On a desert island with only an animal - would you eat it?

[Punkin]

The answer for me is no, for a couple of reasons. First, I think it would be impossible for me to do, can't even imagine it. And second, the original question implies that eating the animal will keep you alive, and that there are no other means to do so. As somone has already pointed out, all that will do is prolong the inevitable starvation for a very short time, and make you miserable in the meantime for having killed the poor creature and your only companion.

Something to ponder: If the animal was a carnviore, what if it were to eat YOU (either whilst alive or after having died of starvation)? I guess the same logic applies, but if it were a little bitty animal, my body could provide nourishment for a long time! :)

Cheers
xx

[horselesspaul]

If only there were coconuts...

A__vQ5k6ysA

[emmapresley]

heh..we had a (mildly disasterous) house meeting the other night to try and sort out some of the ways that we are all disatisfied with how the house is run. my oldest daughter's gripe is the no meat rule..i've though recently about how if i can source them, and i probably can, buying about 3 or 4 eggs a fortnight from locally rescued hens, how she could have this as an addition to her diet. (justifying here - the kid isn't vegan or even vegetarian so no grief plzzz)

it all spiralled into chaos and next thing she was dramatically wailing that what if she was dying..on the floor dying and the only thing that could save her was to feed her meat..would i do it?

i dunno..i thought it amusing. predictable and amusing. might've been a 'you had to be there' kind of moment. :umm:

[Ruby Rose]

Fabulous tantrum on your daughter's part, emp! I'd say something like "If you were dying and the only thing that could save you was for you to drink a bucket of stale puke, I'd get that for you too because I'm your mum. It's about the same likelihood as needing meat to survive."

p.s. my penn'orth is that the eggs are a bad idea - it opens the door to even more boundary pushing. You know why you don't want eggs in your house, and she can always eat them at her dad's if she's that desperate. It sounds like a bit of a power struggle going on for you, hon... but that's what teenagers were created for! :) ;)

[Manimal]

This would suck as a reality tv show. But I volunteer to test it out. Find me an island...!

[WildWitch]

We're running out of islands to strand vegans on aren't we.

Lol! i like that, will use it next time im asked that dreadfuly tiresome question always chucked at me by meat eaters.

Stick enough vegans on these islands and im sure we would all come up with our own vegan resturant, vegan supermarket, vegan beauty parlour the lot. Vegans rule YAY!

How about we have an island where no meat eaters were allowed.

Back to the OP's question though, i would love to know the animal would be my companion if stranded, totaly agree it would help keep me sane and im sure we could look after each other, just hope its not an animal that would eat me though. Maybe a friendly zebra or monkey, could send him up the trees to get me coco nuts then. Giraffe would be useful for that too. Of course in return id share my dinners and water with them too. What a team we would be.

[firstandthen]

I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had sacrificed my principles like that, especially seeing as not eating meat is something I believe so strongly in and is a huge part of who I am.

So I'd say no, I wouldn't. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could actually catch it/kill it!

[WildWitch]

I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had sacrificed my principles like that, especially seeing as not eating meat is something I believe so strongly in and is a huge part of who I am.

So I'd say no, I wouldn't. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could actually catch it/kill it!

I dont think there are many meat eaters who would be willing to catch it and kill it either. After all its made in tesco isnt it, comes ready shaped, coloured and neatly wrapped in plastic. Half of these hypocritical meat eaters would probably pass out at the thought of having to cut open an animal and sift out the edible bits. They probably wouldnt know which bits were which anyway unless covered in breadcrumbs with a label on them lol.

[starlight]

Ridiculous Omni: If you were stuck on a desert island with nothing to eat but an animal, would you eat it?
Me: If _you_ were on the Atkins diet and were stuck on desert island with nothing to eat a vegetable, would you eat it?
Ridiculous Omni: Huh?
Me: Exactly. Shall we talk about something else?

[Sarah_]

LOL, Atkins is so ridiculous it makes me laugh.

[Qaxt]

You have to realize the implications of "kill it and eat it" if you're stranded. If there's no vegetation, chances are there's not going to be much of a weapon, either. That leaves strangling, ripping apart, and crushing... with your bare hands. None of that is appealing to me, personally. If I all there was on the island is a cheeseburger, then I might. The animal's dead already, I can adopt the "I didn't kill it, I'm not responsible!" attitude a lot of people have. But that raises the question, where'd the burger come from?

