Man Eats His Own Dog

[WreckitWhippet]

Pretty big call to say he was unprepared.

If he'd been on horseback or camel and run into trouble, would people still be so up in arms if he decided to eat one of those ?

The only reason some are upset is because he's eaten a dog.

I spent two years living in a tent, camping around Australia with my then boyf, sourcing our own food and water most nights. We fished with our limited resources and climbed coconut trees. We camped near water wherever possible (which also meant buffalo and crocs in the territory). I can start a fire without matches, lighter or flint. I know how to heat rocks to keep me warm and get water from a hole in the ground or leaves and cook on the most basic of structures. Survival and safety is your top priority. To me he was unprepared for an emergency or a disaster if all it took was one lousy bear to put him at that kind of risk. How did every knife, gun, bow, arrow, fish hook, rope, etc get damaged beyond use? You can do an awful lot with just one knife. You never keep all your valuables together for a start and you always have a mini emergency kit on your own body at all times. As for keeping his food safe and out of bear grasp, that's a whole other issue.

I don't care if he ate the last platypus on earth - in my eyes he wasn't prepared and his dog paid the price for that very early on in his trip and he seems like the kind of tool who will do something similar again.

The world needs adventurers, but not idiots.

:clap: good for you.

[Cody]

Pretty big call to say he was unprepared.

If he'd been on horseback or camel and run into trouble, would people still be so up in arms if he decided to eat one of those ?

The only reason some are upset is because he's eaten a dog.

I spent two years living in a tent, camping around Australia with my then boyf, sourcing our own food and water most nights. We fished with our limited resources and climbed coconut trees. We camped near water wherever possible (which also meant buffalo and crocs in the territory). I can start a fire without matches, lighter or flint. I know how to heat rocks to keep me warm and get water from a hole in the ground or leaves and cook on the most basic of structures. Survival and safety is your top priority. To me he was unprepared for an emergency or a disaster if all it took was one lousy bear to put him at that kind of risk. How did every knife, gun, bow, arrow, fish hook, rope, etc get damaged beyond use? You can do an awful lot with just one knife. You never keep all your valuables together for a start and you always have a mini emergency kit on your own body at all times. As for keeping his food safe and out of bear grasp, that's a whole other issue.

I don't care if he ate the last platypus on earth - in my eyes he wasn't prepared and his dog paid the price for that very early on in his trip and he seems like the kind of tool who will do something similar again.

The world needs adventurers, but not idiots.

:clap: good for you.

Now you're just being incredibly rude.

[Sandra777]

If I was starving to death absolutely it'd be roast dog for dinner.

Don't think 'starving to death' was quite the situation here at the time the guy ate his dog.

[Dame Aussie]

Pretty big call to say he was unprepared.

If he'd been on horseback or camel and run into trouble, would people still be so up in arms if he decided to eat one of those ?

The only reason some are upset is because he's eaten a dog.

I spent two years living in a tent, camping around Australia with my then boyf, sourcing our own food and water most nights. We fished with our limited resources and climbed coconut trees. We camped near water wherever possible (which also meant buffalo and crocs in the territory). I can start a fire without matches, lighter or flint. I know how to heat rocks to keep me warm and get water from a hole in the ground or leaves and cook on the most basic of structures. Survival and safety is your top priority. To me he was unprepared for an emergency or a disaster if all it took was one lousy bear to put him at that kind of risk. How did every knife, gun, bow, arrow, fish hook, rope, etc get damaged beyond use? You can do an awful lot with just one knife. You never keep all your valuables together for a start and you always have a mini emergency kit on your own body at all times. As for keeping his food safe and out of bear grasp, that's a whole other issue.

I don't care if he ate the last platypus on earth - in my eyes he wasn't prepared and his dog paid the price for that very early on in his trip and he seems like the kind of tool who will do something similar again.

The world needs adventurers, but not idiots.

:clap: good for you.

Now you're just being incredibly rude.

Yep.

[HazyWal]

Nope no way could I kill and eat my dog. Mind you Stan throws in the towel halfway around the block so the chances of him trekking through the wilderness would be zero anyway.

[BC Crazy]

Me either stans mum.Not a hope in hell I would kill & eat my dog Disgusting.... I would rather just pass away then he wouldn't go hungry for a while & hopefully be rescued.

Chuckling at Stan, definitely not a stayer then SM, giggle... :)

Edited November 5, 2013 by BC Crazy

[melzawelza]

I really don't think that anyone could say they wouldn't do this if they were faced with life or death.

I'd like to think I wouldn't but starvation is a pretty awful thing, that makes people do pretty awful things.

I think it's naive to say that there's no way you would do such a thing. You could say that you don't think you would, or would like to think you wouldn't, but none of us can be sure unless we're in that situation ourselves.

[Guest Maeby Fünke]

Once I was so depressed that I didn't eat for nine days, and I had to go into hospital because my psychiatrist was worried that I would harm myself. I wasn't even hungry and I was fine afterwards.

