vegansaurus!

» Beijing Zoo: the ultimate "petting zoo"

The internet found itself in a tizzy today over China eating the animals at the zoo in Beijing:

[T]he zoo’s restaurant serves things like the webbed toes of hippopotamus, dishes made with crocodiles, scorpions, kangaroo tail, deer penis, ant soup, shark fin soup, peacock, etc. Until recently, signs on the animals’ cages even contained information about which parts were tastiest and which parts could be used to make traditional medicine (aka placebos, for the most part).

Here in America, we call these “petting zoos”, where children can interact with chickens and cows and other farm animals, before eating them later at the snack bar.

Of course, we’ll take any omnivorous outrage over eating animals we can get. We’re just pointing out the obvious: eating the animals at the zoo is incredibly creepy no matter which culture is doing it.

» Next stop on the "cute animals are what's for dinner" tour: Horses!

Yesterday, we covered the ethics of “too cute to eat” regarding meat-eaters who shy away from eating rabbits but will happily dig into a dead cow or lamb. The arbitrary line between animals-we-pet and animals-we-eat is a common refrain among vegans, and when we can’t rely on cuteness to predict who will end up on the menu, we at least have the law. But thanks to the help of Tennessee and Missouri, foodies may soon have a new cute animal to plunder all over again. Yep, horse slaughter is coming back:

On Apr. 8, a subcommittee in the Tennessee House approved a horse slaughter bill 7-6. A week earlier, the Missouri House approved 91-61 bill HR1741. The bill hasn’t yet been scheduled for the Senate calendar.

Awesome. I really can’t wait to hear all about how horse is the new, more sustainable cow. Thanks, elected jerks in other states!

At the rate we’re going, we’re long overdue for a cute animal dead pool. Any predictions on which animal is next to earn the coveted ”delicacy” title? Deer are the obvious choice, but squirrels and raccoons both have that some-say-cute, others-say-pest appeal. Obviously it’s all about eating your way through the entire zoo, but you have to hand to the foodies for taking a methodical approach instead of jumping straight to common Occidental house pets.

[link via Treehugger, wild horses via Flickr]