But, chances are that, if I tried to kill it, I'd be unsuccessful. If I did succeed in at least killing it, I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to eat it. What do you eat? I might be able to find the liver and get at that, but that's about it....


I'd like to say, "No, never!" because it's absolutely repulsive. But let's see what I say on day 20 of no eating? (People have been documented living for 40 days without food, but having salt and water; both would be available. Salt from the sea, water, hopefully, from rain.) On day 20 of no eating, who knows? I might be at a point where I'd eat a live hamster or something grisly like that.

[aussievego]

Like many others have said in response to this, it's hard to say what you will do in any situation until you are actually in it. That's the problem with hypothetical questions. You get hypothetical answers. In my opinion hypothetical questions achieve very little, except maybe to create some lively discussion about what people would like to think they would do in a given situation. It's easy to stand firmly behind your moral principles and proudly proclaim what you would do from the safety of your keyboard on an internet forum. I would like to think that I would not try to kill the animal, not just because I am a vegan, but because I know that the animal would not provide any nutritional value and would likely pose a greater health risk by eating it than not.

Not knocking this thread or the originator, but over the years I have been vegan I have found that hypothetical questions are the weapons of the anti vegan movement as the facts and the truth overwhelmingly support our stance. The main reason meateaters pose these hyoptheticals to us is to try to find a way to portray us as hypocrites. It's a logical tactic for them. If you can't reute the message attack the messenger.

[Metal Maniac]

NO way, even if i am to die myself. There wil definitely be fruit and vegetables and such.and since you are near the sea, there are many sea vegetables going ashore. Anyway, there is no point in eating thew animal, if yu are to be stranded there, you will eat the carcass and run out of food anyway. Might as well actually think and do your best and hardest to live otherwise.Anyway loneliness can be a much more horrible insanity.

Agreed tsunami!!!!!

Couldn't have said it better myself!!!:thumbsup:

[bradders]

a more like situation is a ship, that cannot dock for any of a number of reasons such as quarantine. As a hyperthyroidic individual I would need food sooner than others. In the event that we were advised that we would be out of port for a week then I would have serious problems as I could not last long at all. The mature thing to do is to inform others of this and hope that they would give me preference on any vegan food. However if I am completely honest were this to run out and there be no vegan food on any lifted aid etc then I admit I might be weak. But there is also the fact that the food would probably make me sick and thus make things worse.
My opinion is that in those circumstances (and that you could physically process the food) it would be acceptable to eat the non-vegan food as you are not really creating a future demand and it is purely a survival issue the same could be said also of people who died on board and could be successfully cooked.
In the desert island scenario I agree that obviously the animals on the island have vegetable food or they wouldn't survive and that there is also likely to be seaweed etc that could be eaten.

[Pearl]

is there an option of eating the island :D ?

sorry, but this is just such a stupid unrealistic question, I'm so tired of it...

I thought that. Ive had this question in many different guises this month and I grow weary of it!:satisfied:

[Zero]

Ah the silly meat eater hypotheticals, I just laugh at them because they are so ridiculous, on the desert island one though, my question is always "so what is the animal eating to stay alive?"

Otherwise you could eat sea weed, highly nutritious haha.

[Bunny]

I answer with "If a child ran at you with a gun and you were armed, would you shoot it?"

Then exclaim in horror "YOU'D SHOOT A CHILD?!!!"

Or I say that veganism is about CHOICE. I have the choice and so I CHOOSE not to eat meat or animal products. You have the same choice. If they were stuck on a desert island with no meat, they'd eat VEGAN!!! *gasp*

[Risker]

Would there be any ketchup on the island?

[Pearl]

Yes. Its under that bush. *points*.

[Bunny]

Is it vegan ketchup? Is it a vegan bush?

[Mahk]

Then exclaim in horror "YOU'D SHOOT A CHILD?!!!"
Loud enough for the whole room to hear! Very funny, Bunny.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

New plan "C": Eat the person asking the hypothetical question. Bingo! Problem solved.

[Bunny]

New plan "C": Eat the person asking the hypothetical question. Bingo! Problem solved.

Solved!

[bradders]

or feed the person to the hungry animal

[WildWitch]

Yeah what animal is it by the way, a fluffy bunny or a hungry bear?

[bradders]

hmm not sure, always thought it would be a solitary hog of some sort