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Old August 15th, 2005, 12:52 PM
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Concern about a local retailer's flyer

I am not certain where to place this but will try here (If the mods have a better idea, pls move it if you think that is the more appropriate venue).

This past weekend when the regular flyers - les circulaires - arrived, one of our local grocery retailers, based in Quebec, featured a skinned rabbit (no head) but obviously, one could read the text and the image to me was gruesome, never mind to children.

Now as soeone who still mourns my pet bunny, I realize I may ber more sensitive to this issue. Do you thnk I should complain to this retailer?
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Old August 15th, 2005, 01:06 PM
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We get flyers all the time with skinned rabbits in the meat section. I rather doubt that a retailer would be too concerned about this. Sorry, don't mean to sound unsympathetic but it is a fact of life that people eat rabbits.
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Old August 15th, 2005, 01:31 PM
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The pic of the rabbit would be the same as a pic of a fish.
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Old August 15th, 2005, 02:12 PM
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I am not really surprised at the response. My own mother said "what, are you crazy?" She would never eat rabbit but she noted that ppl do. My bf rcalled his friends trapping rabbits and selling them. He could not do it but it was an accpeted pratice. But times change, *&^%$

But I cannot think of a bunny as a rabbit and fish is just not the same skinned. I actually could not eat looking at that skinned bunny - the flyers arrived just around breakfast time Sun AM. I do know in this part of the world rabbit is a delicacy - and is sometimes called Acdien chicken but could they not just show it as they do other meat? I could live with that!

Anyway, thx for the responses. I may just contact them and ask if they could post the picture in a different way - like not the whole skinned rabbit!
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Old August 15th, 2005, 02:22 PM
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Well, for me the vegetarian, looking at pork chops, sirloin roasts and chicken legs grosses me out!!
I have to run into the meat department, grab the marrow bones, and run. "Excuse me, checkout person, could you please double wrap those and put them in a seperate bag from my tofu?"
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Old August 15th, 2005, 05:07 PM
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With countless different cultures, it is hard for some of us to understand or even accept the views and beliefs of others when it comes to animals. I work in the Asian community, and have heard of places in China like Canton who sell live dogs or dog meat. I went to a Chinese New Year dinner where at the restaurant they are known for their specialty....pigeon. Now, to most of us in the western world these practices are cruel and disgusting, but then when you look at another viewpoint, many people in India find it cruel and disgusting...even sac-religious, that we eat cows. In some parts of the world, even rats are considered sacred and nobody would ever think of exterminating them.

As for the ad in the supermarket flyer, they will likely see it no different than placing an ad with a picture of a plucked, dead, beheaded chicken.
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Old August 15th, 2005, 05:24 PM
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Pigeon is also widely eaten in europe.. I think it's referred to as something else but it's pigeon. Dogs are eaten in many asian cultures as well as the phillipines. Different ideas, different cultures, that is what makes the world go round. Quebecers eat horses... can't say as I would join them but I have purchased it for a dog to eat with sweet potatoe.


I remember many years ago, our local grocery store was selling grapes and my mother picketed with many of the other ladies against the selling of these grapes as they were picked by Migrant workers... it was the time of Cesar Chavez... well Dominion arrested the whole lot of them for trespassing. The police were good enough to contact the husbands to let them know that the kids were at the station along with their wives and would they come pick them up.

So I still don't think either way that the store is going to remotely bother with what animal they have displayed in an advertisement.
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Old August 15th, 2005, 05:24 PM
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Quote:
but then when you look at another viewpoint, many people in India find it cruel and disgusting...even sac-religious, that we eat cows. In some parts of the world, even rats are considered sacred and nobody would ever think of exterminating them.
Exactly. If you look at how pigs - which are very intelligent animals who certainly have feelings - are treated with great cruelty in the Western world, we really have no room to criticize anyone else, just because we have chosen certain species to be "pets".

Animals will aways be eaten, but it wouldn't be difficult to treat them more humanely prior to killing them.
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Old August 15th, 2005, 07:47 PM
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I well understand that different cultures regard animals differently. This is not even a cultural issue since the store serves the majority cultural group in the region and rabbit is eaten by some. Not many but some.

