what's up, doc?

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash9.htm

Pet store animals cooked in school Fri Jan 21 2005 08:35:35 ET
A Guinea pig and rabbit purchased from a Geauga County pet store ended up on plates at a Cleveland area high school.
A 16-year-old student skinned and cooked the animals during a living skills class on Wednesday, prompting student and parent complaints to the Thompson Township Police Department and Geauga Humane Society. Officials at both agencies said they are investigating.
Friday editions of the CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER detail how the incident may warrant animal cruelty charges.
Geauga Humane Officer Sarah Westman said it's illegal to needlessly kill "companion animals" raised for domestic purposes.
"Something irrational and wrong happened," Westman explained.
Ledgemont Principal Beto Gage acknowledged that "misjudgments" took place but said the boy's actions are far from criminal.
The student - whose name was not released - described what he did in terms of harvesting meat to fix a dish for classmates, Gage said.
The principal described the boy as an active hunter. The Ledgemont district covers the rural communities of Montville and Thompson townships, where killing - and then eating - wild game is fairly common.
The hunt, however, usually doesn't take place at Pet Supplies Plus.
The boy went to the Chardon store and purchased the Guinea pig and rabbit after coming up empty in the great outdoors.
"My skin's crawling over this," said Linda Schempp, a spokeswoman for the pet store chain. "We sell our animals to be family pets - not food."

Oh, for heaven's sake! Get a grip, people. If you're a vegetarian, fine -- I respect your position. But if you're going to eat meat, it doesn't matter where it came from. Whether an animal is a "pet" or "food" is entirely -- ENTIRELY -- in your mind. If you've been humane in how you killed it, what possible difference could it make whether the animal came from the pet store or from the wild? It's dead, it doesn't know the difference. If the people who ate it don't care, why should you? Why should it be illegal to eat a pet-store bunny, but okay to kill Bambi if you're out in the woods?

Some Russians I know won't eat pumpkin pie, because to them pumpkins/squash are pig food, not fit for humans to eat. They look at it the way I might view the Eskimo eating fish eyes, or and Englishman eating blood pudding. Does that mean pumpkin is inherently wrong to eat?

I can understand if a person -- as an individual -- wishes to put a certain value on a certain animal (or group of animals), and to think of them in a certain way (eg, chickens and antelope are food, dogs and parakeets are not). But that is THEIR deal. It's a rule for THEM to live THEIR life by. It has nothing to do with how someone else should behave. I am under no obligation to order my life according to your arbitrary prejudice regarding the proper role of various life forms, or your squeamishness and embarrassment about being on the top of the food chain.

How about turtles, antelope, insects, pigs, buffalo, snakes, peacocks, kangaroos, etc etc etc? Or even beef. There's not exactly worldwide consensus on what's food and what's not. All those whiners in Ohio should just shut up already, and concentrate on raising money for tsunami victims. Or better yet, spend some time working in the soup kitchen and get some perspective on hunger.

OK, I feel much better now.