On the subject of the ethical treatment of animals in general... I am one of those who believes that we could not have evolved as we have, had we not had meat as a significant part of our diet for a very long time. It's true that we can now go meat-free & be healthy, but we couldn't have become what we are that way. We don't have the guts (literally) to extract sustenance that's wrapped in unprocessed cellulose.

So, we have a tendency, overall, to like eating meat. We long ago domesticated various animals to provide for that want. In the modern world, we've even gone so far as to invent factory farming; loathsome in every respect, except for those making the profits...

As, purely, an "end user", my philosophy is simply that if the Poor Little Bastard died for your benefit, then you should make sure that you get the greatest benefit out of its carcass. Whatever the demerits & ethical unpleasantries of any level of factory farming are, theoretically & hopefully, that means that less of the PLBs are subjected to it. But let's face it we all like cheap food. I prefer to get my meat from known sources, but that's (usually) rather more expensive, and I also shop at supermarkets. I am actually pretty confident that the major s/m's ensure a certain level of 'dignity' in the food chain these days, if only because it's in their commercial interests to do so. The manufacturers will get every scrap of meat off the bone that they economically can.

I am only an end user. My neighbours on both sides (& several along the road) keep chickens; my parti-wall neighbour currently has pigs as well; the one on the other side has considered both pigs & sheep, and has ducks. I won't keep livestock or even a pet - I wouldn't trust myself to look after them properly & therefore won't inflict myself upon them! Ergo, I remain an end-user. But if I (rarely) buy a ready-roasted chicken (when they're reduced! ;-) ), that's one meal from each side, and the carcass goes into the pot for stock. And I get every scrap of meat off it that I can ("It died that I might feed..."). If I had a use for the bones, I'd use the bones! If a neighbour hands me a rabbit (on one occasion, a Muntjac!), I know how to gut it, skin it, joint it. If I knew how to tan, I'd tan the skin too - show the greatest respect for the PLB that you can. I'll even take the trouble to drop the carcass in the river - many things therein will appreciate the free source of food!

From the foregoing, you will deduce that I, like Steve, also abhor fur farming ("You skin the carcass & throw the rest away - that's disgusting!!"). But I don't object to the wearing of fur as such, any more than I'm against leather. And I've no objection to hunting either, nor to the concept of it as sport. But if you must kill, kill as quickly & humanely as possible. I can understand that there is pleasure in stalking a deer. But the deer dies near instantaneously. You don't take pleasure in the killing, even if there is satisfaction in a clean kill (I might join a stalk one day, but I'd never pull the trigger - leave it to an expert for the animal's sake). For a wild prey animal, fear is a part of life. So I don't object either to e.g. ferreting, and I can also understand PFR's pleasure on various levels. A ferret doesn't muck about; no predator does. What you don't do is chase something for minutes & hours, especially if it's not prey e.g. a fox; no predator does that, it's a waste of valuable energy. It's unnatural. Only humans do that, alas... :(

*ahem* Polemic over. I hope this drivel has been of some interest / entertainment to someone!