I didn't need to know this:

octatonic

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24478532

Van_Hayden

Cheery isn't it?

octatonic

Poor puppies!

I'd rather go hungry than execute my dog.

VimFuego

lot of farm animals were also slaughtered (this was mostly their purpose anyways) but not replaced as the land that was used to feed them was turned over to the production of crops like wheat. Fewer meat animals meant less pet food.

Myranda

My flat-mate in one of his "The past was safer and no crime ever happened - ever! Fact!" moments mentioned his grandmother in WW2 and how the country came together and the whole nation was it's bestest,  and since then it's been on a moral decline.

Well, in addition to having one of the highest upward spikes in criminality recorded it would appear that wholesale pet murder was also a thing... 

I'm starting to think the past was a lot shittier than the old people would have you believe... ergo old people are all dishonest, covering up atrocities and criminalities... old people must be criminal masterminds involved in a cover-up! Time to arrest all old people! We'll be safer, and if we cancel their pension because they're all in prison and wont need to buy new sweaters we'll save a fortune!

I've just solved crime and the economy... seriously, someone should elect me Empress of the World.

Fretwired

Lots of nasty stories from WWII that the authorities would love to bury. There were 20,000 deserters living in London - the crime rate rocketed. Shops were regularly looted in air raids as were dead bodies. There's a famous case of a posh nightclub getting bombed and the dead bodies of rich people were looted for their jewels, watches and money.

When the yanks came it got worse and when Paris was liberated yank deserters teamed up with the French to plunder allied supplies [they used to attack trains and convoys] and sell them on the black market. The biggest gun battle in Paris wasn't against the Germans but between the US Army and US/British deserters and the French resistance.

Mad Frankie Fraser used to dress up as an ARP warden to loot shops .. people always look at the past through rose tinted specs. The British had the most deserters of any nation in WWII with officially over 100,000 listed although unofficial estimates put it much higher as after the war people 'mysteriously' came back from the dead.

Myranda

Well I guess they just said "I got better" and all was forgiven

Fretwired

Myranda said:

Well I guess they just said "I got better" and all was forgiven

There was a manpower shortage and a desire to move on so the authorities turned a blind eye. By 1939 you couldn't be shot for desertion so bar locking thousands of people up there wasn't much that could be done.

Phil_aka_Pip

I'm with @octatonic ... I'd go hungry to feed my cat (she's a bit too old for going hunting at night)

Myranda

Surely with all the bodies during the blitz surely there wasn't a shortage of meat... cats and dogs need not have gone hungry or be put down

Emp_Fab

I hope nobody read last week's Guardian Saturday supplement with the article about the illegal dog meat trade in Asia.  I turned the page and saw lots of little dogs jammed into a crate like marshmallows in a box, and an image of a skinned and marinated carcass and couldn't bring myself to continue.  It was so distressing, I ripped out the pages and binned them to save Mrs Fab from seeing the terrible pictures that would have been indelibly stained in her mind.  Horrible, horrible things to do to dogs.

I am aware of the hypocrisy in my eating beef, pork and chicken, and that they too must suffer - but I try to shop compassionately and never buy non free-range stuff.

bertie

Emp_Fab said:

 I turned the page and saw lots of little dogs jammed into a crate like marshmallows in a box, and an image of a skinned and marinated carcass and couldn't bring myself to continue.  I

 plenty of that going on in  the"legal" dog meat trade, particularly in China. Not exactly news..........unless the Grauniad is well behind times.

As much as it wrenches my gut,  as a meat eater, it would be very hypocritical of me to condone it..............especially as I love pork and pigs are every bit as "intelligent" and "pet worthy" as dogs........... what is the real problem is indeed the treatment of the animals prior (and often during) death.  

FreddieVanHalen

That article saddened me quite a bit as well, but as others have pointed out there's worse going on right in the present moment.

Raccoon dog treatment in China to provide cheap fur lining for clothes is also another awful one, with a video of one being skinned alive that will never leave my memory.

I've been vegetarian for about 15 years now because of animal welfare issues like this. Not sure how I can contribute to stopping cruel treatment of animals in Asia, other than supporting animal welfare charities, etc.

Lentils are ace

bertie

FreddieVanHalen said:

Lentils are "paaarp"

indeed

randomhandclaps

bertie said:

  As much as it wrenches my gut,  as a meat eater, it would be very hypocritical of me to condone it..............especially as I love pork and pigs are every bit as "intelligent" and "pet worthy" as dogs........... what is the real problem is indeed the treatment of the animals prior (and often during) death.  

Also when you are looking at a nation where new-born babies have been disposed of in gutters for being the wrong gender the barbaric occurrences of animal cruelty made sadden but shouldn't really shock anyone.

FreddieVanHalen

bertie said:

FreddieVanHalen said:

Lentils are "paaarp"

indeed

Hey, that's how I get all my best improvisation ideas :-)

randomhandclaps

FreddieVanHalen said:

bertie said:

FreddieVanHalen said:

Lentils are "paaarp"

indeed

Hey, that's how I get all my best improvisation ideas :-)

And the kazoo solo.

Bogwhoppit

 

bertie said

 plenty of that going on in  the"legal" dog meat trade, particularly in China.

The Government of Goa in India were discussing contracts with the Chinese to remove stray dogs from the streets. Goa is overrun with strays which the Chinese - as you noted - value as a food source.

ESBlonde

During the battle of malta rations were at starvation levels. Nearly all the dogs and cats 'dissappeared' and there is no reason to think it would have been much different here had the battle of the atlantic gone the wrong way. Many families did take to having a few chickens in the garden fed on whatever scraps were available and some communities has a pig fattened between them. When your own very existance is on the line perspective changes. Having your family pet put down to avoid it suffereing or going missing must have seemed sensible in the context of the times and judging those people with our modern view of our world is not reasonable imho.