If an octopus wasn't able to feel anything, it would again be okay to eat it? Or if it was sedated before killing it, would that change anything?
Lots of open questions I guess, but I'm just brainstorming a bit :)
The closest I get to regular meat eating is consumption of eggs and dairy. I get both from small, local farms. The chickens are free range and the farmers avoid industrial egg farming mechanisms that result in unnecessary death of grown animals. The cattle are not pumped with grotesque amounts of hormones nor are they milked on factory-like rotating milk pumps that maximize output and ignore the unneeded stress placed on the animals.
Hope this makes sense, as I agree with all the concerns you raised.
I hope the long-dead animal on your plate will be able to appreciate your compassion and respect ;)
> ethical and sustainable way
How would you describe ethical and sustainable meat production, or in other words, what qualifies as ethical and sustainable for you?
You decided to stop eating octopus, because they're very smart animals. Which is understandable to me. But why do you decide what animals to eat, based on how intelligent they seem to us? If we turn that argument around, it's okay to eat an animal if its 'dumb'. Why is that so?
To show my perspective, I am becoming more vegetarian the more time passes, because I just can't justify anymore how we treat animals which are meant for comsumption - Forcefully impregnating them, taking their kids away, keeping them in cages yada yada yada. Which means that for me it does not matter how subjectively or objectively intelligent an animal is, same as how I don't treat humans based on their intelligence. Mostly. Of course, if I have to explain something to another human, my explanation will vary on how intelligent they seem to me. But I think you know what I mean :)
As far as I know, pigs are extremely intelligent. Maybe not on the level of an octopus, but still. So, do you eat pig?
And to end, I am not trying to accuse you of any wrongdoing or whatever, its just very interesting to me and I want to talk about it.