They Eat Horses, Don't They?

This is the title of the second episode, second series of Ally McBeal... She and her companions are shocked that someone could consider eating such a noble animal.

Now, let me tell you one thing: I love horses. I do like the way they look, even if up close you can really see they're very stupid animals. it's as if God concentrated on their bodies, and forgot to make their brains up. No wonder they were outcompeted by artiodactyls(that would be deer, and antylopes, and let's throw in cows too), until men arrived and decided to saddle them. Horses, with their inefficient digestive system, would be all but extincts, weren't for the fact that men found them useful in battle. I believe they're good companions of mankind, a bit like dogs, and aurochs(now called cows). I love horses' rears, yes, particularly when cut in thin slices and sprinkled with garlic, chili and parsley, and quickly cooked on a fire... It tastes stronger, and better, than beef, it's got less fat, and more proteins and iron. That is, as far as I know...

Apparently, horses, dogs and cats deserve our 'respect', so they shouldn't be eaten. I do not agree. All animals deserve our respect, but this does not mean that they should not be eaten. We are carnivore apes, so we eat animals.


I mean, let's look at it from the biology viewpoint. Those animals wouldn't exist in the numbers they do, if it weren't for human's interest in them. We are devoting part of our resources to raise them, protect them from (other) predators, and as payment, now that they can not provide us with a hand on the work, we just ask that a portion of them to be culled, and served on our tables... it's just another example of symbiosis, where both parts are gaining. For the moment it's us eating them may be in the past it was the opposite (were there ever carnivore horses? I don't know). may be in the future roles will switch again - with many thanks to Stephen Baxter for exemplifying such a thing in 'Evolution', where future human-derived primates are herded by carnivorous rodents...