A legally approved system - <later> intended as an alternative to cremation </later> - whereby, after the death of the individual, they may elect to have their body converted into safe, pasteurised, wholesome pet food (tinned, semi moist, whatever) either for their own pet, or for use in, for instance, rescue centres for lost or abandoned animals.
This is not "cannibalism"; it is merely a very direct form of recycling. There is no disrespect to the remains of the individual, as it is entirely elective, in the same category as organ donation and medical dissection. Many humans consider their pets to be "family" and, since animals lack the moral scruples and confused motivations of humans, they would have no qualms about eating a good source of tasty protein.
The costs of recovering the useable protions of a human body should be no greater than that of prcessing an equivalent pig or sheep carcase for the same purpose.-- 8th of 7, Nov 19 2008 Possible disease transmission http://en.wikipedia...feldt-Jakob_diseaseCreutzfeldt-Jakob disease [csea, Nov 20 2008] [-] animal trainers spend an inordinate amount of time making sure their charges do *not* get used to the taste of human flesh.-- FlyingToaster, Nov 20 2008 It would be hypocritical to eat dead animals and refuse to be eaten by an animal when dead [+]-- Mony a Mickle, Nov 20 2008 OK. Feed it to cows.-- neelandan, Nov 20 2008 [OT] I'm not sure the film was a direct take on a book, but was there ever any other hue of Soylent's finest?-- coprocephalous, Nov 20 2008 Soylent Red and Yellow were the originals, Green was the new offering.-- 8th of 7, Nov 20 2008 Make sure it's USDA approved. [link]-- csea, Nov 20 2008 Feed the goldfish straight from the urn.-- skinflaps, Nov 20 2008 What is wrong with being eaten by worms and maggots?-- quantum_flux, Nov 20 2008 Nothing. Conventional internment is fine, the materials stay in the ecosystem. But cremation is wasteful of both fossil fuels and protein.
// the taste of human flesh //
Well, that's lions and tigers, isn't it ? "Big Cats" ? Well, that's all you'd expect from felines anyway, the sort of verminous predatory fleabitten mangeballs that lurk in houses, spreading disease and bad smells and hoping you'll have an incapacitating fall so they'll get a chance to tear little strips of flesh off your face.
Cats !
#include <EOSSACR.H>-- 8th of 7, Nov 20 2008 random, halfbakery