[mantrax]

1. Prison. The philosophy of prison as punishment is wrong, but the idea of keeping a murderer isolated from potential victims isn't. So don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

2. Animals, just like humans, die. There's no way around it. Even if the entire world decides not to eat a particular goat, that goat will die. And when an animal dies, it gets eaten - no exception. Either by microorganisms, or higher level organisms. The problem isn't why animals die, it's how animals live. Even if an animal is bred for food, it doesn't have to lead a miserable life, and it doesn't mean we should not respect that life on its own merit. So again, don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

3. I agree. But say, if an old animal wants to die, can I eat it?

[icebraining]

2. Is true, but if you have to wait around for the goat to die of old age or sickness, that doesn't make for a particularly healthy meat business. And killing it is not justifiable simply by the fact that eventually it would die anyway.

[mantrax]

In nature most animals do not die of old age or sickness. In fact, dying of old age or sickness is the most horrifying and prolonged death possible for any life form. It's torture. Being hunted and dead in the span of hours, or even minutes is far more "humane" (I hate the etymology of this word).

Preserving an animal's life artificially until it's so old it dies from its age is what is actually unnatural (also see the original point 3). So the focus should not be on extending an animal's life length, but improving those animals' life quality.

And actually if you would replace "animal" with "human" in anything I say, it still applies. This is how you know I'm not discriminating against an animal's life. Which would be pure ignorance.