ITV Asks, ‘Would You Ever Consider Eating Squirrel?’ Viewers Vote No
After concerning images appeared in the news and on social media showing UK hunters boasting about shooting and killing grey squirrels, ITV’s This Morning invited PETA Director Elisa Allen onto the programme to discuss the ethics.
It's not something we imagine you've been asked a lot of times, but would you ever consider eating squirrel? pic.twitter.com/kdzCoNtrpY
— This Morning (@thismorning) October 25, 2017
Hunting squirrels isn’t a sport or some culinary adventure. If groups of humans set out to shoot dogs or cats – and make their flesh into pâtés – we’d call it abuse, and that’s exactly what it is when it’s done to squirrels.
Squirrels are individuals with thoughts, feelings, and the will to live. They ask for nothing from life but the chance to live it. It’s wrong to kill them in violent ways for a thrill or fleeting moment of taste.
As was touched upon in the televised debate, a hunted squirrel’s experience may be slightly less cruel than the horrors faced by factory-farmed chickens, who spend their lives inside windowless sheds – unable to move freely or breathe fresh air – and endure a terrifying journey to the abattoir. But that doesn’t mean that hunting squirrels is somehow acceptable.
And besides, those aren’t the only two options available to us! Walk into any restaurant or supermarket and meat-free options abound. From veggie sausages and vegan fish fingers to pulses, pastas, fruits, and vegetables, there are nutritious and delicious plant-based options at every turn.
Given that the vast majority of voters in ITV’s own viewer poll said they wouldn’t hunt and eat squirrels, instead of debating whether it’s better to hunt squirrels than farm chickens, we should be asking ourselves, as a society, why we’re eating animals at all.
