Raising Gators for Table Fare

[JaGv]

i find that interesting trying to raise gators for food. but i dont see anything wrong with that either it's for food purposes it's like talking about raising a cow except it's a 6ft gator. keep us updated

[M&H]

I think if I would eat something or not comes down to how it was classified. I have no issues eating a burger or bacon however if I knew the cow or pig was someone's pet I wouldn't be able to eat it. That being said if I was in China and someone offered me dog that had been raised to be slaughtered I wouldn't be able to eat it because I would be thinking of my own dog the whole time. Pretty much anything I have seen as a "pet" I wouldn't be able to handle eating personally but wouldn't be opposed to other people eating. (Although I have eaten rabbit before and it was pretty good lol)

Keeping a gator to raise as food ,if kept humanly, isn't any different than a cow, pig, chicken, or any other common food animal.

[Anatopism]

Nature you didnt offend me at all bud, im just a passionate lover of most breeds of dog. Especially GSD's.

To people trying to convince me that cows and pigs are smart too, thats fine if thats your opinion. My opinion is; when the military or police forces start regularly using cattle or swine to assist them ill gladly admit that theyre intelligent creatures. Until then dogs, and only dogs, will remain mans best friend.

EDIT: i should also add that this is my opinion as an American. I realize other countries have different beliefs and i respect them. If i was in China, where i believe they eat dogs, i wouldnt freak out on everyone there for eating them. Same way if i was in india i would never joke about killing cows and eating steak. Im not trying to sound pompou and say that american beliefs are the best. In other countries if you wanna raise GSD's for food thats fine, just dont do it in the US bc thats animal cruelty. Once again, this is all my opinion. Not forcing it on anyone. I apologize if i offended anyone by sounding rude!

At risk of detracting even further from the original topic, I wanted to add: As I've grown up with GSDs and also love them dearly, I'm guessing that pigs have saved more human lives than GSDs have. Emphasis on guessing. My aunt's heart valve was replaced with a pig valve. It could not have been replaced by a dog's. Pigs are used very frequently in medical research regarding human health, and medicine/sciences has advanced to the point where human organs can be grown within a pig, for use in humans.

I'm not saying pigs are better than dogs. Just reiterating your point about ethnocentrism. I would eat dog out of curiosity, if in a seperate culture and environment where is was legal and accepted. I would also not go to India and boast about how much I miss steak from home. As you mentioned, different cultures have different morals and expectations, I try to live comfortably within the expectations of whichever culture I'm existing in at the moment, while trying to minimize my own personal biases, or criticisms, which are based off of the American culture in which I was raised. I quite like that gsarchie can safely post about keeping herps as livestock, on a forum where they are primarily kept as pets, without fear of being ridiculed

[John1982]

You should see how some of the gators raised for meat/leather are kept, I'm sure you can provide a much better home than 90% of those so I see nothing wrong with this idea.

[gsarchie]

Right on, good to know that so many folks on here are so open minded. Not sure how soon I'll be doing this but my intent is sooner rather than later.

And Mike, you had me cracking up when you made the comment about eating me. LOL It is very clear that you have a passion for canines. Thanks for the input everyone.

[Mike41793]

And Mike, you had me cracking up when you made the comment about eating me. LOL It is very clear that you have a passion for canines. Thanks for the input everyone.

Cool man, glad you didnt take it the wrong way. But it is true!

Just outta curiousity, you have any dogs at your base or anything?

[Slim]

I would like to point out that the western view of how canines fit into our society is very....errr...western. Many eastern cultures take a far different view, and they are no more wrong than we are right. I've eaten dog in both Korea and the PI. It's just how they roll. It's not wrong, just different.

Being from Florida, I strongly support gator farming as long as it's done with the best interest of the animal in mind. Gator meat is excellent and the skins have a variety of uses.

[Wh00h0069]

I wonder if people would be so open-minded if the OP were asking about raising ball pythons instead of gators?

[Mike41793]

I wonder if people would be so open-minded if the OP were asking about raising ball pythons instead of gators?

Bps wouldnt offer enough meat and since snakes in general have so many ribs it wouldnt really be easy or efficient to raise them to eat. Theyre also chunky snakes so i imagine alot of that would be fat deposits.

They can gain weight pretty quickly so if the weight gain wasnt mostly fat then they would be a pretty good snakes to raise and eat. I wouldnt really have a problem with this.

[Vasiliki]

I wonder if people would be so open-minded if the OP were asking about raising ball pythons instead of gators?

I would. Otherwise I'd be playing a hypocrite. "You can eat those, but I'll be offended if you eat those!" Doesn't quite jive. I love horses. I've worked with them almost my entire life. To say they mean a lot to me is an understatement. But, I know people eat horse meat. As long as the animals are treated humanely, then I have no problem with it. What's worse? An animal not being eaten, but suffering in a field from neglect, or being raised properly and eventually put down for meat? I've seen 'happy cows' that we eventually put down for food. I'd much rather see that than see those mass-production farms where animals don't ever see daylight and are pumped with anti-biotics to avoid disease from being so confined