A few hours ago I sat down to write my piece for our EcoWorldly Wildlife Week. I have to admit that I know little about animals. I live in a city – I can’t even remember the last time I saw a real animal. I do remember my insurance salesman mentioning that I should buy an additional car insurance against an animal called a Martin, which has a habit of chewing through pipes in the engine, but other that that I’m clueless. With this confession in mind I make limited apology for the fact that this post may sway off topic.

Having waited all week for a relevant wildlife related idea to pop into my head, I ventured onto Google to look for information on local Swiss animals. I was surprised to learn that the chief animal topic in Switzerland does not relate to rare alpine species becoming endangered due to de-glaciation, or to urban foxes, or squirrels, or other wild animals, or to any thing else I might have guessed, but is principally related to the fair treatment of animals used in meat production.

The Swiss are proud of their happy animals, who spend their lives between birth and the slaughterhouse (the animals, that is) being well looked after, free from growth hormones, battery farming, over crowding, excessive road transport and other mass production practices which are counter to animal welfare. Swiss cows in particular lead a happy life, grazing on the fresh alpine grasses and herbs that give their milk a distinct flavour and makes their meat taste delicious.

This leads me to the fundamental question of this post: should we be eating animals in the first place?

I’d like to briefly explore this topic and invite your feedback, since it is a question which surfaced in my mind several weeks ago whilst standing in line for a veal bratwurst. Having been a relatively care free meat eater for most of my life, I suddenly recalled a recent conversation with my vegetarian fiancée regarding a visit to a slaughter house that crossed meat off her menu forever. At this moment the image of a young cow being executed filled my head, and I had to change my order in a sudden traumatising moment of animal compassion.

I’ve been psychologically challenged as an omnivore ever since. Cows and lambs seem to be a complete no-no – I have great difficulty eating them now that I’ve started viewing them as creatures with feelings, rather than just tasty things to eat. I appear to have less sympathy for pigs and chickens, but I think this is changing too. I cut do