rain forest

**mugsy** · 11-04-2002, 03:23 PM

So do you need help with science??? Sheesh all you had to do was ask! hehehe

**Soledad** · 11-04-2002, 03:39 PM

Kater -

You are obviously a smart girl who has thought about this issue. I have too. I was a vegetarian for several years, and vegan for some time.

This is not something I take lightly, nor know little about.

I used to be a member of PETA, as well. From my perspective, I cannot abide by PETAs actions. I do not believe that the health and safety of human beings is secondary to that of animals. When people release sick and diseased animals onto an unwitting public, that is wrong and I will not support an organisation who feels that that is perfectly okay. I am more than willing to hear things that I might fear, but I am not willing to hear that I should contract a disease because of a monkey's right to be free. There is a thing called balance, and I do not believe PETA has that.

I want to live in a world where animals are treated the way they deserve. I want farmers to be under strict guidelines for humane treatment, shelter and slaughter. I do not want to impose my ideas onto the rest of the world about what should and shouldn't be eaten. We are dependent upon animals, and animals are dependent upon us. We will continue for some time consume either their flesh, their wools, or their skins. I would rather concentrate my efforts to make sure that it is done in a humane and dignified way than try to preach to the world that they should give up milk and drink rice milk.

I've been a vegan, and from my point of view, it is not nearly as enjoyable as being a vegetarian or a meat eater. It is not natural, in my view, and it is very difficult and expensive. It is wrong, to me, to force veganism onto a public with limited money and time. It is a choice of the privileged. And that's fine, but it is unreasonable to expect the world to adopt it.

**Desert Arabian** · 11-04-2002, 03:50 PM

All I have to say is I have and want nothing to do with PETA! I don't care for them, for they are **WAY** to extreme, in my views. And they are against hunters- obviously, and as you can guess I don't like them for that either- but anyways.........

Like I said: "MY" VIEWS- so please don't take any offense to my opinion.

Oh, I just thought I'd say a little fact about our primate cousins, which I learned on the Discovery Planet. Did you know that Chimpanzees (sp) eat meat and plants- just like humans. I think that is really neat!! I was always under the impression that they only ate vegetation.

**mugsy** · 11-04-2002, 04:11 PM

OH yeah....Chimps and Gorillas both eat meat. That's one of the interesting things about Chimps...they make rudimentary tools from pieces of grass so they can stick it down in holes in rotten wood to get the termites and ants....YUMMY!! lol

Btw....don't hate me, but I do have a great distaste for hunting, but then, trust me, my parent's neighbor in northern Wisconsin (north of Hayward on the Eau Claire Chain of Lakes) and I have had some rather heated discussions on the matter!! lol Imagine that...ME...EVER having a heated discussion! lol He also traps which I absolutely abhor. I guess I've never seen the sport in hunting down an animal that has no defense against a gun or the human intellect (although there are some hunters out there that make me question the advantage....of course not ALL, nor the majority) just in the name of sport. But I also DETEST the taste of wild game, so that makes a difference also. Venison makes me gag...and EVERYONE ALWAYS says, "You've never had it the way I make it!" lol That always makes me laugh!! I also have many friends who choose to hunt (and of course rub it in to me! lol)

**Desert Arabian** · 11-04-2002, 04:16 PM

LOL... that's ok.... I know not everyone likes the idea of hunting, which I 100% understand. Usually it doesn't bother me when people talk about their dis-tastes, unless it is EXTREMELY offensive- then I might say something.

About the monkey meat thing, yea, on the program I was watching they showed theses male chimps chasing down these little monkeys, and they killed one, and of course they ate it. I thought that was a little weird, but in a way it was cool too.

**Desert Arabian** · 11-04-2002, 04:21 PM

p.s. I do 100% disagree with trapping- I think that is one of the most un-humane ways to kill an animals, because they suffer in the trap etc. I am a junior hunter safety instructor, and there was a unit about trapping. Me and my older friend Scott refused to teach that unit, and we went in the back room until they were done covering it.

I mean, I could understand people doing it in the pioneer era, back then they didn't have big grocery stores like Pick-n-Save, and that was their main way of survival.

**mugsy** · 11-04-2002, 04:23 PM

There are instances of some species hunting down the young of the same species and eating them. Grizzly's are that way too. As are lions and tigers (and bears oh my!). Most animal mothers tend to keep their young away from the males of the species until they get older for that very reason.