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Non-ethical job?
Thread poster: Heinrich Pesch
Christel Zipfel
Christel Zipfel  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:28
Member (2004)
Italian to German
+ ...
Not strictly unethical but disgusting and unhealthy Feb 11, 2016

Heinrich Pesch wrote:

Today I translated text for dog food. Food for the most choosey dog. Only the best parts of meat in delicious jelly or sauce. Chicken, pheasant, calf, wild boar, turkey, duck - you name it, they have it. And they have a bio-line too.
Do you think I acted non-ethically translating this stuff?


if you ask me - and if you know what this food contains. And are aware of how much it costs to you and how much it costs to the producer and how bad it is for a pet. You could buy a fillet at the same price and it would be much healthier for a pet.

At age of 12, my cat refused to touch commercial cat food, although only very occasionally he got it, because he was a passionate hunter and preferred mice, and not only, by far over any other kind of food. Shortly before, he had got some probable food allergy and the vet promptly prescribed a very expensive "special food". But I changed completely and from then on, he got only uncooked food (meat, fish and little else), when necessary, to his utmost satisfaction till the end of his life, and by the way the allergy disappeared. It was a bit of hassle but I still would redo it at any time.

He died at age of 20, with all his teeth completely sane and efficient, only with some eye problem (beginning cataract), "of old age", according to the vet, without any other disease (20 years for a cat is really very old).

I mean that I am convinced that he would never have lived as long, in nearly perfect health, if he ate this sh... all his life and nothing else. I would feel very uncomfortable if I was asked to translate texts for animal food and after all I know today I definitely wouldn't do it.

Cats are carnivore, they need much more than 4% of meat/fish contained in commercial cat food (and we don't know anything about the quality), sugar is harmful for their teeth because cats in nature have never been seen eating sugar (so they risk to lose teeth or get heavy tooth problems if fed with such sh... ); they certainly don't care about colourants which are important only for their owners, nor do they care about preservatives which are probably harmful, too.


[Bearbeitet am 2016-02-11 20:08 GMT]


 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:28
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Exactly. :) Feb 11, 2016

Fiona Grace Peterson wrote:

Finally someone came out and said it.

Sheila Wilson wrote:

Why don't you tell us what troubled you? Then perhaps we can all discuss the same topic.


 
Andy Watkinson
Andy Watkinson
Spain
Local time: 22:28
Member
Catalan to English
+ ...
;-( Feb 11, 2016

[quote]Christine Andersen wrote:




On the other hand, if it is an occasional supplement to kitchen scraps after the humans have picked off their share, then I have no problems with it.


A dog is not a kitchen waste bin. Once the humans have picked off their share the scraps are tossed over one's shoulder for the scrabble to begin?
Bravo!


I felt it was far more unethical when another acquaintance used to keep a pack of mongrels, some three-legged or one-eyed... They had been rescued and brought to Denmark from countries where they had been ill treated or lived wild and starving on the streets. I am not convinced they were ever happy - they were frightened and suspicious of humans, and bringing them to Denmark was IMHO a total waste of time and resources.


Yep. Those three-legged/one-eyed mongrels are a real bummer. A total waste of time and resources.

You can't compensate for all their suffering, and I would have had them put down painlessly, then adopted puppies who still had a chance of a healthy, happy life.


Yep again. Have’em put down so we can adopt some cute puppies.


But they will NOT be nervous wrecks after someone else has mishandled them - I can't cope with animals like that.


Obviously.

I personally would not keep a dog..(…).


Thank God.



[Edited at 2016-02-11 04:01 GMT]


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:28
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Off-the-record... or maybe not Feb 11, 2016

If we go to the maximum extent, keeping pets (I do not mean work dogs here, for instance) and breeding animals just to feed our pets are unethical, in the sense that they create an environmental footprint for no practical reason in the vast majority of cases.

Having said that, I have two rescued dogs and feel good about doing something for them, since they "did not ask to be born," as teenagers use to yell at you when they are angry.

I have always thought that my ethica
... See more
If we go to the maximum extent, keeping pets (I do not mean work dogs here, for instance) and breeding animals just to feed our pets are unethical, in the sense that they create an environmental footprint for no practical reason in the vast majority of cases.

