Wildlife Watching

I agree Greta! Killing deer in a overpopulated area for food is one thing, but just for taking the skins as a trophy or to use to make things is other.

I love the look of the reptile/snake skin boots and purses, but always have the thought in the back of my mind about how some poor animal give up their life to make these. So I don't buy any. I do have a fake fur coat though!

I went to the coyote melon fest last weekend. There was a booth there that had whole pheasant tail feathers for sale. Not sure if they kill them and take their tails or just cut them off, but I was not about to buy any.

*Mink farms are horrible places.* I bet they are! Wonder what is worse, mink farms or puppy mills. I heard some cow, pig and chicken slaughterhouses are even worse. It's no wonder many people are becoming vegetarians.

The coyote melon festival sounds like so much fun!
I've seen those tails and I think they're mostly a byproduct of hunting for food. Around here they are anyhow.

I won't get up on my soapbox but I would imagine puppy mills are worse than mink farms simply because dogs are so people oriented and to leave them in cages by themselves has got to be torture (not to mention lack of food or water). Mink don't really care about people too much so they're fine by themselves. It's just the way they're treated that bothers me.

Factory farming bothers me too. We eat less meat than we used to. DH and I buy our pork locally from a guy who has "free range" pigs. I do buy chicken and beef at the store but my neighbors are thinking about buying local "free range" beef which I think is a great idea. Our cows have names so we can't eat them. I couldn't eat them even if they didn't have names. They have so much personality. Dh has come to realize that we aren't going to eat any of our chickens either. We'll eat the eggs but I just can't think about eating the chickens. I'm a marshmallow.

I've been thinking about going vegan but I can't get over the fact that I really like meat.