Why are people so squeamish? (From Ilkley Gazette)

Why are people so squeamish?

5:10pm Thursday 25th September 2008

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IT’S difficult to know exactly where to point the finger, but who is to blame for making us all so wimpishly squeamish nowadays? The protests about grouse shooting on Ilkley Moor are one symptom of this phenomenon but now allotment holders in Addingham are so afraid of upsetting anyone that they can’t even protect their own produce from rabbits efficiently.

Instead of coming home groaning under the weight of fresh vegetables, herbs and a couple of shot rabbits to put in the stew for a delicious dinner, allotment holders will be spending their time putting up fences to keep out the pesky rabbits in a way that doesn’t upset the sensibilities of anyone.

Autumn should be a wonderful time to eat in Britain with wild berries ripening, the last of the summer vegetables ready to pick from the ground and an abundance of game such as wood pigeon, grouse, partridge, pheasant and rabbits available.

Perhaps its the anthropomorphism of Disney movies that so hoodwinks our children that confuses the issue to the extent that they think fluffy bunnies and roosting birds are just waiting for us to pass by before breaking into song and dancing off together, wing in paw, into the sunset.

Have we really lost the connection between the lump of meat in supermarket package and the fact that it is part of a dead animal? Unless we all become vegetarian, we should ensure that the realities of food production are part of every child’s education.

Nothing has more heart-melting cuddle value than a two-day-old lamb but that doesn’t stop us shipping them out to the abattoir to be reincarnated as kebabs and chops as soon as they grow big enough to butcher.

All animal killing is by, its very nature, cruel, but as long as we strive to keep the degree of cruelty to an absolute minimum then we can justify a rabbit cull to protect allotments in Addingham.

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