Having said that, I have two rescued dogs and feel good about doing something for them, since they "did not ask to be born," as teenagers use to yell at you when they are angry.

I have always thought that my ethical boundaries in translation were the universal human rights, but de facto reject any work related to any activity in which anybody or any living being is bound to suffer when it can be avoided. Very honestly, at this moment I lack firm ideas as to whether being bred and slaughtered to feed pets is unnecessary suffering or not.
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cranium
cranium
French to English
+ ...
Isn't the meat industry primarily for people? Feb 11, 2016

Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:

Very honestly, at this moment I lack firm ideas as to whether being bred and slaughtered to feed pets is unnecessary suffering or not.


I don't think they are. AFAIK pet food is made from offal from animals processed for human consumption. The "choicest meats" bit is probably fancy copywriting. Any prime roast, say, in the pet food would be expired meat that was sent back by a supermarket.

The OP has still not clarified exactly what bothered him...


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:28
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Mongrels Feb 11, 2016

Christine Andersen wrote:
I felt it was far more unethical when another acquaintance used to keep a pack of mongrels, some three-legged or one-eyed... They had been rescued and brought to Denmark from countries where they had been ill treated or lived wild and starving on the streets. I am not convinced they were ever happy - they were frightened and suspicious of humans, and bringing them to Denmark was IMHO a total waste of time and resources. You can't compensate for all their suffering, and I would have had them put down painlessly, then adopted puppies who still had a chance of a healthy, happy life.
But who knows how those dogs really felt?

One of my dogs is one of these rescued mongrels. A 40-kg dog, and a rather scary-looking one, it was mistreated as a puppy and is terrified of people. After four years with us, it still hesitates to approach on its own and needs its companion --another rescued dog-- to feel safe moving around us. Although the dog bears deep mental scars we will probably never get rid of, my dog feels and suffers like any other living being. It deserves exactly the same right to live as a puppy, or more so, because of the suffering it had to endure at a young age.


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:28
French to English
ethics and animals Feb 11, 2016

Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:

If we go to the maximum extent, keeping pets (I do not mean work dogs here, for instance) and breeding animals just to feed our pets are unethical, in the sense that they create an environmental footprint for no practical reason in the vast majority of cases.

Having said that, I have two rescued dogs and feel good about doing something for them, since they "did not ask to be born," as teenagers use to yell at you when they are angry.

I have always thought that my ethical boundaries in translation were the universal human rights, but de facto reject any work related to any activity in which anybody or any living being is bound to suffer when it can be avoided. Very honestly, at this moment I lack firm ideas as to whether being bred and slaughtered to feed pets is unnecessary suffering or not.


Pet owners are known to be in better general health than those who do not have an animal to care for.

I take my dog out for a bracing walk after dinner at night and since I started doing that I have had fewer digestive problems. I would never go on that bracing walk if the dog didn't need it. He protects me.
He has also been known to frighten thieves and potential squatters away, so I consider he's a working dog, even if his workload is pretty light.
When I come home and the dog and cat are both at the door waiting for me, I feel loved and needed.
The cat keeps me warm by sitting on my lap. She catches mice regularly too. So she too contributes to the smooth running of the household, even if, again, she has a pretty light work schedule.

All in all I would say that there are plenty of reasons to have a pet, and it's surely far less selfish than having children? I only ever adopt mongrels from owners desperate to find homes for their pet's offspring.

BTW teens do still tell their parents they never asked to be born.

For me, breeding and slaughtering animals to feed humans is clearly unethical because we can live more healthily without eating meat and breeding livestock uses up resources that could otherwise be used to feed more people.

Doing the same to feed animals is not so unethical because it's their natural diet.


 
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 23:28
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
No chance Feb 11, 2016

Fiona Grace Peterson wrote:

Finally someone came out and said it.

Sheila Wilson wrote:

Why don't you tell us what troubled you? Then perhaps we can all discuss the same topic.


Of course it would be generally aimless to deny translation, because in the end they would find someone to do it. It just interests me if any of you finds this kind of service in this case non-ethical or not. Or maybe disgusting?


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:28
Member (2008)
Italian to English
In my case Feb 11, 2016

Andrea Halbritter wrote:

Everyone has to decide what she or he finds ethical or not and whether she or he wants to translate it or not.


