Michael Lorrey wrote:
> A more effective thing to do to reduce the 'uck' factor is to engineer the cow to
> be more ugly, thus reducing the 'cute' factor from which the 'yuck' factor is
> derived. Most animal rightists, even the most casual ones, are usually motivated
> to avoid eating animals because of what we hunters call the 'Bambi Syndrome', and
> this is why they usually focus their efforts on saving and protecting 'cute'
> animals, while they do little for ugly animals. You don't get many protesters
> trying to protect the Great White Shark.....
Notwithstanding the existence of the Bambi Syndrome, there are lots of
Animal Rights
types who would protest the destruction of a predator (aquatic or
otherwise). Witness
the (recently declared successful) efforts the protect the wolf in MN.
> A much more efficient method of producing meat is to breed rabbits, but they
> obviously are much farther up the 'cute' scale than cows are. Rabbits reproduce
> far faster, and produce much healthier meat than cattle, and especially important
> for space applications, they don't take up much space. The rabbit was selected by
> O'Neil's space colony research project for protein supply.
Good points. Unrealistic, of course - but still good points ;)
Z