How do you reply to critics of of ferreting?

[mooster 1]

We've all been there...you meet someone new at work or the pub or a party and the conversation gets around to your ferrets.(usually by a mutual friend who wants to see how you react to eachother).

Then after the blue touch paper has been lit the fireworks begin..."OH MY GOD-YOU DO WHAT?"

"How can you be so cruel? aren't your ferrets scared of the dark?.."What have those poor little bunnies done to you"?"And you kill and eat them"?!!.."How"? "Why?".....

My most favoured argument for killing and eating my own meat is greatly assisted by the whole Burnard Matthews thing....If you don't eat Chinese/indian take-away or any other factory farmed meat cheese/milk, feel free to criticise me. I kill my own meat quickly and with a clear conscience,no dodgy European or south American abbatoirs.Or cruel factory farms.

I recently had this argument with someone new at my work who replied..."I love my Kentukychicken but I couldn't harm an animal,someone else has to do that bit" Enough said!!!!

What are your experiences,what arguments have you had about hunting with your ferrets to get meat?

Mooster.

[pointer28 1]

If you don't like it, don't do it!

 

But don't tell me what I should or shoudn't do.

[higgins 75]

We've all been there...you meet someone new at work or the pub or a party and the conversation gets around to your ferrets.(usually by a mutual friend who wants to see how you react to eachother).

Then after the blue touch paper has been lit the fireworks begin..."OH MY GOD-YOU DO WHAT?"

"How can you be so cruel? aren't your ferrets scared of the dark?.."What have those poor little bunnies done to you"?"And you kill and eat them"?!!.."How"? "Why?".....

My most favoured argument for killing and eating my own meat is greatly assisted by the whole Burnard Matthews thing....If you don't eat Chinese/indian take-away or any other factory farmed meat cheese/milk, feel free to criticise me. I kill my own meat quickly and with a clear conscience,no dodgy European or south American abbatoirs.Or cruel factory farms.

I recently had this argument with someone new at my work who replied..."I love my Kentukychicken but I couldn't harm an animal,someone else has to do that bit" Enough said!!!!

What are your experiences,what arguments have you had about hunting with your ferrets to get meat?

Mooster.

i find that no one shares our passion,likewise we don't share theirs,it's best not to get in these converstions

with work folk or other,you are inviting trouble simply because viewpoints are differrent,it's best to do just what you have to do,and let them do what they have to do,we'll never find an appreciative audience,times have changed so much,that we don't live in a free country anymore,so best to keep it quiet unless it's a shared experience,we live in a new age of hunting now,all the best,

Higgins.

[mooster 1]

Well said!

[Kay 3,709]

I ask the tree hugging brigade if they take any for of medication

[skycat 6,173]

I just ask them if they know how their 'factory farmed' meat lives: is it happily hopping/running/dustbathing/bonking/relaxing/feeding/playing in its natural environment eating natural foods?

Then if they look bemused/blank etc I go into some real gory details of how the worst of the intensively reared animals live prior to their deaths: the best thing to do is to have on hand some photos of chickens/turkeys in those godawful fattening sheds, and the way they are grabbed and stuffed into crates before being transported terrified sometimes for hours to where they will be yanked out of those crates, possibly injured by now, and finally killed.

If you have done your job well you should by now have either turned them into a veggie or have them on side.

The other thing I tell them is that stoats/foxes/ owls. etc all prey on dear little fluffy bunnies, and stoats chase them from their burrows just like a ferret would: so the rabbit lives its life on the edge, ready to run from just about anything bigger than itself.

People just can't understand the prey mentality and how an animal can cope with being everyone's favourite lunch: that's the problem, they put themselves in the rabbit's position: tell them to go watch some more wildlife prgrammes and see how the herds of prey animals on the plains in Africa revert back to normal grazing behaviour the minute a lion has killed their relative and is busy chomping on it not a few hundred yards away.

Rant over! I get these sort all the time, and have got the responses off patt by now LOL

[Simoman 110]

I've tried in the past to get the point across, but why bother, most people are fine with eating meat as long as they don't see how/where its killed. There is no thought to the welfare, living conditions or slaughter, as long as its wrapped, convinient and cheap. The hypocrisy is amazing, best to shrug your shoulders and move on.............

[Madcowz 0]

Interesting thread.

 

I am lucky in that everyone at my work appreciates good quality organic, free range food and understands and respects me for what I do. They just can't kill, gut and skin anything without feeling sick!

 

They are more than happy to buy the prepacked rabbit, pigeon and our chooks eggs from me though. In fact, everyone at my work place buys our eggs and when our chooks stopped laying, they were really unhappy to go back to the 'sh*t that was sold in the shops', their words not mine!

 

I think that the rise in programs like River Cottage has really helped to push the natural food way and helped people understand even if they don't agree with what goes on.

 

What I don't think we should do is hide what we do from people in the hope that we won't have a confrontation. It is like Clay grounds not having signs up, and people scared to have hunting/shotting stickers on their cars in case of being attacked/vandalised by the antis. If every single person in the UK stood up and proudly said they they enjoyed hunting/shooting/fishing things would be different around here.

 

This links neatly to the recent proposed CPSA name change where they wanted to take the word Pigeon out and replace it with target. Citing public perception as one of the reasons for the change. Why not just get us to all shoot at night in the middle of knowhere so the public don't even know we exist! Quite rightly this was knocked on the head.

 

We should be proud of what we do. We shoot and eat animals, just missing out the horrible conditions of mass production and intensive farming, packaging, food miles and carbon pollution.

 

<end rant>

 

/Mad

[maty j 6]

think he's got the idea.......

Edited June 2, 2007 by maty j

[Simoman 110]

[Kay 3,709]

People get on my wick branding all working ferret people as uncaring & cruel what makes me even more angry is the amount of do googers who not only eat meat but also take medicines & still think its bloody cruel, they have this pre conceived idea anyone who works a ferret feeds it once a week , copes its teeth & knocks the ferret on a fence post if it lays up.

 

Its simply a case of ignorance, far more neglect & cruelty goes on in this world regarding animals so they would be better excersizing there objections elsewhere

[MikeTheDog 153]

I usually say, "I respect you for being a vegan....Oh, so you're not a vegan!"... That gets there backs up...

[Kay 3,709]

I usually say, "I respect you for being a vegan....Oh, so you're not a vegan!"... That gets there backs up...

 

Exactly

[jultaylor1972 2]

I usually say, "I respect you for being a vegan....Oh, so you're not a vegan!"... That gets there backs up...

Very good point

[COMPO 54]

This is funny, i also point out they are hypocrits and that they eat meat but are just too cowardly to kill there own!

 

(sorry for those who have read this story before) i was ferreting a hedgerow at the side of a road, a lady comes over and asks what i am doing, i explained, she was appauled and said but why do that you can buy rabbit at the butchers in town, she soon shut the feck up when i pointed out thats where i sold my surplus and she realised she was inadvertantly a customer of mine