Animals are just as entitled to life as humans. If we approve of people eating animals, we must be consistent: then animals may also eat people. Bovenkerk writes this in 10 billion mouths, a collection of articles from Wageningen University & Research about the future of our food.
Death by natural causes
Bovenkerk explains, “I don’t mean that we should let people die in order to give to the animals. But if someone has died naturally, you can choose to give the body to animals. Just as some people choose to give to animals. to give their body to science “, she tells EditieNL.
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Which animals would eat us? “I don’t have a concrete plan, but think of wild animals such as predactors, lions and vultures. I would donate my body,” she says.
Dominant position
The underlying idea is that society revolves too much around people, who assign themselves a lot of influence. “I would like to have a more equitable relationship in that.”
Much of the habitat of wild animals has been destroyed by human activities, says Bovenkerk. “All wild animals in the world together have only three percent of all biomass: a disproportionately small part. It would be fair if we fed wild animals with humans and thereby combat the global food shortage – which also affects wild animals.”
Dutch culture
Anita van Loon, director of the Hilversum Funeral Foundation, is skeptical about the idea. “This does not fit in our Dutch society. It may be appropriate in some cultures, but I don’t see it here”, she tells EditieNL.
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She thinks there are plenty of options in the Netherlands. “The family can choose what to do with it. Nowadays there is an increasing demand for nature graves. In doing so, you literally give the body back to nature. I find that very different from feeding a body to the animals. We will never do that in the Netherlands. I think that would be a crazy show. “
Wet
At the moment, it should not be allowed in the Netherlands, Van Loon explains. “The law says that a body should be buried or cremated. Or someone can choose to give the body to science. But it does not say that it may be given to animals.”
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Abroad
Some countries seem to have a completely different destination than in the Netherlands. In China and Tibet, for example, they know the air burial; there the body is given to vultures. In India, corpses are thrown into the Ganges river because the river is considered sacred. In some communities in Papua New Guinea, it is even customary to eat a deceased loved one.
Source: Monuta Funeral
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