I don't understand how this guy could be starving to death after just a few days (that's what it says in the article).

No, there's no way I would kill and eat my dog. That would be like killing and eating my own child.

[Dame Aussie]

Call it naive if you like but I can say with no reservations that I would not kill and eat my dog.

[HazyWal]

I really don't think that anyone could say they wouldn't do this if they were faced with life or death.

I'd like to think I wouldn't but starvation is a pretty awful thing, that makes people do pretty awful things.

I think it's naive to say that there's no way you would do such a thing. You could say that you don't think you would, or would like to think you wouldn't, but none of us can be sure unless we're in that situation ourselves.

I'm 50 years old so hardly naïve, been around a while now and can tell you there is no way I would kill my dog and eat it. Why is that so hard for people to understand? I COULD say I don't think I would but why would I when I KNOW I wouldn't

Edited November 5, 2013 by stans mum

[Little Gifts]

I actually wouldn't even have a house dog with me. If I had a hunting dog or a sled pulling dog then yes, maybe, as it would serve a purpose. If I was unable to provide for my dog and it was going to suffer and die then I would kill it as humanely as I could. I'd have to be crazy hungry to consider eating it though. I'd really rather eat moss than go down that path as psychologically I might not recover from that kind of decision and I can imagine not being able to keep it down anyway, which would put me in a worse position physically. (Same when it comes to eating another human being to survive. I think I would rather die and be eaten than eat another human being. I honestly can't imagine keeping it down and I can't imagine my inner demons letting me survive the experience sane.)

This might make me sound like a hypocrite but if I had taken my dog with me on a trip like this and if I had to kill my dog because it was injured or sick beyond my saving and if I myself was starving and had no other protein option, I would use it's dead body as bait to attract and trap other animals I could eat/keep down. I'm assuming that would be a controversial decision with some people but that would be my strategy for surviving in those specific circumstances. It certainly wouldn't be Plan A, B, C, etc but it would have to be given serious consideration if everything out there went to shit and I was the last woman standing. (I must add that I can't imagine using a deceased person as bait. Psychologically I would never recover from that either and if it meant I died then I died.)

[Salukifan]

Easy to judge if you've never been confronted with the reality of a choice between death and eating a pet.

i recall reading a very moving book on the siege of Leningrad (now St Petersburg again) during WW2. It lasted about 3 years.

One of the curators of the Hermitage had a much loved Airedale Terrier. She had no way to feed it but couldn't bring herself to eat the dog. She gave it to her friends who did kill and eat it.

Mind you, they were down to baking sawdust for bread at one stage and struggling to keep even children remotely well nourished.

Never say never until you've been there I say.

[Bjelkier]

I actually wouldn't even have a house dog with me. If I had a hunting dog or a sled pulling dog then yes, maybe, as it would serve a purpose. If I was unable to provide for my dog and it was going to suffer and die then I would kill it as humanely as I could. I'd have to be crazy hungry to consider eating it though. I'd really rather eat moss than go down that path as psychologically I might not recover from that kind of decision and I can imagine not being able to keep it down anyway, which would put me in a worse position physically. (Same when it comes to eating another human being to survive. I think I would rather die and be eaten than eat another human being. I honestly can't imagine keeping it down and I can't imagine my inner demons letting me survive the experience sane.)

This might make me sound like a hypocrite but if I had taken my dog with me on a trip like this and if I had to kill my dog because it was injured or sick beyond my saving and if I myself was starving and had no other protein option, I would use it's dead body as bait to attract and trap other animals I could eat/keep down. I'm assuming that would be a controversial decision with some people but that would be my strategy for surviving in those specific circumstances. It certainly wouldn't be Plan A, B, C, etc but it would have to be given serious consideration if everything out there went to shit and I was the last woman standing. (I must add that I can't imagine using a deceased person as bait. Psychologically I would never recover from that either and if it meant I died then I died.)

I totally agree with this.

[Dame Aussie]

I actually wouldn't even have a house dog with me. If I had a hunting dog or a sled pulling dog then yes, maybe, as it would serve a purpose. If I was unable to provide for my dog and it was going to suffer and die then I would kill it as humanely as I could. I'd have to be crazy hungry to consider eating it though. I'd really rather eat moss than go down that path as psychologically I might not recover from that kind of decision and I can imagine not being able to keep it down anyway, which would put me in a worse position physically. (Same when it comes to eating another human being to survive. I think I would rather die and be eaten than eat another human being. I honestly can't imagine keeping it down and I can't imagine my inner demons letting me survive the experience sane.)

This might make me sound like a hypocrite but if I had taken my dog with me on a trip like this and if I had to kill my dog because it was injured or sick beyond my saving and if I myself was starving and had no other protein option, I would use it's dead body as bait to attract and trap other animals I could eat/keep down. I'm assuming that would be a controversial decision with some people but that would be my strategy for surviving in those specific circumstances. It certainly wouldn't be Plan A, B, C, etc but it would have to be given serious consideration if everything out there went to shit and I was the last woman standing. (I must add that I can't imagine using a deceased person as bait. Psychologically I would never recover from that either and if it meant I died then I died.)

