OK, this made me SICK!!! *Warning: Very Graphic*

[missesd]

Please, be prepared, it is not for faint of heart!!!

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-61200-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

Who the hell are these "people".... and I use that term very, very loosely?? I am so angry right now, I have never seen anything like this!! I guess I was naive in not believing rumors I had heard of people actually eating my furry little friends. I am so sad, too... I just want to cry. How can anyone do this kind of this? It just sickens me to no end!! I'd love to know if there is *anything* I can do about this sort of thing....

Thanks,
Lisa...

[daftscotslass]

I'm not saying I agree with it in any way. Many people keep cows, sheep, chickens etc etc as pets. Any particular reason why you're not picking up on the often deplorable conditions those animals are kept in over guinea pigs? They're my furry friends as well as my guinea pigs...

[missesd]

Well, I am not here to debate vegetarianism, as I am not one. But many people do not routinely keep cows, sheep or chicken as pets. As in take them with you on trips, to grama's house, etc.... It seems a different kind of barbaric to me to eat anything that is normally bought for companionship. If I knew this was going to spark this kind of debate, I would not have posted this. I am just not up for this today.

[Cavie Cove]

We have has this descussion before on here.
It is just the same as us-the non vegatarians- eating cows, duckes, lamb etc, even rabbit! as some people keep all of the above as pets as well. In some countries they have been eating cavies for centuries and is the "norm" over there. If you just stop to think about it for a moment you would see this.
p.s yes lots of people do keep chickens and cows as pets as lots of ex battery chickens that are rescued become pets as wellas thoese that don't. You can't really saythat they are not pets.

[daftscotslass]

You need to read a lot of the threads on here. Raising guinea pigs for food has been done for thousands of years. Just not in our part of the world. Just because we keep them as pets here doesn't immediately make it wrong. Cows are sacred in other parts of the world - I wonder what they think of us?

[bromers]

I understand that some people have to eat guinea pigs. I don't like it but I don't like people eating any kind of animal. I noticed that was in a urban povity section aswell I know they have to eat it to survive but what upsets me is that the way the are giving people a how to fatten then kill your guinea pigs. I find this disturbing why post something like this on the internet it's not like people who don't have money and have to eat guinea pigs are going to have access to the internet.

I wanted to get two chickens but my mum said "do it and I will hurt you"

Also on the chicken farm I stayed at they actually took the chicken for a walk on a lead.

[daftscotslass]

Here's a selection of threads on the same topic:

http://www.cavycages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12019&highlight=eating+guinea+pig s

http://www.cavycages.com/forum/showt...ng+guinea+pigs

http://www.cavycages.com/forum/showt...ng+guinea+pigs

[nikilovesdogs]

People eat dogs:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/loupiote/sets/1652923/

http://galinskig.blog.com/album/161524/

And cats:

http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20060107_3.htm

Have you ever seen living conditions or heard about how veal is so nice and tender?

http://www.atourhands.com/veal.html


I'm not sure why it is cavy consumption that has you so outraged, when so many domesticated animals suffer. Where do you draw the line, personally, between which animals "deserve" to suffer painful lives? If they don't live in a cage in your house, do you consider that fair game? I'm just curious - not flaming here.

[Percy's Mom]

Originally Posted by missesd

If I knew this was going to spark this kind of debate, I would not have posted this. I am just not up for this today.

You started a thread in the Kitchen on something extremely controversial, marked your thread title "Warning: Very Graphic", and you didn't expect debate? Frankly, I'm surprised that it has been as calm as it has been as relatively calm as it has been.

As has already been mentioned, there are a few threads about different cultures eating guinea pigs already. It's common place in many countries across the world. I also find it extremely disturbing as I'd never consider eating my pigs, like I wouldn't think about eating my cats, dog, or hamster. That doesn't make it wrong for people who have done so for centuries, often because that's all that is around to eat.

