Ethical treatment of animals - Part II

This is a follow up a previous article - Ethical treatment of animals Part I.

In a recent online chat with an old friend it came out that Jonathan Safran Foer’s book ‘Eating Animals’ had convinced her to become vegan. The book is a great introduction to the world of the meat industry and it certainly convinced me to reevaluate my relationship with food.

Among the arguments in Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer's makes an interesting point: for many people, becoming vegetarian means breaking with a lot of the cherished food memories that have made us who we are. But beyond breaking with food memories is there a greater break with animals that is implicitly undertaken by vegetarians and vegans.

The most common justification I hear for vegetarianism is “the meat industry causes unnecessary suffering of animals and eating meat is therefore wrong.” There are other motivations, such as health, religion and environmentalism but this is one of the more common reasons.

Food is rarely just food, especially if that food was once a living being. Food is also culture - it is also the stories and the values that surround it, and it is also a relationship between humans and the broader environment.

William Sidney Cooper - A River Side Pasture with Sheep

There exists a symbiotic relationship between humans and animals. For the majority of animals this is defined by thousand years of mutual co-dependence. Indeed, York and Mancus in a recent anthrozoological paper argue that animals have had "profound influence" in driving the evolution of human societies.

Factory farming distorts and perverts the relationship between humans and animals. But is vegetarianism and veganism the appropriate redefining of that relationship?

The social construction of animals not only affects their fate, but the material properties of animals affect our fate, conditioning society and the consciousness of us as a people. In a section of York and Mancus’ paper, the authors address the question: "Who Made Whom?" They argue that animals are complex creatures, not just "putty that humans sculpted to fit their needs”. In an attempt to improve the lot of animals vegetarianism and veganism may be a movement that has removed themselves from that important animal relationship, or at least removed themselves to the extent that it assuages their guilt. This relationship with animals is important and should not be dropped so quickly.

Agricultural animals live in a symbiotic mutualism with humans. Cows, for example, benefit from their human-managed access to fodder, veterinary services, and protection from predators, while humans benefit from access to milk and meat. Sheep, goats, pigs, cats, dogs, and pigeons all have developed alongside and evolved with human development.

Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma decided to document all products traced to an actual pig from a farm in Netherlands, the pig identified by an ear tag 05049. In his book he describes each derivative product that came from this very pig, an astonishing 185 products in total. Is it possible to escape the societal influence that this animal has had?

Beyond the material benefits of animals I think there is something to be said for the benefits accrued by continued animal husbandry. There are cultural benefits of a continued agricultural history; the stories and imagery of farming are beautiful and culturally important. A connectedness to the broader animal world and a greater appreciation of death as a distinct part of life deepen our own acceptance of our limited time on earth.

Vincent van Gogh - Farmer Huts in Auvers

Animals have had a profound influence on human societies, playing a major role in the course of human history. I believe that factory farming will be remembered in history as one of societies greatest ethical failures. Anthony Bourdain highlighted it well: ‘the cruelty and ugliness of the factory farm – and the effects on our environment – are of course repellent to any reasonable person’. (note: Bourdain is certainly NOT a vegetarian)

Yet, I remain unconvinced that vegetarianism and veganism is the appropriate model for the symbiotic relationship between humans and other animals. I think there is still a morality to the swathes of human endeavor that come from our relationship with animals. Our relationship with animals is paradoxical, perplex and deep and hopefully it can grow to be a stronger one.

Note: It is okay to want to reduce the suffering but pretending your dietary lifestyle absolves you is a misconception. In Mike Archer’s article ‘Ordering the vegetarian meal? There’s more animal blood on your hands’. In it he outlines how death for protein is very difficult to avoid.