Hunting With Respect

In the olden days, when people still lived close to nature and understood balance, they allowed animals to live freely in the wild and went hunting (or fishing) for meat. No one "farmed meat" and if the ancients see our animal, fish and poultry farms of today, they would be shocked at the disgrace. (Yes, hens and roosters have a natural habitat in the wild too and they used to be hunted just like other animals and birds, not caged cruelly like today.)

And they hunted and fished only as much as they needed to for nutrition - no more. There was complete clarity that there is a balance in nature and if you over-consume, you disrupt this balance. A prayer ceremony was conducted before every hunting or fishing expedition to reaffirm this principle. Even for eggs, you went looking and picked up a few. Just as many as you needed without disrupting natural habitats or the flow of life.

The amount of meat or eggs required for nutrition itself varies from individual to individual and depends on so many factors: the nature and level of physical activity in one's life, climatic conditions, availability of other food items, any medical conditions that require or prohibit some meat or the other. These things were well understood, were common knowledge. Balance was respected in every facet of life.

So if you want meat: Hunt. And hunt only as much as needed, no more. That was the rule.

If someone domesticated cows, buffaloes, camels, goats or sheep for milk or bulls for farming or donkeys for labour or elephants, camels and horses for transportation, it was out of the question that they would also kill and eat these animals. When an animal was domesticated, it became part of the family. Period. Domesticated animals were cared for all the way through old age just like family members would be. Only in cases of extreme suffering due to disease or old age was a domesticated animal put to rest out of compassion.

Furthermore, domestication of animals always included both genders, their offspring and so on, and they were allowed to live as naturally as possible, in open spaces, in pastures, allowing the animals to mate naturally, grow naturally. The offspring had the first right to milk and we took only that much milk, wool and labour from the animals as was within humane limits. The ancients would be aghast at what we are doing : forced breedings, caged environments, "getting rid of" or "letting go" genders and babies that "don't add to the profit", machine milking, the list goes on.

There was a deep humanity underlying relationships we established with animals, and even when we hunted and fished for meat, we did so mindfully, only as much as we needed. We were humane to the core. We deserved to be called human beings. This is why large parts of our planet knew peace, knew grace, till we arrived to "civilize them".

So much thought put in!

Just compare the depth of character and respect for all life demonstrated by our own ancestors with ourselves: "There's a special on this animal with this sauce here today and tomorrow that animal with that sauce there. And 36 goat and 24 fish recipes just on this menu! Gotta try one every day! And don't those succulent kebabs go really well with liquor? Come let's slaughter a few to go with the alcohol. And that fur coat and those suede shoes! Gotta have them! What's a few lives taken to make me look rich?"

I'm not a believer in, or promoter of, veganism or vegetarianism, but I do invite you to see this video to understand how cruel our "meat industry" has become: (14) Must Watch Film! Farm to Fridge by Mercy for Animals (The Truth About Meat Production) - YouTube

I also invite you to search the internet for articles that explain how excessive fishing has damaged the fish ecosystem in seas and rivers and the inhumane as well as unhygienic conditions prevalent in "fish farming".

My recommended response to the above scenario is simply the following:

If everyone just became honest about how much meat, eggs and dairy he/she really needs (and the need might well be there : I'm not denying that or promoting vegetarianism or veganism) and resolves to not consume more than this amount, we would become a far more sensible and sensitive society in my opinion.

Maybe ethical meat, eggs and dairy production as suggested above would be easier to practice by smaller establishments as compared to large corporate setups (see the movie The Corporation (2003) for example).

It is my humble submission that we need to bring back the culture of allowing animals to live freely in their natural habitats and consciously and respectfully hunt for only and only as much meat as we believe we need for nutrition. No more.