I have friends who own cattle that will later be butchered. They truly love those animals, even though they know their fate in the end. They give even them names. They would be heartbroken if one of them died like this pig did. I suppose this is the mindset of many who raise these animals. There is definitely a sense a humaneness towards their animals, and at the same time enjoy the meat they produce.
I have seen cows butchered -- one second they are alive -- one blow to the head they are gone. Sharp transition from death to life. Better than many humans who endure being eaten by cancer while lying in a hospital bed.
We are so insulated from death in our society, we almost pretend it doesn't happen. Many who butcher there own animals or hunt for their own meat have a better grip on this reality I think.
One of Terry Pratchett's characters, an old shepherdess, summed it up well. From memory: "We are as gods to the beasts of the field: we order the hour of their birth and their death. In between times, we has a duty."
Yes, and there is not this perverse attempt to replace human company with controllable companions (aka pets), that leads to so much animal antromorphism and hidden missery.
I can like a cow, and still know its a cow. A horse can not know what a hand is that holds the sugar cube. For a horse, you are another smaller horse.
I live near a horse-stable, where strong-empowered single ladies have up to five horses. The sadness and missery of a live that has replaced what could be a family or just human company with animals - is on par in my eyes with some computer addicted males. You should hear the arguments they have with the vet.
> I live near a horse-stable, where strong-empowered single ladies have up to five horses. The sadness and missery of a live that has replaced what could be a family or just human company with animals - is on par in my eyes with some computer addicted males.
Not any more than is absolutely required by law. I would render aid should I come upon someone of the Horse Peoples tribe who had collapsed, but that's about as far as it goes. Their ways...they are strange, their speech garbled.
I can't speak for horses because I have little desire to be around them, but it would take some solid evidence to convince me that a dog doesn't know the difference between humans and dogs. Perhaps a dog doesn't bucket me into "human" or "dog" (though I'm confident that they have some concept of categorization), but they sure heck don't think I'm a bipedal dog.
As for "horse people", well, I make no apologies for that lot. I think there's something in horse dander that makes the owners neurotic.
Are you sure, you are not just a very very strange alpha dog, whos moods are easily readable by looking at the face muscles and the tone of voice?
Dogs have no concept of society beyond the pack that is family. Dogs prefer to communicate by action and smell.
Maybee antromorphizing makes alien company more bearable.
I somehow miss that trait, i guess.
Are you sure, you are not just a very very strange alpha dog, whos moods are easily readable by looking at the face muscles and the tone of voice?
Pretty sure, yeah. It's an extrapolation: my dogs don't try to eat another dog that's about the same size and furriness of a rabbit, but they'll about take my arm off to chase a rabbit. So there's some kind of categorization going on. "These things are for eating, these other things are for fun." I'm quite confident that dogs have not created a system that breaks things down along lines of genus and species, but I'm pretty sure they know I'm not one of them. To a large degree it's moot, I suppose, because they can't tell us what's on their mind, so we just have to play with inputs and observed behavior, and go from there.
As a sidenote, research has on multiple occasions demonstrated that pack mentality and other such things as "alpha dog" don't apply to domesticated dogs (IOW, you can pretty much ignore anything Caeser Millan has to say). Extrapolating from those assumptions can be rife with error.
I have seen cows butchered -- one second they are alive -- one blow to the head they are gone. Sharp transition from death to life. Better than many humans who endure being eaten by cancer while lying in a hospital bed.
We are so insulated from death in our society, we almost pretend it doesn't happen. Many who butcher there own animals or hunt for their own meat have a better grip on this reality I think.