This Might Offend Some People.....Pet lovers protest cats on the menu in China

[CathyBogart]

Question: What makes a cat's life any more valuable than that of a cow or a chicken?

[Medusa]

Question: What makes a cat's life any more valuable than that of a cow or a chicken?

I think it isn't so much a value judgment as it is a cultural one. Also, I've read that they skin the cats and then boil them alive. That's barbaric and should be outlawed, whether or not it's their culture to eat them. Cats and dogs are domesticated and have become pets and, to some, even family members. That isn't the case w/cow and chickens.

[CathyBogart]

People keep cattle and chickens as pets too. Of course any creature should be treated humanely, but that doesn't seem to be the issue up for debate in this article.

If I'm going to object to people eating humanely killed cats, I think I should object just as strongly to people eating humanely killed hens or cattle or pigs. None of these animals are "better" than any other, none more or less deserving of life.

[Medusa]

Apparently, some of the cats were being "rounded up", stolen, and these were people's pets that were being stolen. I'd be upset, too, if someone stole my pet whether to eat them or keep them.

[Giselle]

IF the cats come from legitimate farms and are NOT pets nor strays and are raised/killed humanely, what would the issue be? Would the issue simply be a conflict of cultural values? Naturally, Chinese farms are not humane, but I've seen pigs and chickens in worse conditions and killed in worse manners than farmed cats and dogs. Why isn't anybody fighting for those animals? Just some questions.

I do think the primary issue here is that Western culture abhors the consumption of traditionally "higher-level" animals, animals with larger cognitive capacities like cats and dogs vs. chickens. But it's a difficult thing to gauge when so much of our beliefs regarding these issues are socially and culturally based.

[caseysmom]

I totally agree with giselle on this and don't think its our place to force our cultural norms on another country. I would hope animals would be kept humanely and killed humanely everywhere, if you think the U.S. is any better read Fast Food Nation, it will disgust you.

[moosmom]

This subject is making me ill. I totally agree with Medusa, though.