[Cavie Cove]

Originally Posted by Percy's Mom

You started a thread in the Kitchen on something extremely controversial, marked your thread title "Warning: Very Graphic", and you didn't expect debate? Frankly, I'm surprised that it has been as calm as it has been as relatively calm as it has been.

Maybe it is as calm as it is for now as its come up before and people realise it is normal in other contries? but they do still don't like it. Maybe thats why? As people have started to look at it like other people eating cows chickens etc? They just think about it for a moment, or the fact that it has been discusse don here before they see no reason to descuss it again?

[nikilovesdogs]

Originally Posted by Cavie Cove

Maybe it is as calm as it is for now as its come up before and people realise it is normal in other contries?

I don't want my calm willingness to educate to be mistaken for lack of desire to see change. I'm not "ok" with anyone eating dogs, cats, or other animals - no matter the cultural implications. I simply pick my battles where I feel they would be best fought. Going all batty on a message board where pretty much everyone agrees that animal abuse is insane does no one any good. Does that make sense?

[Cavie Cove]

Originally Posted by nikilovesdogs

I don't want my calm willingness to educate to be mistaken for lack of desire to see change. I'm not "ok" with anyone eating dogs, cats, or other animals - no matter the cultural implications. I simply pick my battles where I feel they would be best fought. Going all batty on a message board where pretty much everyone agrees that animal abuse is insane does no one any good. Does that make sense?

Yes it does.

[enchantingcavy]

I accept what they do over in south america and I've seen how the guineas are actually prepared and killed ( a pictorial I found ) and although disturbing it's very humane and instant which is a relief.
The only problem i have with this article is this and it made me furious. Did anyone else catch it:

A pen that is 70 cm by 90 cm by 40 cm high can hold one male and six females

Now THAT is appauling...

*~jess~*

PS: I would make a post but i don't intend to yet I've spent the most part of this week appauled and crying over the dog abuse in china and the poor china bears in asia...Something really sick is the " ducks and geese " section about Foie Gras "....Warning these links are extremely graphic and like I said I've spent the most part of this week crying...mostly over how those animals must feel and what they must endure and just how SICk people can be...

http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/index.html

http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/dog.html

We think guineas have it bad...we're just lucky they are one of the only animals not bred and kept in the masses that these particular countries keep their other animals...

*~jess~*

http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/index.html

[Access]

This topic has come up before many times and the fact is these people who are eating the pigs need to learn proper agriculture and 'green' environmental practices. In this day and age, every resource must be conserved and efficient practices are paramount in keeping the earth a viable place to live for future generations.

Eating guinea pigs is hardly the cure for hunger or a 'way out' of being poor + hungry. Livestock can perform many useful functions, in rural china people use water buffalo for hard labor, dogs for gaurding livestock, etc. If you have pigs as pets, you know how much one little pig eats and poops daily. Likewise pigs are hardly labor animals and cannot pull farm equipment, gaurd livestock, provide milk, or such. One is infinately better off growing vegetables and grain or rice for own self and family, eating them rather than feeding them to a pig long enough for the pig to become an adult, then eating the pig. If one is going to have animals, at least have animals that provide a useful purpose like milk or labor. Many cultures have existed this way since ancient times, look at the predominance of agriculture in ancient China, Japan, etc.

All too often cultures use non-green or non-sustainable environmental practices, and it has lasting impact on the environment even today. For instance the ancient arabians with their nomanic practices and large herds of defoliating animals (primarily goats) led to the formation of the sahara and other middle eastern deserts, wastelands that still exist even to this day. A more recent example is the destruction of much of the west (buffalo, land, etc.) as america expanded into the west. With expanding populations, if the earth is to be habitable for future generations, we do not have the convinience of allowing non-environmentally conscious practices to go on simply b'cos they are part of this or that culture. It would be no different than if I said overconsuming, waste, and pollution is part of American culture, ever since the industrial revolution, and hence no one has the right to say we cannot waste, pollute, and degrade the environment to our heart's content.