Ikea accused of animal cruelty for selling reindeer meat

[gogoplata]

Campaigners claim that modern methods of hunting cause the animals mental and physical stress, and that the chain should remove reindeer products from its shelves.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/3544014/Ikea-accused-of-animal-cruelty-for-selling-reindeer-meat.html
Around 70 per cent of Swedish reindeer slaughtered are calves, which means they die without seeing snow, claims the animal welfare group Viva!.
And the campaign group based in Bristol says that modern ranchers buzz over the animals in helicopters, herd them with snowmobiles and truck them hundreds of miles.

Ikea sells 130g of reindeer salami for £1.75 and 100g of reindeer slices for £2.25 in its Swedish food hall, which features other national dishes such as rye bread, meatballs, and almond cake.
A Viva! spokesman said: "We are calling on the company to withdraw sales of the meat, due to the cruel exploitation these wild animals suffer at the hands of hunters."

Viva! has already persuaded supermarkets not to stock kangaroo and other exotic meats which can be reared and killed in ways that would be illegal in the UK.
In a letter to Ikea, it cited evidence from a study by Uppsala University in Sweden in 2005 that found reindeer hunting caused "considerable physical and mental stress".

Viva! campaigns manager, Justin Kerswell, said: "We are very concerned about the exploitation of wild animals for meat.

Who would eat reindeer salami?!

edited to add link

[flvegan]

1. "Who would eat reindeer salami?! " Are you serious?

Please. People have largely long forgotten where "food" comes from and ethics and morals are long gone before the flesh hits the pan.

Nutrition be damned. Taste matters.

[Hanse]

5. I'd eat reindeer salami.

Venison is a traditional meat used in salami. I doubt reindeer meat is that much different. There's nothing in the rule book that says it has to be pork.

[flvegan]

9. Thanks for proving my point.

[Hanse]

14. I thought your point was people don't know where reindeer salami comes from.

Reindeer salami comes from reindeer meat that's made into sausage and cured.

Or do you mean because of the helicopter and snowmobile business? Because that's how free-range livestock works, silly. We could keep them in confined cages on factory farms, but that would upset the people who don't like where meat comes from.

[rawtribe]

2. .

[gravity]

3. Where the outrage over cow meat?

If you have no problem eating a cheeseburger, you have no right to complain

[gogoplata]

6. Burger King has the cow meat part handled.

Burger King under fire for Whopper Virgins taste test challenge
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3546969/Burger-King-under-fire-for-Whopper-Virgins-taste-test-challenge.html

The campaign has also stirred up a welter of online commentary. Brian Morrissey, writing on Adfreak.com, likens the campaign to colonialism and declares it "embarrassing and emblematic of how ignorant Americans still seem to the rest of the world."

"It doesn't get much more offensive than this," noted The Inquisitor blog. "If visiting poor people in remote locations, some who would be at best surviving on below poverty levels and throwing a burger in their faces isn't bad enough, it gets better, because they also ask the Whopper Virgins to compare the taste of the Whopper to a McDonalds Big Mac as well.

"It's hard to place exactly where this begins on the level of wrongness."

[Hanse]

4. They'll never get to see snow?

There's plenty of frost in the meat freezer.

[MazeRat7]

7. Well its bound to be better than their furniture - though I don't approve either -n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

8. Reindeer sausage is wonderfully delicious...

It's served at many restaurants here.

[hlthe2b]

10. Ikea sells meat at all is news to me--- the cheap furniture store?

I know, I know...what a way to miss the point, but is this jut in Great Britain or elsewhere... ?

[gogoplata]

11. The Ikea here in the Bay Area has a cafeteria

but I haven't seen food sold in the retail area.

[Momgonepostal]

16. I've been to the one in Emeryville and...

I know they sold frozen meat products, like meatballs, I think by the cashiers' area.

I've sung Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer a few too many times to get much enjoyment out of reindeer salami, but I agree with the other posters who have said they don't find reindeer meat more or less objectionable than beef or pork, etc.

[juno jones]

12. No fucking difference

than farmed free-range what-have-you here in the states.

Cattle round-ups anybody?

I'm not gonna track down 'Viva!', but I bet they are a PETA-type org.

[uppityperson]

13. Sounds like animal farming, and reindeer have been used for a long time

I mean, even Santa has reindeer (though probably doesn't eat them). How DARE Santa use wild animals in such a fashion? :sarcasm:

People eat meat. Meat is either raised in farm conditions or hunted wild. Farmed animals are either kept in nasty conditions or are allowed more freedom.

For those who eat meat, I see no problem with this. I do have a problem with factory farms where animals are treated cruelly, tightly packed together, never get to move or see the sun or graze. At least these reindeer get to graze, even if they never see the snow.

[Nevernose]

15. "...Caused 'considerable physical and mental stress.'"

Yep. Getting killed often causes mental and physical stress.