In my case it was a market research questionnaire with such questions as:

Would you consider smoking cigarette X if it was:

(a) cheaper than cigarette Y
(b) packed more attractively than cigarette Y


What do you think about the image of cigarette X? Is it

(a) for younger people
(b) for poor people
(c) for students


Etc etc

I politely refused to accept this job even though it was for one of my best clients.


 
Gabriele Demuth
Gabriele Demuth  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:28
English to German
Not necessary Feb 11, 2016

Thayenga wrote:

Fiona Grace Peterson wrote:

Finally someone came out and said it.

Sheila Wilson wrote:

Why don't you tell us what troubled you? Then perhaps we can all discuss the same topic.


The topic is being discussed anyway, although I can't quite make out what the topic is ...


 
cranium
cranium
French to English
+ ...
Key word "unhappy" Feb 11, 2016

[quote]Andy Watkinson wrote:

Christine Andersen wrote:


I am not convinced they were ever happy - they were frightened and suspicious of humans


Yep. Those three-legged/one-eyed mongrels are a real bummer. A total waste of time and resources.


I didn't see this point as cruel. She describes prolonging the life of a damaged, miserable animal in pain. There is something to be said for putting an animal out of its misery.


 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 22:28
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
I think animals should be treated as animals Feb 11, 2016

... and not as substitute humans. But dogs moved in with humans very early on, and have evolved/been bred so that both species CAN live happily together.

@ Andy Watkins
I don't actually think puppies are cute. They make puddles and stinking messes in the wrong places, and eat slippers and, perish the thought, even books, if they can't get out in a more natural environment and burn off their energy there.
But mercifully, they can also grow up into healthy, happy compani
... See more
... and not as substitute humans. But dogs moved in with humans very early on, and have evolved/been bred so that both species CAN live happily together.

@ Andy Watkins
I don't actually think puppies are cute. They make puddles and stinking messes in the wrong places, and eat slippers and, perish the thought, even books, if they can't get out in a more natural environment and burn off their energy there.
But mercifully, they can also grow up into healthy, happy companions for their owners if they are properly treated.

As for feeding them kitchen scraps... Have you seen what the pups get after the adult hyænas have taken their turn at a kill? Maybe nothing at all, and then they starve. It is more or less the same for all canines in the wild - life is harsh. Our neighbour gave her dog plenty of 'real' food too.
What would you do with the bones, which were only undesirable fill in the urban dustbin? Why deprive the dog of a healthy chew, just because we had taken our share? He certainly did not care for the lovely veggies I served for my husband and son.

I don't think a product is unethical in itself - dogs need a balanced diet of good meat and offal and something to chew on. How the dogs' owners provide that is beyond our control.
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Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:28
Member (2008)
Italian to English
.... Feb 11, 2016

I am currently chasing my cat round my flat. He's learning to hunt and kill. That's his instinct. There's nothing I can do about it. I don't think he ever asks whether his behaviour is ethical or not. Ethics is for humans only.

[Edited at 2016-02-11 09:46 GMT]

Are?

[Edited at 2016-02-11 09:46 GMT]


 
Lennart Luhtaru
Lennart Luhtaru  Identity Verified
United States
Member
English to Estonian
+ ...
I don't understand the question Feb 11, 2016

Didn't the dog food contain the ingredients and the label lied to consumers? Or what's the problem here?

 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:28
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Once... Feb 11, 2016

... in the glorious times, when I still was working physically as a technician, I was fixing a shrink-wrapper in a very huge warehouse in Bremen, filled to the top with hundreds of tons of canned dog food. The machine was fed by low paid people originating from countries where eating meat is a feast, enjoyed max. once a week or month, and where dogs don´t have that high ranking as in the Western "developed" countries or are detested by their religion. Yes, it made me think in terms of ethics, i... See more
... in the glorious times, when I still was working physically as a technician, I was fixing a shrink-wrapper in a very huge warehouse in Bremen, filled to the top with hundreds of tons of canned dog food. The machine was fed by low paid people originating from countries where eating meat is a feast, enjoyed max. once a week or month, and where dogs don´t have that high ranking as in the Western "developed" countries or are detested by their religion. Yes, it made me think in terms of ethics, if you want, but more on a society level. The machine finally was fixed and the results still can be seen (...) on our Western streets...

[Edited at 2016-02-11 10:36 GMT]
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