Shambles, you still haven't answered the rodent question. Is Chez Shambles an open house for rats and mice? Or would a slow death from Rentokil-administered poison be preferable to a lead pellet or a terrier?

Some of the posts on this thread do raise all sorts of odd issues, however...

As I understand it, if one sheds a tear for the beast and gets absolutely no enjoyment from any part of its coming to the table, then it's OK to eat it? Or are there degrees of 'guilt' - the person that shoots the rabbit is more culpable than the person that says 'could you get me a rabbit', who is in turn more culpable than the cook, who shoulders more blame than the people who eat it?

Or should we only eat creatures that have been raised and killed out of our sight by lesser beings who in their debased state will take on the sin for us?

Surely the only truly honest way to go if you have issues with the death of animals is to be completely vegan. Otherwise, every time you so much as put milk in your tea you are complicit in the shooting in the head of day-old calves.

And where does our compassion end? Warm blooded or cold-blooded? Chordate or not? There are some flatworms which are things of beauty, yet liver fluke isn't very nice. Do flies have 'rights'. Who is to say that swatting a fly or a wasp is not more culpable than killing a rat? Where's Jeremy Bentham when you need him?

This thread could be about to get interesting, provided we can keep the 'if I see someone killing something I'll kill them' types away from their keyboards...