Post written by VegBlogger. Follow me on Twitter.
This week someone I know posted a link to an article in The New York Times about how to kill, skin and cook a rabbit. It struck a chord because the person is a rabbit lover and has pet rabbits. The link urged people to contact The New York Times and express their disapproval of the piece.
You can view the article here. It comes complete with sidebar recipes and a slide show of images, showing people learning to kill, skin and cook the animal (chilling, eh?).
My response is that it is indeed sad and disgusting. But to me it's no more disgusting than seeing such articles covering how to kill or cook a cow, pig, turkey, duck, fish, or any other animal. Such articles always run around Thanksgiving each year, on how to prepare turkeys.
I realize that the vast majority of people have been de-sensitized to the killing and eating of animals beyond the ones they consider pets, and almost daily take part in their demise. Yet when someone has made a connection with a particular animal, such as cats, dogs or rabbits, they don't want those animals eaten.
Rabbits should not be treated this way. Nor should any other animal. There should not be a line drawn regarding which animals we don't mind cutting the heads off of and cooking up and which ones we spare because they are cute, cuddly or we have them as pets. If you won't eat a rabbit, horse, or bald eagle, yet you will eat a chicken, lobster, or pig, I challenge you to give some serious consideration as to why that is. And saying it's "cultural" is not a valid reason. That merely means you are doing what prior generations have handed down without stopping to think for yourself.
All animals want life.
I think people should absolutely write The New York Times to express their opinions about this piece. But I also think they should extend the same sense of compassion to other species.
It makes no sense to cry fowl when one species is eaten, as you are dining on another.
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