I work with raptors and have had 'vegan' volunteers be absolutely appalled that I chop up f/t mice for tiny baby hawks. When I ask what they think the birds eat in the wild, they can't come up with a good reason as to why it's cruel for me to butcher frozen/thawed mice but not cruel for a wild hawk to kill and eat a wild mouse.
I usually get some response along the lines that domestic mice/rats are cruelly raised in unnatural cages and suffer the short time they are alive and then murdered by humans for use that nature did not intend and that they have no hope of escaping v.s. in the wild mice have fun fulfilling lives and have a chance to survive to a ripe old age. Now, I've had pet mice that lived to a geriatric age of 2.5 years had arthritis and got cataracts and tumors. I have also been an avid outdoors person all my life and grew up on a farm where wild mice were a regular problem. Not once did I ever see a crotchety tumorous wild mouse skittering along with a mini-walker in the barn. They live fast and die young, that's the way it is.
ALSO, even more than that -
people need to stop trying to make animals be more than animals. They act on instinct and react to stimulus, they don't plot / calculate harm / ponder their existence / or become enlightened and live better lives of their own accord. I annoys me to know end that people will immediately act with deadly force against an animal that attacks a person no matter the circumstances, then turn around and say that they want a wolf / large constrictor / something else impressive for a pet because it's cool. Also, since they will love it, the animal will "love" them and won't hurt them because it's thankful that it is being taken care of.
[end rant]
No cage is too large - nature is the best template - a snoot can't be booped too much
Reply With Quote