My concern is the display of the rabbit in the flyer. It's just so disgusting!! I am not a vegetarian - tho I do not eat beef. I do eat chicken and seafood and I do hope the animals are cared for properly and I prefer to eat organic food. But to display a rabbit - minus the head - in colour on page two of their ad - is to me at least, disgusting!! They need to know that they have customers who have bunnies as pets and object to this display. I would prob not go so far as to suggest they not sell rabbit - I'd prefer they did not but where I live, that is not a fight I or anyone can win. But they do not have to display the entire carcus of a bunny in their flyer. Certainly, they do not do it for pigs or beef. They do of course show whole chickens and I suppose because I eat chicken, that does not bother me. And they do it for lobster and other seafood.

I do not want to sound like PETA but I honestly was ill looking at that page! I just want them to change the way they use their display ads.
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Old August 15th, 2005, 07:56 PM
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Well, I see no difference in a Rabbit that was raised for meat or a chicken that was force fed to get fat fast enough. Either one is a dead animal minus a head.
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Old August 15th, 2005, 09:15 PM
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Quote:
I think it's referred to as something else but it's pigeon
It's called squab. I'v never had it but it is considered a real delicacy in some places.

As far as the rabbit I have owned rabbits and love them as pets, but I also know people who have a cow as a pet and still eat beef. Rabbit stew is actully very good. I don't see how showing the picture of a rabbit is any different than a picture of a chicken, beef, pork, or any other meat. I can understand it bothering you however. I know that at my friends family reunion they had a pig roast, I eat pork and normally don't have a problem with it but since I could see the actual face of the animal I couldn't bring myself to eat it, although I didn't let it bother me that the others ate it. I just avoided looking at the pig at all costs.
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Old August 15th, 2005, 11:13 PM
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I should be asleep but I peeked at that ad again and I think I will contact this store. Call me crazy. I understand why you think it is not different. But I had a pet bunny who I very much loved and adored who lived to be one of the oldest buns in the country. I miss him every day. Think of yourself with a dog or a cat and you pick up your supermarket flyer and there, in living colour, is a skinned cat or dog - minus the head but it is clear that's what it is. I know they have a market for rabbit meat - and even discussing how it tastes to me is disgusting (tho you could not know that). I have no friends who eat rabbit and while it is no litmus test, I am not sure how I feel about someone who does.

I know several children who have bunnies in large measure because they befriended mine. Thankfully, most kids are not inclined to read the grocery store specials. But what if they do? It really is a horrifying site. It may not be to you - those of you whp have posted - but I find it extremely disturbing. I donot have to shop at that store and I think - in spite of it all - I may just tell them why. They can certainly sell rabbit. They do not have to parafe skinned ones in front of me.

I have a friend (not in the Maritimes) who has a pet lobster. I am very careful NOT to discuss our lobster dinners in front of her. It is just being polite and I think this store has crossed the line on that issue. They show pork NOT by a skinned entire pig nor do they show an entire cow minus its head. Why then show a rabbit?

Anyway, that's my rant. I don;t want to sound like PETA but there is a way to display something without making people ill or distgusting consumers.
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Old August 16th, 2005, 10:02 AM
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Well, what disturbs me more are the tanks in the grocery stores, containing live lobsters jammed in and with bands around their claws, waiting to be cooked alive.

Looking at tongues, brains, livers and other organs in the meat counter makes me nauseated, but I know many other people enjoy these things and cannot expect the store to remove them because they make me sick.

I think humane treatment should be accorded to all living things if they are to be eaten or not, and not just the ones we arbitrarily choose to be pets.

As for rabbit carcasses, dressed and cleaned, with head, feet and tail gone, I really doubt any little kids would have a notion as to what they are.
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Old August 16th, 2005, 10:34 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CyberKitten
They show pork NOT by a skinned entire pig nor do they show an entire cow minus its head.Why then show a rabbit?
The reason they don't show the entire pig or cow minus the head is because that is not how they are sold in the butcher stores.They come in,they are cut into steaks,roasts,perk chops,and anything else.Unfortunately they don't with rabbit.

