Equestria Racial 'Cutoff'?

[colt_following 169]

Is there a point at which non-pony animals (particularly quadruped mammals) are considered to be essentially *livestock*?

We know that some species are sentient- ponies and their variations, dragons, some dogs.

But we don't really get a clear picture of what animals a pony could walk up to and hold a conversation with.

 

In one of the comics, goats are held in cages and don't seem completely sentient like ponies. Are some animals the equivalent of our monkeys/apes then (that is, a rough variation on a similar physical appearance)? What do you think?

[Corpulent Brony 41]

We've seen pigs in the show and they do seem to be treated kinda like livestock.  But the question I have is: WHY?  Why would the ponies have livestock?  Cows sort of make sense, because for some reason the ponies drink milk, and they've been seen to also eat eggs.  But why pigs?  Thinking of it sorta hurts my head lol

[Fhaolan 4,484]

We've seen pigs in the show and they do seem to be treated kinda like livestock.  But the question I have is: WHY?  Why would the ponies have livestock?  Cows sort of make sense, because for some reason the ponies drink milk, and they've been seen to also eat eggs.  But why pigs?  Thinking of it sorta hurts my head lol

 

Pigs are excellent at clearing land. If you've got a parcel you need turned into a pasture, you can't beat a pig. They'll eat everything and grub out the roots as well.

 

In any case, it's not particularly clear where the 'animal'/'sophont' line is. Cows, Sheep and Goats have all been portrayed as livestock at one point, and yet they've spoken or held jobs at other points. Rather confusing.

[The Awesome One 1,315]

The show depicts the Ponies as basically being humans but with hooves but I don't think they noticed the fact that Ponies should not be eating eggs or keeping Pigs as livestock for that matter. Unless Equestria exports pig meat to the Griffon Kingdom.

 

Or maybe they do not care about these little details because the audience this show was supposed to cater too would not notice them and they just thought, Ehh...who cares?

Edited May 6, 2015 by The Awesome One

[simba86 1,541]

hard to tell, fluttershy has a pet goat and yet iron will has a couple that work for him and they seem kinda smart but can't talk, cows seem to be kind of sentinent , looks like chickens are totally livestock though

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,162]

Well, just as we have dogs that are sapient (Diamond Dogs) and pets (Winona), then it's possible that society is multi-tiered. I'd say it's possible that being livestock can be considered a career path if that is how one prefers to live; ie the speaking cows.

 

Bad thing is we just don't have a canon explanation for this.

[pony.colin 156]

Is it sentient? Yes?  Is it sapient as well?

 

I always find it funny that in a work of fiction, if you give the "animals" the capacity to talk and communicate with the "main species" I'll start to ask, "so now that they can talk, about how long do you think it will take before they are able to think for themselves?"

 

Because if it turns out, they were sapient all along, well the self-realizing fridge horror start to sink in that ponies might be committing signs of slavery on the other quadruped kind.  Just think about it, if all non-pony animals that have previously been involved in the role of being livestock, animals that are used to produce commodities such as food, fibers or labour service, - if they begin to think for themselves, and start to become self-conscious of their existence in relation to social hierarchy crafted by ponies - then it can lead to the same argument about basic animals rights - the basic right to not be treated as a piece of property and basic right to be protected from unnecessary suffering.  The closer an animal gets to being sapient like to (humans) the main species of its story, the more legitimate an argument can be made that these animals deserve the right to live like (humans) ponies, entitled to right to life, right to avoid unnecessary suffering, right to be free, right for representation (and so on).  (The only reason animal rights haven't been made to being full on par with human rights is because humans are going to be bias towards their own species first in most cases.)

 

Of course mlp:fim is so loose with its association of what is sapient and sentient animal and what is just a sentient animal that it ignores this issue altogether.  And what about 'mules' ? They've been the butt end of jokes and have been used as a insulting term before (Rarity in a dog and a pony show for example). Of course they have displayed evidence of creatures that can learn and develop skills (Mulia Mild for example and her culinary skill).  Ponies so racist lul.

 

Anyways, BOVINE RIGHTS, BOVINE RIGHTS, BOVINE RIGHTS!!!

 

 

 

http://horsepower.emeraldcoastcomics.net/50

 

Or possibly, cows might not be sapient for the time being and might only exhibit sentient characteristics for now. 

Edited May 6, 2015 by pony.colin

[colt_following 169]

So much beauty in your writing, pony.colin!!!

I think it makes a unique polarization of the social hierarchy when you can actually pretty much have self-thinking and essentially mindless creatures in one species.

For all intents and purposes, I'd consider cows sapient.

Where Pathfinder mentioned the Diamond Dogs and Winona is definitely important, too. It seems that in their world a genus can have different species with different levels of sentience.

 

I question whether Tank can think for himself or if he's reflexive and trope-based. He seems to be able to respond intelligently with gestures like nods. Angel clearly has a mind of his own.

 

This is suh an interesting topic!!

[sweetolebob18 728]

As to "why do they keep pigs"  They can be used to hunt truffles, to recycle garbage into manure (although composting is more efficient), they will clear the land & eat snakes (pigs eat more meat than most people realize)

 

However, mostly pigs are kept to be eaten.  Ponies must have used them for lard before they had all vegetable shortening.

 

Ponies also seem to keep cattle & sheep as 2nd class citizens if not slaves.

[cider float 2,539]

We've seen pigs in the show and they do seem to be treated kinda like livestock.  But the question I have is: WHY?  Why would the ponies have livestock?  Cows sort of make sense, because for some reason the ponies drink milk, and they've been seen to also eat eggs.  But why pigs?  Thinking of it sorta hurts my head lol

Pinkie Pie loves hotdogs

[The Awesome One 1,315]

Maybe ponies export pig meat to the Gryffon kingdom and other places? Or maybe farmer ponies like to have them around?

 

It is a kid's show after all. Show creators probably forgot that ponies are supposed to be vegetarians or chose to ingore it and showed pigs on the farm to make it look more like a farm we would see in our world.

[Daring_Do 552]

On the matter of pigs, courtesy of Faust: