Would You Be Upset?

[magsmay]

I am getting rather sick and some what upset about all these 'horse meat' jokes -and I'm not alone -in the UK there are presently in excess of 4 million people who either own a horse as a PET or ride one regularly. My horses are part of our family -we have had them since foals and would be devastated if anything happened to them -Unfortunately only a small amount of horses are bred for meat - mainly in Eastern Europe - most are unwanted race horses, injured or sick animals that are sold on and end up in the food chain - even some stolen ones -peoples loved pets. If you are not a horse owner but maybe own a dog or cat -how would you feel about joke after joke about your loved pets being killed for meat? Would it upset anyone?

[Jeza]

Does this mean I have eaten Shergar?

[maggiebee]

Understand what you are saying magsmay, but sometimes the only way can deal with an unpleasant subject to to make a joke of it.

[Answerprancer]

Not really upset, but I'd rather enjoy the company of horses than eat them.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I am very selective about my meat eating habits - there are certain beasties I won't eat, horses are one, cows are another.

[askyourgran]

It's not the jokes that upset me mags. It's the thought that I may have eaten some clapped out old nag from Romania that gets me.

[magsmay]

@jeza -maybe but more likely to have eaten 'tiddles' or 'bonzo' if you frequent chinese restaurants

[Peter Pedant]

.

Dog soup, anyone ?

[flump1]

We joke loads about turning my hound into a curry on her demise. We all decided she would be too fatty and would repeat on us. They eat dogs in some parts of the world. I wouldn't want to. Maybe the jokes that are doing the rounds are disguising our concern that we may have unwittingly eaten something we would not have chosen . If we didn't laugh we might cry, there is no malice intended .

[murraymints]

Jeza...hamburgers anagram of shergars bum. ???

[douglas9401]

No.

[Hopkirk]

I understand and sympathise with what you are saying, Magsmay.

[237SJ]

Funny you should say about that - we were having a discussion at work about why some people think that it is OK to eat certain animals and not others. We came to the conclusion that horses/dogs etc are quite intelligent and can have a relationship with humans which precludes them from being killed for meat. Mind you, sometimes jokes are a coping mechanism. I have worked on commercial aircraft for the last 27 years and you seriously wouldn`t want to hear our plane crash/Lockerbie/Pan Am jokes.

[Baldric]

Horses for courses mags,
Starters, or main!

[RATTER15]

I have four dogs and they are part of our family but I can still laugh at jokes aimed around dogs being eaten, the jokes aren't directed at anybodies pet imparticular. So no it doesn't upset me a bit.

[douglas9401]

The main reason that the French eat so much horse meat is that it's just cruel to let them carry on without their oeuvre

[EcclesCake]

I'm not aware of anyone joking about eating my pets.

Owning a cat/dog/horse/cow/sheep does not mean I can veto jokes about their species.

[RATTER15]

I see any animal as fair game to be eaten in many different countries, the only issue I have is the way the animal is treated prior to being killed for the table.

[DTCwordfan]

No one on here, that I am aware of, is making jokes about your pets/horses, magsmay, or any other ABers'.....that is a big difference to the market at large and, if it was done, should involve a suspension or ban of the person who targeted you or anyone else.

[Mick-Talbot]

Wouldn't bother me at all.

[Answerprancer]

"I see any animal as fair game" - does that include endangered species and human meat?

[Maydup]

It does not upset me no; I'm a vegetarian and cannot differentiate between the rights and wrongs of eating one animal over another. Or keep one as a pet but not another.

To pick up on another point you made - surely there must be more than a small amount of horses bred for meat if the animal has been teh source of meat for Tesco, Findus and Aldi etc fo all of their ready meals. And I presume, for some time now.