Compassion To Animals

[Followers4christ]

What are your views on killing animals for non food purposes? Do you believe in animal population control? Or do you believe killing animals is morally wrong?


In my case we were renting out a property here out in the country and the tenant not only wrecked the property but she also had 27 cats, 2 dogs, rats, 3 rabbits, and a pig. When she left she left 27 cats free outside which are now feral cats. The county has already stated that it will not take feral cats and will not give cages to capture them. So we have decided to wipe the cat population down to a minimum of a few male cats. At this point the cats are sick and inbreeding. I believe God made man to take care of and use the land for good. So my belief is sometimes to take care of the land you need to keep things at a natural balance.

What are your thoughts?

 

[timewerx]

You could also neuter the cats and try to arrange a means for adoption.

We did this once with a feral group of cats that strayed into our place.

We did not really neuter them. We drove away the rest of the male cats (did not kill any), kept one male because he is very old, quiet, and behaved and kept the females and later gave them up for adoption.

We prefer keeping the females because the males would wander around the place and stink everywhere with their urine and makes a lot of noise at night. The females are more behaved and easier to take care of if they didn't manage to get pregnant.

 

[Phil 1:21]

I have no problems setting out D-con for mice or swatting flies. I would also have no problem humanely eliminating a feral cat population.

 

[Followers4christ]

You could also neuter the cats and try to arrange a means for adoption.

We did this once with a feral group of cats that strayed into our place.

We did not really neuter them. We drove away the rest of the male cats (did not kill any), kept one male because he is very old, quiet, and behaved and kept the females and later gave them up for adoption.

We prefer keeping the females because the males would wander around the place and stink everywhere with their urine and makes a lot of noise at night. The females are more behaved and easier to take care of if they didn't manage to get pregnant.

There are a few problems with this

1. Neutering close to 30 cats is very expensive and involves other medical costs as well.

2. Paying for cages to capture/hold them and food to house them till they are adopted will also be expensive.

3. feral cats are aggressive as they are not use to human touch. So it would not make sense to adopt aggressive cats unless I took time to tame them first. When I use to breed AKC Siberian Huskies they came with microchip, shots, medical evaluation, contract, health guarantee, family blood line paperwork, starter leash, starter collar, starter food, AKC papers work, and a puppy toy of their choice. The point is I stand behind the animals I adopt out and I can't stand behind feral cats that have many possible health problems.

 

[timewerx]

Neutering is an option but we didn't do it.

Not all of the feral cats will be aggressive. In our experience, there's fewer who are.

Perhaps, it's different depending on the place, we live in the middle of city and probably the feral cats are more used to human presence.

Of course, if you think the risk isn't worth it for things like rabies, mercy killing is an option.

 

[Shempster]

I love animals.
Watch this and then eat a chicken:

And this:

God's animals are not senseless robots. They experience many of the same emotions we do.
OK, they lack a bit of what we call common sense and most cannot understand us, but do these lacks of senses render them food?
Believe me....I lived under the false paradigm for decades. But one day I saw animals for what they really are. I hope many more do as well.

 

[Followers4christ]

I love animals.
Watch this and then eat a chicken:

And this:

God's animals are not senseless robots. They experience many of the same emotions we do.
OK, they lack a bit of what we call common sense and most cannot understand us, but do these lacks of senses render them food?
Believe me....I lived under the false paradigm for decades. But one day I saw animals for what they really are. I hope many more do as well.

I get what you are saying and I agree that they are not senseless robots. But biblically speaking there is nothing wrong with eating animals. God made animals for man to take care of and as well as food.

Genesis 9:3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Romans 14:2 One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

What does the Bible say about animal rights?

 

[Followers4christ]

Neutering is an option but we didn't do it.

Not all of the feral cats will be aggressive. In our experience, there's fewer who are.

Perhaps, it's different depending on the place, we live in the middle of city and probably the feral cats are more used to human presence.

Of course, if you think the risk isn't worth it for things like rabies, mercy killing is an option.

In the country it's a bit different as they do not get as much human interaction as they would from a city were they would have to have a closer relationship with people. The cats have not shown signs of rabies. But they do show signs of eye infections, bleeding from the rectum, and worms. We decided to eliminate 25 of the cats and leave a couple of outdoor cats that we would work with as well as get them medical treatment. I am sure we will run in to some kittens that we will adopt out if we find them.

What does the Bible say about animal/pet euthanasia?

 

[Shempster]

I get what you are saying and I agree that they are not senseless robots. But biblically speaking there is nothing wrong with eating animals. God made animals for man to take care of and as well as food.

Genesis 9:3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Romans 14:2 One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

What does the Bible say about animal rights?

Sorry, I wasn't actually claiming that killing and eating animals was morally right or wrong. Just sharing my observation.

Romans 14:2 has always been a weird one to me. In other places, Paul suggests that what anyone eats does not make them unclean. In other words, it is a non-issue. Yet here, he takes it to the extreme saying that if you respect animals and choose not to kill them then your faith is weak.....wha?....
The only rationale I can think of is that he means that vegetarians might be that way because they THINK that is what God wants from them when he doesn't. Well that doesn't fit either because we are to walk in faith and love. If people avoid harming animals they do so out of love and faith, so how can Paul call them weak? They are simply following through with their convictions which proves their faith.

