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Comment by spraak | Hacker News Reader

> I think that if the public knew what was being done to the Yellowstone herd, people might demand a change in policy.

I feel the same way about all animals unnecessarily slaughtered. "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian." [1] I would take it further and say that if dairy farms had (metaphorical) glass walls [2], everyone would be vegan.

It's tragic what is happening to the Bison, but it's not significantly different than what happened to most people's meals.

[1] https://youtu.be/HjqOTtJYXX0

[2] https://youtu.be/iL9QJEm_SJY

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I think this statement could only have come from someone who haven't spent much time outside of big cities. At least where I am from, people in more rural settings don't care about bovine or porcine feelings. This certainly doesn't mean that we torture animals, but when their time comes, the knife goes in, and meat goes on the table. "Everyone" most certainly would not become vegetarian.

Countryside dwellers dont know any more about the particulars of slaughter. I find that even farmers tend to be surprisingly ignorant outside of their narrow slice of expertise. Remember, argiculture is a highly specialized and thus compartmentalized industry, so there is usually no need to know anything about other links in de chain.

> I find that even farmers tend to be surprisingly ignorant outside of their narrow slice of expertise.

In recent years I came to the conclusion that this statement is true for the majority of us.

I think many people, 'countrysiders' and farmers included, mistakenly attribute some sort of natural mysticism, simplicity to farming. There is absolutely nothing 'natural' or simple about industrial (western) farming. From mining minerals, producing fertilizers, landscape management, crop engineering, cropfeed engineering, butching techniques, disease control and then foodtech which has it's own universe of methods and companies.

It takes an interested mind to put all that in perspective. Whether or not you do that has nothing to do with where you live or what you do (well, maybe some agritech types have this in their job description).

Plenty of interested minds put that together and don’t come to the same conclusion as you, my friend.

First world problems. I have watched chickens getting slaughtered and dressed at a local butcher and that didn't prevent me from cooking them, nor enjoying the cooked dish.

I don't mind killing animals for food. Seen deer clean etc. I think the message is still relevant to you because how you or I would raise then kill and butcher an animal isn't at all how the meat in a super market or restaurant in the USA gets there.

If you think "I'm not in the US what do I care." I would argue the one thing the US is still the best at is spreading our business culture and practices around the world. If our practices aren't in your part of the world I expect they will be before long < 20 years.

I enjoy flyfishing and eat my catch. I kill the fish, gut and scale it myself none of that prevents me from enjoying my fillets of trout, steelhead, and salmon. I don't currently have enough land to do so but plan on raising some poultry for meat and eggs. Animal slaughter for food is not that bad.

"You have to kill or pay someone to kill for you."

No idea who said it originally, but a unique English Lit teacher was fond of repeating it. No idea if it was his own thought.

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