Forgive me if I laugh at all the replies uh, rendered. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Inhibitions are a GOOD thing. Social constraints in the form of cultural taboos, codified laws etc. insure cohesivness and stability in a society. I often tell my vegan friends how insensitive they are to the screams of carrots being ripped from the ground ( hand cupped to ear, horrified look on my face " oh the agony, pain,pain,pain") Butchering live anmals is some pathological conditioning to desensitise soldiers to even greater acts of cruelty. We all do things in mass or with peers our individual conscious would never allow: Me Lai, Dachau, driving in 5 PM L.A. traffic or voting. You may also consider ritualising any butchering within your own religous tradition. Indians ( aka native americans or whatever is PC this week) always thanked the spirit of the animal they hunted and treated the body with near reverence in handling. I explained to a vegan once on a excavation in Wyoming how buffalo to plains indians was equal to taking communion in Christianity. She tried it! ( the buffalo, not communion <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />)