On the one hand, it's good to know that your meat has been able to
hang out on a big paddock,
munch on oranges, play with the dogs,
and walk your kids to the bus stop.
On the other hand - sob - poor Kev. Rest in pieces
Many of us spend money making our dogs and cats lives more pleasant[1]. We feed them good food. We pay vets to keep them healthy and happy, to the tune of $2.5 billion a year. Pets cost us $6 billion a year overall. That’s about $2500/year for the average dog. A cat is cheaper at $1700/annum. Half of us buy them special treats for Christmas and their birthdays.
And good on us for not being neglectful pet owners! We accept that it costs more to keep a pet happy and healthy. I’m guessing, but I’d say you could keep a dog alive, but miserable, for about $500/year, and a cat for about the same (minimal, basic food; locked in a cage; basic worming but euthanasia for any that get really sick).
So we’re paying about $2000/year to keep a dog happy and healthy, and $1200 for a cat.
How many of us are willing to spend extra money keeping the other animals in our lives happy and healthy? You know, the ones we eat?
If McDonalds are right, none of their customers are. That’s why they don’t use free range chickens or pigs[2].
If we shop at the “Big Two” we can get chicken breast for $12/kg. If our conscience is slightly twinged it will cost us $13/kg for the “RSPCA approved” kind, which is a far cry from free range[3]. Fully free range, chickens, who are presumably fairly happy until the brutal production line slaughter, are @16/kg.[4]
So if we ate a kilo of chicken breast a week, it would cost $200 more to make the chooks relatively happy: able to roam outside, dust bathe, eat grass and forage. We have free range chickens, they are full of personality, adventure. They complain and pace relentlessly if we have to keep them locked in for a day or two.
Have you seen those pictures of miserable chooks in battery layer cages? They cost us $2.79 a dozen versus $6.35. If we eat half a dozen eggs a week, that’s $185 extra to let the chickens who are making our eggs have an actual life until they get ground up for pet food.
If the effect of watching Babe has worn off for us - and who doesn’t love bacon – a miserable pig is $15/kg, compared to $22/kg for its free range counterpart.
A kilo of happy pig a week would set us all back $350 per year.
So two kilos of happy meat and a dozen happy eggs a week would set us back about $700. Quite a lot, but a lot less than keeping a dog, or even a cat happy.
Jesus called us to do for others as we would have done for us if our positions were reversed. Most of us readily get that this applies to our pets. We wouldn’t let them suffer, or stick them in a tiny cage for their whole life just because it’s cheaper and easier. How do we so easily skimp on the other animals in our lives, who arguably give us even more?
If you’ve forgotten what animal suffering looks like in Australia, or would like to get your church thinking about it, here's a short reminder, in the context of a prayer of confession which points to a more hopeful future...
[1] http://www.ava.com.au/news/media-centre/hot-topics-5
[2] https://yourquestions.mcdonalds.com.au/questions/6015
[3] http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/farmers-attack-coles-marketing-scheme-backed-by-the-rspca-to-deliver-healthier-chickens-to-consumers/story-fnihsrf2-1226800132011
[4] From store web sites, prices accurate at time of writing
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