[Fishwhenican]

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I wouldn't have to think about it. In the situation you describe where I instinctively stretch my arms out to save a life, I wouldn't even see the human being.

Part of this answer comes from personal experience regarding my dog and the attachment I feel to her. She was attacked by a large pitbull mix last year. I consider myself a real pussy. I've never been in a real fight, but my instinct was to jump on top of the pit and put my fingers in it's mouth. Pure instinct.

But maybe this isn't an act of love for a life force. How would I react if someone tried to steal my car? Maybe I would be stupid enough to put my fingers in their mouth. Instinct. I would say such an act is unthinkable, but I would have said the same thing regarding my dog if you asked me before that incident.

Getting back to this whole PETA thing. How many of us consumers wouldn't be willing to pay just a little bit more for a pound of animal flesh if we could be certain the animal wasn't "tortured" in that short period of time it had while waiting for us to eat it? And, sure, "torture" means different things to different people. But, by your definition, would you pay 50 cents more per pound to avoid the "torture" of the animal you eat? I'm pretty sure the loungers would. Not so sure about the golfers.

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I save my dog first if the drowning person is one of the PETA Wackjobs. After that for most people I do not hesitate to save the human being, unless I know they are child molestors or something of that sort. In that case I make sure to push them under and do everything I can to make sure my dog lives and they die.

As far as animals that are "tortured" for food goes, Most animals that are raised for food or milk or whatever are treated pretty darn well. I am actually convinced that cows would be extinct if it wasn't for humans. I have worked cows and know a lot of ranchers around here and they love their animals and take as good a care of them as they can. This is one of the reasons it is perfectly legal to shoot dogs that are harassing cows. It is also one of the reason why it is legal to shoot coyotes on sight and why wolves and Grizzly bears are not really welcome in a lot of places. I have watched ranchers as we work cows talk about nearly every cow and how long they have been on the ranch and it's almost is as if they are members of their family. I am sure there are some things that are done to animals that could be considered cruel but for the most part domesticated animals are pretty pampered.

Did I mention that I hate PETA!