Early on in TNG Star Trek seemed to want to promote a more a more PETA inspired philosophy towards animals, but that eventually gave way. We even got to see Data own a cat and Geordi mentioned his sister had a cat, but other then Archer did we ever see or have somebody say they had a pet dog?
Are There Pet Dogs In The Future?
- Thread starter The Boy Who Cried Worf
- Start date
What we're left with seems to be this:
-Enslaving of animals for food = bad ("Lonely Among Us")
-Killing of free animals for food = good ("Icarus Factor" fishing, Sisko family fishing and having real seafood)
-Enslaving of animals for companionship = good (various dogs, cats and spiders kept by our heroes)
-Enslaving of animals for recreational transportation = good (Picard riding, although admittedly we only saw holo-horses)
Of course, future methods and technologies might be sophisticated enough to tell us that dogs, cats and spiders really like it in captivity and can give their informed consent. The Universal Translator alone should have applications that literally give your pet mutt a say in the matter. And perhaps fish and clam really like to be eaten?
Timo Saloniemi
-Enslaving of animals for food = bad ("Lonely Among Us")
-Killing of free animals for food = good ("Icarus Factor" fishing, Sisko family fishing and having real seafood)
-Enslaving of animals for companionship = good (various dogs, cats and spiders kept by our heroes)
-Enslaving of animals for recreational transportation = good (Picard riding, although admittedly we only saw holo-horses)
Of course, future methods and technologies might be sophisticated enough to tell us that dogs, cats and spiders really like it in captivity and can give their informed consent. The Universal Translator alone should have applications that literally give your pet mutt a say in the matter. And perhaps fish and clam really like to be eaten?
Timo Saloniemi
Also I am wondering about that meat O'Brien's mother used to cook with. Somehow I can't see her hunting sheep on the grassy meadows of Ireland.
just as an aside about horse riding: Pike had Tango in 'The Cage'...
He wasn't on screen for too long, but Butler was my favorite Trek dog. Had a great dane growing up-they're the best.
Played by Shatner's pet dog, Butler.
That's quite a coincidence.
I always took the part about "enslaving of animals for food" as meaning today's meat factories, where animals are kept in terrible conditions, not good ol' farming. Most sheep and cow breeds were specifically bred for human husbandry, and would most probably not survive on their own in the wild.
Janeway did have a dog, and in one episode where Q tried to romance janeway he gave her puppies, and in some episodes of TNG they make references to Dog being mans best friend.
We see Riker cooking and serving real eggs to his friends.
I never quite got a PETA philosophy from Trek, and if I had, I probably couldn't have watched and loved the show as much as I did.
In any case, while I am not in sympathy with PETA at all (quite the opposite, in fact), I know people who are, and at least one of them - a sincere and dedicated animal rights-advocating vegan - has pets. The animal welfare/animal rights community is a lot more divided than you might think, and this is one of the dividing points.
But anyway, I always assumed that Trek humans from TNG onward made do with replicated meat, but that there were some "exceptions," though what those exceptions might be, I'm not sure. I'd like to think that some people prefer real food, including meat, but I can't say that the show gave me a lot of indication that this is so - just the few hints that other people have brought up in this thread - and it never really told us how this might work in practice.
In any case, while I am not in sympathy with PETA at all (quite the opposite, in fact), I know people who are, and at least one of them - a sincere and dedicated animal rights-advocating vegan - has pets. The animal welfare/animal rights community is a lot more divided than you might think, and this is one of the dividing points.
But anyway, I always assumed that Trek humans from TNG onward made do with replicated meat, but that there were some "exceptions," though what those exceptions might be, I'm not sure. I'd like to think that some people prefer real food, including meat, but I can't say that the show gave me a lot of indication that this is so - just the few hints that other people have brought up in this thread - and it never really told us how this might work in practice.
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But why would Riker equate the livestock of the Anticans with "today's meat factories"? How could he tell that the Anticans weren't doing good ol' farming, or perhaps something even more humane, in order to obtain their live food animals? It seemed more like Riker were condemning the entire practice of keeping animals for food.
Or keeping animals for eating alive, as it were. But "we no longer enslave animals for food purposes" does not sound as if it specifically condemned eating animals alive.
Timo Saloniemi
I always took it to mean the eating of meat period. At least that would fit in with the whole tone of the 1st season. It seems a little strange in a futuristic society which still has billions of people they would say you can't have mass animal breeding, but you can go back to hunting on the plains.
There are, but they have six inch fangs.
Whose stand-in was played by JoJo.
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