I got a bit tetchy about the chooks

Time was I'd be more vocal about things that annoyed me. I'd get into arguments about cycling, and driving, and food, and... well, I had quite a range of topics on which I had strong views.

I still do. Have the strong views. But generally try and keep them in check. Every single day I ignore things that would have got me riled in the past. I just turn away and get on with what I need to do. People don't need to see that side (unless it's entirely warranted), but today I reacted badly to a comment about caged chickens, and went all holier-than-thou about not eating chicken or eggs from our work canteen because they're not free range. 

I didn't go off on one. Just kinda made clear my feelings, and followed it up with an arsey email (including a link to a blip here about so-called 'enriched' cages). But the thing is, I really don't understand why people don't get annoyed about animals suffering just so they can create more of a profit on one side of the bargain; and cheaper food on the other. My dilemma, of course, is that I do still eat meat, and not doing so would be the only way to truly have the moral high ground.

But it's not just because we've got chooks. Although when you see their personalities you definitely do come to appreciate the sentience you're causing harm to. I can't understand people who want to cause harm to animals, or who don't care that they suffer before we eat them. Livestock. Live. Stock. To be disposed of and treated as we see fit.

Freya this morning pecked the young, inquisitive, fox on the nose when he got too close to the mesh. There's an animal that would normally be terrified of the vulpine visitor, but that has learned that within the (large and airy!) run she is safe from them. There's consciousness. There, even if it is by degrees lower than our own, is intelligence.

So I'll continue to insist on free range, foregoing if it's not. I'll just try not to be so arsey about it.

Now.... Pigs....