I totally agree with this.

Me too

[Guest Maeby Fünke]

This is my idea of camping: if I ever go to Nepal and the Himalayas I will stay in a 5 star hotel and have my Sherpas drive me to the Annapurna base camp by 4WD (and I won't get out of the car).

Bottom line: I'm not likely to ever find myself in this situation :laugh:

[Redsonic]

There have been quite a lot of very critical (harsh?) replies on this thread; many comments on how stupid this guy was to take such a risk and be so unprepared. I think people's attitudes to risk vary widely and, like it or not, our dogs are along for the ride. Some dogs have owners who would never dream of driving them around without a seatbelt (me!) or letting them off leash. Other dogs have humans who take them canyoning or riding on the tank of their motorbike. Perhaps this dog was unlucky to have such a risk taker as an owner but I bet he had huge fun doing wilderness treks with his human.

Yes, the guy was really unprepared and made some really bad decisions to get himself and his dog into this situation, but would you be so upset and angry about it if it happened to your loved one, or would you forgive him? What if it was your husband/son/brother/father who got in this situation and ate the dog? Would you rather have your loved one back, knowing he had been stupid and the dog had paid the price, or lose them both, never knowing what had happened to them?

I can't say whether I would kill my own dog in this situation (I really doubt I could) but I would certainly consider eating him once dead, and I hope that my loved ones (and the DOL community!) would forgive the desperate act. This guy has to live with his harmful actions/decisions for the rest of his life and probably doesn't need strangers online to make him feel hugely guilty.

[Bjelkier]

There have been quite a lot of very critical (harsh?) replies on this thread; many comments on how stupid this guy was to take such a risk and be so unprepared. I think people's attitudes to risk vary widely and, like it or not, our dogs are along for the ride. Some dogs have owners who would never dream of driving them around without a seatbelt (me!) or letting them off leash. Other dogs have humans who take them canyoning or riding on the tank of their motorbike. Perhaps this dog was unlucky to have such a risk taker as an owner but I bet he had huge fun doing wilderness treks with his human.

Yes, the guy was really unprepared and made some really bad decisions to get himself and his dog into this situation, but would you be so upset and angry about it if it happened to your loved one, or would you forgive him? What if it was your husband/son/brother/father who got in this situation and ate the dog? Would you rather have your loved one back, knowing he had been stupid and the dog had paid the price, or lose them both, never knowing what had happened to them?

I can't say whether I would kill my own dog in this situation (I really doubt I could) but I would certainly consider eating him once dead, and I hope that my loved ones (and the DOL community!) would forgive the desperate act. This guy has to live with his harmful actions/decisions for the rest of his life and probably doesn't need strangers online to make him feel hugely guilty.

Sorry but my dogs are like my children. If my OH was to eat one of them in such a situation I could never look at him the same way again and quite frankly I don't think I'd stay with him.

And I just asked my OH what he would think if it was me that ate the dogs and he was horrified and said a very similar thing to myself.

I could not move on from that.

[PuddleDuck]

I couldn't imagine being able to cope with eating my dog, I think I would starve....however if I went hiking and died and my dog ate me then I'd not have an issue with that at all :laugh:

[raz]

Once I was so depressed that I didn't eat for nine days, and I had to go into hospital because my psychiatrist was worried that I would harm myself. I wasn't even hungry and I was fine afterwards.

I don't understand how this guy could be starving to death after just a few days (that's what it says in the article).

No, there's no way I would kill and eat my dog. That would be like killing and eating my own child.

Because he was in extreme conditions and obviously exerting a lot of energy, not sitting in the comfort of his home. To lose 40 kilos in 3 months is pretty drastic. In conditions like that without adequate protein and fat intake the body starts consuming its own organs.

Poor dog and poor guy. Hes the one who has to live with this, not all the rest of us.

[Guest Maeby Fünke]

Once I was so depressed that I didn't eat for nine days, and I had to go into hospital because my psychiatrist was worried that I would harm myself. I wasn't even hungry and I was fine afterwards.

I don't understand how this guy could be starving to death after just a few days (that's what it says in the article).

No, there's no way I would kill and eat my dog. That would be like killing and eating my own child.

Because he was in extreme conditions and obviously exerting a lot of energy, not sitting in the comfort of his home. To lose 40 kilos in 3 months is pretty drastic. In conditions like that without adequate protein and fat intake the body starts consuming its own organs.

Poor dog and poor guy. Hes the one who has to live with this, not all the rest of us.

I just read the article again. He wasn't starving when he killed the dog. He made the decision to kill it to avoid starvation:

"Risking starvation Mr Lavoie made the heart-breaking decision to kill the dog just a few days later."