Elegy for the Muskrat
People like what they like. So I have no problem with muskrat trapping, or muskrat eating. I ate one myself once to see if it would turn me into a more authentic Delawarean. It didn’t.
If I saw this picture prior to digging in, and noticed that my “food” required Level A Hazmat gloves to handle it safely – I wonder If I would have gone through with it?
Anyhoo. Times change.
Correction: It sounds really, really hillbilly.
You know your a redneck if you eat anything with the word rat in it.
Tastes like chicken…
Y’know, the linked article was posted on April 1. Just sayin’…
Might have been posted on 4/1 but the Muskrat struggle is real, and it stinks nicely as well. My wife said when her dad cooked muskrat it essentially drove everybody out of the house. Her dad was the only one that would eat it, he was indeed a true old Delawarean.
If trapping results in an instantaneous kill and puts food on the table then I don’t have a problem with it. If pain, suffering and terror are part of equation then I it seem abhorrent to me.
Not a single time goes by when I am eating meat that I don’t wonder whether the animal suffered so that I might fill my belly. Not a single time.
I recognize that in the animal kingdom that there are predators and prey. The predators understand is that they need to eat and prey is food. They kill with as much efficiency as their species is able. They do not entertain themselves with the process.
As I see it, the difference between the lesser animals and ourselves is that we find sport in the process and seem to be able to inflict pain and terror more efficiently than anything else we do. And yet we consider ourselves the higher order species.
I believe there is a higher power than ourselves, but I question their wisdom in making us stewards of the earth.
I’ve watched cats entertain themselves with their prey before the kill many times. Also, I love veal.