Monday, May 31, 2010

Tastes Like Happy Chicken

For some people, the only kind chopped up chicken they'll buy is the kind that was "free-range."

The feeling is that the chicken lived a good life, not one of confined cruelty.

Which is why I guess it seems better to eat eggs from chickens who were able to stretch their legs a bit. And apparently the chickens who get to run around as they please are healthier and therefore offer us a healthier food.

But the question I have is ...

If the chicken is happy, shouldn't we in fact feel bad for killing it? It's the non-free-rangers whose lives suck. Shouldn't we be doing all we can to put those poor, miserable animals out of their misery?

Everytime I see that green-colored label, I just can't help but think that I wasted the life of a perfectly happy chicken.

5 comments:

dan said...

man, that is so deep, deep, deep. like, 420 fathoms deep.

Cindy-Lou said...

It's kind of a catch 22. Like when you adopt a pet. I always think you should go to a no-kill shelter to get one so that you're giving money to a better cause, but then I think you should get one from the humane society so that you will save the life of an animal that would otherwise be put down.

Rusty said...

The unexplored idea is...

What if you didn't kill & eat EITHER of them? What if nobody did?

Would we be doing them a favor? The species, as a whole, has a slim-to-none chance of surviving in the wild. With no consumption, there would be no need to keep them around. They would go they way of the dodo (cliche, i know). Or perhaps the Carolina Parakeet!

Rusty said...

Just in case there is confusion, I am, in particular, behind the "main idea" of my comment.

eric said...

main idea ... that sounds so elementary school