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do to stop them from putting it in their flyers.
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Old August 16th, 2005, 12:46 PM
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Take a trip to Canada's east coast and you will find that rabbit is more popular than poultry for eating. It is not as rare as we might think in North America. There was also a time where I was flipping through the channels, and there were people hunting squirrels. Now, as offended as I was by this practice, who was I to judge when they were hunting the squirrel as a food source? Any child could have seen this on television, which, IMO, is a lot worse than seeing a rabbit in a print ad.
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Old August 16th, 2005, 01:07 PM
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I LIVE in the east coast and rabbit is not more popular than chicken - where on earth did you ever hear that? Whereever you did, please inform them otherwise - they are starting an urban legend I fear!!

Rabbits used to be known in northern NB (where I grew up) as Le Poulet Acadien - Acadian chicken bec ppl who could not afford chicken would trap rabbits. My dad's friends caught rabbits as kids. But today, it is very rare to ever see rabbit being sold in a store. This is actually the 3rd time perhaps in my life I have seen it advertized. But the 1st time in such a horrible displayed manner. You have to look far and wide to find rabbit on any part of the east coast - and I do a lot of travelling in my work thruout the Maritimes and rarely see rabbit. (thankfully, )

Lucky, I agree re: lobster - I was not singling out rabbit tho I know it sounded like that. I hate to see live lobsters in a tank whether it's in a restaurant or store. I don't think we can choose to treat aninals differently based on what species they are. My point is this store does not need to show such grusesome pix. A competing grocery store on the NB side of the river had lobsters displayed like that - ughhhhhh!! I told them what I thought so should I do no less for the rabbits?

It is a symbol of what they think about animals if this is how they choose to lay out a display ad - imho. :sad:
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Old August 16th, 2005, 01:18 PM
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Truthfully, I don't like seeing the rabbit carcasses in the store either - to me, they look very much like cats.
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Old August 16th, 2005, 02:46 PM
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A few guys from Newfoundland told me. Their families would send them care packages from home, so they had proof. Even my family from Nova Scotia had a thing for rabbit...my grandmother ate that and cows tongue on a regular basis. Don't think that I would ever agree with it, but it is something that is accepted....it is just different cultures. Heck, they still use ferrets for hunting rabbits all over Europe....again, something I don't agree with, but who am I to deem it wrong?

I understand your concern about the print ad. And if it makes you feel better, speak your mind, let the store know of your feelings....you have every right to do so.
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Old August 16th, 2005, 03:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyberkitten
They show pork NOT by a skinned entire pig
actully many people roast whole pigs, with head feet and everything.

Rabbit is actully pretty popular here in TX and it also was in PA. I just don't see eating a rabbit as any different than eating a chicken or a cow. I once had a pet duck, and I'v had duck. My neighbors had a pet pig named winston and they still eat pork. I don't think it's fair to be upset and not like people just because they eat rabbit and you owned one. I'm not offended by it and I had a pet rabbit that I still miss to this day as well. I don't really like seeing a dead skinned rabbit either, but then again I don't like seeing slabs of meat with blood ozzing out of them no matter what animal it was. But unfortunatly it's a fact of life.
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Old August 16th, 2005, 03:17 PM
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Re: I don't think it's fair to be upset and not like people just because they eat rabbit and you owned one.

I am upset with the AD - if you read my mesage carefully. I NEVER stated I was upset with anyone because they ate rabbit. In fact, I noted this is part of the culture- a decreasing part since it tends to be more popula amg older ppl - and I do not think any less of them. My point (again <Taking a deep breath>, is that this retailer did not have to develop such a gory display ad. That's it!!
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Old August 17th, 2005, 10:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CyberKitten
I have no friends who eat rabbit and while it is no litmus test, I am not sure how I feel about someone who does.
This is how I took this, I'm sorry if that is not how it was ment.
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