Eat Or Be Eaten
That is one of the basic laws of nature. That is why we plant seeds and why we breed animals. Providing food for ourselves is the largest industry on the planet. We don’t just harvest; we produce, we process, pack, and distribute food. We even preserve food for later use. This set us apart from other higher order animals.
But it is while producing food where we have the largest impact on nature. We need space to produce food and in the process, we deprive wild life of their natural habitat. And that brings us back to our basic law; eat or be eaten.
If we were to leave the animal population unchecked, we will soon be without food. Rodents and predators will spoil our harvest long before we can get to it.
Some animals are downright destructive. If a fox gets into a chicken pen, he does not catch one and leave. He will kill all before he leaves. A porcupine will not dig out one or two potatoes; he will ruin the potato field as far as he goes. A baboon in a cornfield is the worse nightmare to a farmer. He will leave hundreds of corn heads on the ground while he ate only one.
As we cannot reason with them or prosecute them in our courts, we have to control their numbers in order to survive. And if the culling process can produce more meat at the same time, why not utilize it? Rodents, like rabbits and porcupines, make good meat and should not be wasted. They breed fast and will never be eradicated. Warthogs and other wild pigs cause massive damage to vegetable harvests while they are very edible.
And this affects you whether you eat meat or not. If animals are allowed to destroy our harvests, you will soon be without vegetables to eat. Animals have to die to put veggies on our tables. A lot of animals died to produce the corn flakes you had this morning; probably more than what it took to produce my bacon and eggs.
To those who object to an animal being killed quick and clean: Have you seen how they are killed in nature? Predators start eating their prey while they are still alive. Wild dogs does not even bother to kill their prey. They tear off chunks of flesh while the animal is still running. No, I fear humans kill their prey much more humanely.
Cruel as it may sound, and civilized as we are, we still have to eat or be eaten.
I wish you a grand day and try to keep your food down.
Comments (37)
Hi Catfoot
I eat most things... except for rats and most carnivorous animals.
Gotta go.
Try a Beijing ratburger, with relish and a order of fries mmmmm
Ive been thinking of a name for it, to sell the concept as a franchise !
Got it!
Rat-a-tat-tat !
Ok, I'll have one rat burger to go, but skip the fries. Too many porcupines were killed in producing them.
Yes, we call us civilized, but yet we eat the embryos of other species. But being more civilized may be a threat to our own survival.
I long ago, after watching deer destroy one of my crops realized if it steals my food and hides it inside their belly, then they are volunteering to become my food. And they did and are. Fair is fair.
It's about food chain or chain of life
Vegetarian mode on
the Oceans, yet we eat it as a luxury. Even in old Hebrew text,
eating them is forbidden by God. There is a reason they are
armor skinned, so no other predator can eat them. Here we are
using a pair of pliers to crack their skin after we boil them
ALIVE.
We are all part of the food chain. If I have the choice, I'll become worm food after a natural death above being devoured by a predator.
they get too large, I released them back to same stream. Same
with the Fish I had, always captured young local species, raised
them, and released them in the big Lake.
We don't have freshwater crayfish (that I now about). I was very surprised to learn that you get freshwater crayfish. Of course, they (sea crayfish) are heavily protected by legislation in this country. It is not worth the trouble catching them.
Lakes. Down in S. US they are called Crawdads.
Yes, I just googled it. Mind you, than look somewhat different than ours. Our crayfish does not have pinchers either; just two thick horns.
Ours look like this
Then we all eat kudu steaks but we will get plenty of them. They are a pestilence and we only hunt them when their numbers get out of hand. It is ok if you sit out. That leaves more for the rest of us.
The reason they are so good is that they are basically ready to cook at the moment of capture. Simply boil for a few hours, then serve with neaps (turnips or swedes) and tatties (potatoes). True Scottish cuisine at its most basic, and this is food that sticks to your ribs. Get outside a haggis, neaps and tatties meal and you won't even feel the cold for hours afterwards. Nom nom nom!
And to give you a taste reference - very close to wors.
The stuff they try to sell us lately for wors is not fit for human consumption.
And I googled your haggis.
Having curried kudu mince on vetkoek tonight.
Definitely and distinctly Scottish.
I have eaten this here locally but it had no special name.
Don't believe a word the Cat says
He doesn't live here. I do. Huh.
True re the porcupines, though, quite a delicacy.
If there was a prize for comment of the day, I would have voted for your comment on the Haggis. I loved it. I actually got me to research a bit.
I promise not to let any more Scottish secrets.
But please tell my, is it true that Scottish men wear nothing under their kilts?
I won't a soul. It will stay here on the blog. What you say on my blog is confidential and private.
However, my research seems to indicate that in warmer weather, you are correct. One gent was, however, when I fumbled, wearing winter bloomers.
That's gruesome! I said.
He leered at me. 'Do that again, hen, it'll gruesome more.'
Ever tried to tell a hungry rhino to graze elsewhere?
So in colder weather they go for the woolies?
SO OK GUYS, DID YOU HEAR? SCOTTISH GUYS WEAR NOTHING UNDER THEIR KILTS IN WARMER WEATHER!!
Oops! sorry, that slipped out.