| More and more of us are taking an interest in | | | | the shooter directly or to a member of the |
| the provenance of our food, and like to find | | | | public through a game dealer. The animals are |
| out where and how it was produced. Nowhere is | | | | not being killed cruelly, and with a good |
| this more the case than with the meat we eat. | | | | marksman will not feel any pain. |
| While to some people eating meat is totally | | | | |
| unethical and immoral, and should be avoided | | | | If we set aside any misgivings engendered by |
| completely, a sizable number of us take a | | | | the link with sport, we can see that game is |
| less strict stance, believing that it's | | | | probably the most ethically sound meat we can |
| ethically justifiable to kill and eat | | | | eat. There's no classification of meats into |
| animals, providing that certain standards are | | | | free range or organic here - each animal |
| adhered to. | | | | lived a completely free life, behaving |
| | | | exactly as its species has evolved to, and |
| The welfare of the animal, under this way of | | | | was very likely to have met its end without |
| thinking, is paramount and takes precedence | | | | any stress or pain at all. |
| over such considerations as profit, economy | | | | |
| and availability. The animal must be given | | | | It will have eaten a completely natural diet, |
| the chance to live a life free from | | | | and will not have been given any routine |
| suffering, in conditions that allow it to | | | | medication such as antibiotics or growth |
| express its natural behaviours, and when the | | | | hormones. It will not have lived in cramped, |
| time comes for slaughter the process should | | | | overcrowded, conditions, and will have in |
| be as free of stress and pain as is humanly | | | | fact avoided almost all contact with humans |
| achievable - which is, in this day and age, | | | | completely! |
| almost wholly so. | | | | |
| | | | Compare this to the misery we routinely |
| Under these standards, what could come higher | | | | inflict on intensively reared animals such as |
| on the ethical list than game such as | | | | broiler chickens, pigs, and veal calves, both |
| venison, pheasant, or wild duck? Opponents of | | | | in life and death, and it's clear that game |
| game will often base their dislike of the | | | | animals will have had much the preferable |
| subject on the fact that the usual method of | | | | existence and dispatch, whatever prejudices |
| killing the animals is through shooting, | | | | we may hold against those who shoot as a |
| which suffers from a reputation problem by | | | | sport. |
| being linked in with other 'blood sports' | | | | |
| such as fox hunting. In contrast to cruel | | | | And luckily for ethical meat eaters, game is |
| sports, though, the results of a game shoot | | | | amongst the most delicious food we'll ever |
| will be destined for the pot, whether that of | | | | put on our plates! |