Eating pets: Material verses meaning.
A recent announcement from Aalborg Zoo in Denmark invited people to donate their unwanted pets, including chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, and horses. This offer brought to mind a former relationship of mine. We had been dating for about six weeks when she mentioned, just as we were heading out for a date, that she needed to feed her rabbit. Until that moment, she had never mentioned owning a pet. The rabbit, of course, was in its advanced years. Like so many pets, it had started as a child’s dream and had since become an adult’s burden. Now, with her life filled with parties and dates, the rabbit was a low priority. It lived out its confined, hutch-limited life, awaiting the end of its 9-12 year average lifespan—an ending that, for many young adults, likely goes unnoticed amidst a world of distractions.
Endings, especially in the context of pet ownership, should be respected and acknowledged. They offer an opportunity to educate us. The end of one life can inspire a deeper appreciation for another. Many parents get a pet to teach their children about responsibility, animal welfare, and the cycle of life. That ambition shouldn't fade into an inconvenient burden. Instead, it should be a meaningful transition that connects us to a wider natural world. Can this interpretation extend to the feeding of pets to zoo animals?
Understanding Pet Lifespans
A pet is a major commitment. It's crucial to understand their typical lifespans:
The First Loss: Pet Death and Its Impact
For many children, a pet's death is their first experience with loss. A Harvard Gazette study found this can be traumatic, leading to elevated mental health symptoms. It's important for parents to take these symptoms seriously.
Children often have questions like, "Why did my pet die?" The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry advises answering honestly and simply. My own experience with two rabbits contracting myxomatosis taught me this early. After a heartfelt talk with my dad, he humanely ended their suffering, a brutal but honest lesson in life and death.
Many pets have to be put-down. A very difficult issue for adults and children alike. The Australian Horizon Palliative Vets, who look after pets in their dying days, explain that a child’s understanding of death is age-dependent. Young children don’t grasp permanence, while older kids know death is universal and may be scared. It’s important to encourage them to express their feelings openly.
Donating a Body: A Matter of Material and Meaning
This brings us to a larger question about material matter and the meaning of experience. In 1987, British MP Eric Lubbock famously tried to donate his body to Battersea Dogs Home, arguing that it could be used to feed the animals. The home's manager refused, stating, "I am sure there is a lot of nutritional value in the noble Lord and the dogs are not fussy, but we just couldn't do it."
However, organizations like PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) suggest that donating a human body can benefit science and animals. Donating a body can advance medical knowledge and reduce the need for animal testing. Your contribution can be used for anatomical studies, scientific research, and the education of future healthcare professionals, directly supporting non-animal methods.
Many cultures don't practice open-casket funerals, and attendees may never see the body before burial or cremation. So, would knowing a body was used for science or even fed to a lion be any more traumatic for grieving families? Personally, I think I'd like to be fed to sharks—my youngest son loves them.
Endings, and how we choose to approach them, can serve as powerful teaching moments about responsibility, respect, and our place in the natural world.
It can also reveal more about the way we look at our consumer world and how we end those relationships. What starts out as meaningful emotionally engaging, ends up neglected and abandoned. Within that discussion we often focus too heavily on the material resolution and overlook the meaning. Building more focus at the end can help in re-engaging in that meaning. Even if it means feeding you pet to lions.
