Vegan Forum

It's pretty quiet in here! Hmm...what shall we chat about?

Well my friend asked me today, "If you were stranded on an island with no food, and a rabbit randomly died in front of you and you had a fire, would you eat it?" I said no, I couldn't tear the poor thing apart and burn it. "Well what if it was already cooked?" I said no, I'd find some plants and fruits and other things.

What would you do? If only there was a vegetarian survival guide for situations like that.

Hurrah great topic!

I agree with you about trying to find some fruit, though I don't really know what's poionous. A few people round here pick wild mushrooms, and Ray Mears has a TV show teaching bushcraft. If a rabbit randomly died: I would be suspicious why! It might have some horrible disease or parasite

That is a great topic. Personally, I could never eat a rabbit or any other animal, whether I had to kill it myself or it was already dead. That is a tough situation, though, because as BigBecka said, you don't know what is poisonous and what is not when you are stranded in a foreign area. I think that really the only option for a vegan would be to buy books (or at least research information) about edible plants and fruit in the wild. If you are traveling, it would be helpful to carry books like this with you.

Also, I just have to ask, what rabbits are on tropical islands ? I could see if you were stranded in the forest, but on an island? In the case of being stranded in the forest, I would most likely live off of mushrooms and plants (again, this is when the books about what is edible in the wild come in handy).

ChrisCrossCMP wrote:... and a rabbit randomly died in front of you ...

I would assume that rabbit had some disease.

I was thinking that it'd be pretty smart to read up on your island plants before you went on a trip

Wow...a rabbit on an island...maybe it's an island-rabbit But how could you even stand ripping open something that just randomly died in you?? If I wouldn't eat it prepared, why would I want to kill it myself??? It probably WOULD have some crazy disease or something...

Since I'm the animal-rights-freak of my class [[and proud!]], there's a lot of conversations with me about animals...

In English, I'm writing a persuasive essay on animal testing, and why I think that we should not test on animals. People said to me, "I would care if it was a dog or a cat, but it's just a stupid rat so who cares?" I told them that's speciesism[[peta2's idea, not mine..I don't think that's a word...]] and they should be ashamed and that they don't test on just rats. And thanks to all the vegans and animal rights activists I've been able to answer every question about animal testing so far

Also, I just have to ask, what rabbits are on tropical islands

Maybe the British left some there in the 1800's? We did that a lot

I'm writing a persuasive essay on animal testing

I had a friend who studied Biology and was a passionate animal rights protester. Think about it - how similar is a human to a rat? Apparently, most animal testing is inconclusive, and is routinely confirmed on human subjects anyway. Even primates do not always react in the same way as humans You could check out some of the anti-vivisection sites? They have photos of cats and dogs being tested on, you could show your class? Like: http://www.bava.org.uk/ (BAVA were involved in the protests against Huntingdon Life Sciences over here, who are Europe's largest contract testing laboratory) Some of the site's quite strongly worded, and some of the activists got a bit extreme and started (allegedly) intimidating shareholders. I wouldn't want to advocate that sort of thing Well, you can see what you think...

There is a lab in the US who are cultivating human tissue for donor parts. They collect boys' foreskins that have been removed during circumcision, and try to grow lungs, kidneys, heart valves etc. They have so far been successful in cultivating skin. So why not test drugs and cosmetics on cultivated organs instead of animals? It is a thought for the future, perhaps...

THANK YOU SO MUCH! That's exactly what I needed, and I didn't even try searching for anything yet!!! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!

I for example put life higher than the life of rabbit, so if my survival depended on it, I don't know, may be I'll eat it.
It's the same, would you use animal derived drugs if your life will be at risk?

THANK YOU

No worries: I'm pleased to help. Actually, all this counts towards writing practice and research for me... Let us know how it goes

so if my survival depended on it, I don't know, may be I'll eat it

I guess so: You hear stories about people turning to cannabalism when they get hungry enough... If there really wasn't any vegetation to eat, I still think I'ld try fresh fish or look for some bird eggs or something. That rabbit sounds like a real last resort

It's the same, would you use animal derived drugs if your life will be at risk?

Hmm, good question. I know from my studies that, if you have heart problems and need a new heart valve, you can have artificial valves or porcine / bovine valves. There are sometimes issues with the artificial valves being rejected by the body more readily than animal ones. However, animal heart valves are known to only last around ten years, then you will have problems and maybe need another transplant.

What other animal-derived drugs are there? I guess a lot of ointments probably have lanolin in... And I think a lot of drugs are produced in gelatine capsules. You know how Jehovah's Witness' carry a card that requests that they don't have a blood transfusion if they are taken ill: is there a vegan card whereby you can request not having animal organ transplants, pills instead of capsules, etc.?

Hm.. interesting topic!
During the 2nd world war there were people who became cannibals because of hunger.
I think stating anything about your choices before feeling real hunger doesn't reflect the reality..
I personally don't know what I will do.. I know that life can make you do things that you never thought you would ever do..
Theoretically I would try to find some vegan foods.. but with my experience and knowledge of wild plants I would probably be poisoned quickly enough

This was the topic my friends always talk about... My answer is a big no... I have hard time eating pork, beef, or chicken, then ask me to eat rabbit? A big NO! i would rather eat stray grass than to eat a cooked rabbit...

Old topic but since someone bumped it i'll add to it. If the rabbit just randomly died then there was probably something wrong with it so I wouldn't eat it. But where there is one rabbit there are more. If it was a matter of survival then I would try to catch one to eat. Of course I would try to find other alternatives but if it came down to me needing something to eat or I'm going to starve, then the rabbit is going down. I've gone through survival training and have seen a rabbit killed and skinned then boiled for soup. While it ed me I think I could do it if I was hungry enough.

Many years ago I said to my then young daughter, who wanted some new fandangled toy that all of her friends had, 'if all of your friends jumped off the Harbour Bridge would you?'. Her reply was 'why would my friends jump off the Harbour Bridge?' She taught me right then & there to not over think things & to keep it simple.

My answer to the original post would be 'what are the chances of me being lost on a desserted island & if that happened that a rabbit would drop dead in front of me?'

Non vegans want to catch us out. They look for holes everywhere. Let's not give it to them.