 

[joshua 1 9]

1. Neutering close to 30 cats is very expensive and involves other medical costs as well.

It cost about $40 per cat here, then you have to feed them after you neuter them. I understand completely. The little kittens are very very cute. The problem is they grow up into fat sassy cats that eat a lot and do not always get along. People do not want to adopt a wild cat.

I had a cat that put out three litters in less then a year. We got 5 female kittens and 2 males fixed. I do not know what happened to the mother (queen) they will not tell me what they did with her. If we had done nothing other than to feed them we could have easily ended up with 140 cats. At some point the humane society will have to go in and trap the cats and euthanize them. Cats are not the cleanest animals. You need to clean up after them and that can quickly get out of control. We hear about it all the time, the filthy conditions that requires animal control to go in and clean it up. The police would be glad to shoot them like in the old days but that really really gets people upset. To shoot all those cute little adorable baby animals. There will be no end to people complaining about that. Also you have lots of people complain if you do noting to get them fixed so they do not reproduce. There really is a lot of research that has to go into how to manage feral cats. If they are small and cute they try to adopt them out. If they are old, fat and sassy then quite a few cats get euthanized every year. In some cases if a feral cat makes it three years they are doing good. House cats may last 12 to 20 years. If they are well taken care of.

The other day a possums came in and was causing a disturbance because he wanted to eat the cat food. He made a mess and I had to chase him off, but he has been coming back at night. There are a lot of nocturnal animals that will clean up after the cats and eat the food they leave behind at the end of the day. In addition to possums we have skunks & raccoons that visit at night. The raccoons were living in our attic and making a lot of noise. It cost me $500 to get someone in here to keep them out of the attic. They were pushing their way in up under the soffit and we had to reinforce all of that. Raccoons are very strong animals and it takes a lot of reinforcement to keep them out.

 

[pat34lee]

Sorry, I wasn't actually claiming that killing and eating animals was morally right or wrong. Just sharing my observation.

Romans 14:2 has always been a weird one to me. In other places, Paul suggests that what anyone eats does not make them unclean. In other words, it is a non-issue. Yet here, he takes it to the extreme saying that if you respect animals and choose not to kill them then your faith is weak.....wha?....
The only rationale I can think of is that he means that vegetarians might be that way because they THINK that is what God wants from them when he doesn't. Well that doesn't fit either because we are to walk in faith and love. If people avoid harming animals they do so out of love and faith, so how can Paul call them weak? They are simply following through with their convictions which proves their faith.

Two things about verse 2. All things doesn't mean
everything. It means the foods listed in Leviticus 11.
Anything else isn't food.

The strong one and the weak one are not the ones
that most Christian commentaries say they are. The
people Paul is talking to are former pagans who grew
up in a pagan Roman country.

Romans 14:2 - For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.

"Here is a very key verse. Clearly it is talking about vegetarianism. The weak person is the one eating vegetables. The question is, why is this person considered to be weak?

In Rome there were over 400 pagan temples. If one were to go to the marketplace to buy meat, quite possibly nearly all the meat would have came from a temple sacrifice somewhere. Thus, if a weak brother wanted to avoid thinking of an idol when eating meat, he would need to eliminate eating meat at all.

To me, this explanation makes the most sense. It would explain why the vegetarian was 'one who is weak' and it would explain why there are parallel statements like these I quoted earlier:"
Romans 14: Who is the weak brother?

 

[ViaCrucis]

There are reasonable and humane reasons and ways to kill another animal. For sustenance, self defense, etc. But meaningless violence toward animals, especially animals with a central nervous system and higher mental faculties (and thus, capable of experience fear, pain, etc) is an act of evil; and Scripture and God's holy commandments forbid acts of cruelty toward animals.

"You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain." - Deuteronomy 25:4

The story of Balaam and his donkey (Numbers 22:22-35)

"If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him." - Exodus 23:5

"Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel." - Proverbs 12:10

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Babe Ruth]

God's animals are not senseless robots..

Shempster, A good book on this subject: The Inner Life of Animals. Peter Wohlleben.

Peace.

 

[Noxot]

most of the time killing animals and not eating them does not seem like a good idea ( I had in mind the act of hunting). recently we had some mice move in right after my cat disappeared and they pooped on my bed. it's just not healthy. they got to go.

I have a natural disgust for german roaches and tend to kill them. again, this is a disgust issue which means it's about defending myself from disease which is probably the thing that has wiped out the most humans.

had a bad case of sink gnats recently. at first a few won't bother you because they are tiny and kind of cute. but they breed like mad and were hard to get rid of.

another reason to kill creatures is because they eat the food you are growing that you need to live. last year I was growing some kale but about 40 of some kind of caterpillar destroyed it

I feel you with the cat thing, cats are great at keeping the rodent population down. I think cats and humans have had a long and good mutual relationship. but if they are gonna starve, well that is not a nice way to go. and cats will start to steal other cats babies and eat them if they have to. would be better to not make them have to do that. if they wanna become more human-like and associated with us then maybe them dying is the best choice.