release? I can’t recall any animal welfare organisation in Australia that would argue for mass release of animals disrupting other species habitats. It would be basic economics, in that if meat sales fell then the farmer would less likely to dedicate portions of their land for meat farming and would selectively reduce the cattle’s seasonal breeding.
And no, your argument that Australia’s animal farming is done in mostly ethical ways fails to mention pig products which the label of ‘free range’ is held to be questionable by the RSPCA. So yes, Australia has many cramped feed lots.
For example, Choice has many details as to what constitutes free range or organic and where to find it in Australia.
http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=105632&catId=100288&tid=100008
Rather than complacently mentioning battery hens you could mention some of the real gains in the free range chicken industry in the last ten years. Perhaps you should read some actual articles which deal with the topics you talk about rather than make such abstract unfounded statements.