Line #19 CarnivoreConfusion/WebComics


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6	[[quoteright:283:[[Webcomic/{{Housepets}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carnivore_confusion_webcomic_8.png]]]]
7	CarnivoreConfusion in webcomics.
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10	* ''Webcomic/TwentyFirstCenturyFox'' originally had the carnivores eat meat (a fox, for instance, once took down a '''lion''' and made him into "lion jerky"), but when a law was passed that made it illegal for people to eat other people, they had to rely on S.P.A.M. ([[ArtificialMeat Scientifically Produced Animal Matter]]). When said law was repealed, people were quite pleased with the good-tasting S.P.A.M.
11	%%* [[http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/?p=1738 This]] ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' strip puts an anthropomorphic fish into ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing''. He is not impressed.
12	* Despite taking place in a [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals Galaxy of Funny Animals]], ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'' has an odd ''Series/MythBusters'' ShoutOut where [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2009/10/18/cliffhanger/ anthropomorphic oysters are testing to see if bubblewrap can protect them from a hungry otter.]]
13	%%* This happens in one of the older comic strips of ''Webcomic/ComplicatedNess'' before the full length comic came out.
14	* ''WebComic/TheCyantianChronicles'': Due to genetic engineering done by a long dead alien race, ''all'' sapient anthropomorphic Cyantians are omnivores. Only non-sapient prey species are consumed and an anthro wolf eating an anthro rabbit is still cannibalism. It is notable that a rabbit that eats mostly meat will have digestive troubles and hormonal imbalances. The same applies for carnivores that eat too much veggies.
15	** One character, Rama inverts it, threatening to '''eat''' a sentient rabbit if she doesn't meet his expectations.
16	** This is essentially the same set up for the Antreyki in ''Triquetra Cats''.
17	* ''Webcomic/DaddyLongLegs'' takes the last approach, with predation being unpleasant but still a part of life. Things can still get really awkward from time to time, though- mostly in that Harvestman's favorite food are aphids, same insect as Crane's nanny.
18	* In ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'':
19	** All critters explicitly fall into three groups, non-sapient animals, sapient but generally nonmagical Beings and intelligent ''and'' magical Creatures, with the ones higher in the hierarchy eating the ones lower. Causes clashes every now and then -- Creatures eat Beings from time to time, conversely Being adventurers dispose of dangerous Creatures every so often --, but at least in the present time Creatures and Beings manage to coexist more or less peacefully overall.
20	** Lorenda Soulstealer is a half-Demon cow Being whose favorite food is [[ImAHumanitarian hamburgers]].
21	** Her mother Kria Soulstealer is a full-fledged demon who's ''proud'' of her position as apex predator and in the backstory ate her own husband (admittedly for cheating on her). Oh, and her uncle is also the villain Dark Pegasus. In a way, [[BigScrewedUpFamily Lorenda is the "normal" one in the family]].
22	* This is a plot point in ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'', of the 'not every animal talks' kind. [[ConstantlyCurious Shadow Child]] is told by her ParentalSubstitute that it's wrong to eat anything that talks. Wrongly assuming this means all wildlife, Shadow starts to scare away prey from the nearby hyena tribe, depriving ''them'' of food in the process. A few philosophical discussions are had about this, but eventually Digger teaches Shadow that if one animal can't talk, it's safe to assume that its species as a whole is okay to eat.
23	-->'''Digger:''' There aren't many...singular things like that.
24	%%* ''Webcomic/DocRat'' [[https://www.docrat.com.au/comic/the-drug-rep-manages-to-fit-in-a-sandwich/ demonstrates]].
25	%%** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20090916222642/http://www.docrat.com.au/default.asp?thisItem=816 And this one -- a wolf married to a rabbit frees the food at a BBQ.]]
26	* In ''Webcomic/FauxPas'' all animals are non-anthropomorphic, but as they have grown up in a studio animal training center, they have learned to see each other as friends instead of prey; besides, there's plenty of chow for the foxes and cats (the origin of which they refuse to think about). However, some confusion ensues when the wild vixen Cindy joins the gang, and when her cousin Dusk appeared to have eaten one of the (named) rabbits ([[spoiler:relax it was an unnamed mouse]]).
27	* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', the only furry is a she-wolf, and she [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00023.htm has]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00183.htm been]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00228.htm shown]] to eat other animals. She [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00193.htm justifies]] this by explaining nature's natural food cycle, but lately she seems to just [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01081.htm go to restaurants]] instead. It's probably easier to go to restaurants than deal with Helix's apparently Disney-fied view of how nature works.
28	* ''Webcomic/{{Forestdale}}'' solves this issue with the advent of synthetic meat that is supposed to be indistinguishable from the real thing. [[https://twitter.com/ForestDaleComic/status/1543562045441851393 Of course Dallas had to try and find out if that was actually true.]]
29	* In an early panel of ''Webcomic/FurWillFly'', an anthropomorphic rooster is pictured eating regular chicken legs. It is later attested that there are "evolved" and "non-evolved" versions of animals, but still...
30	* In ''Webcomic/GeneCatlow'', WordOfGod says that all meat comes from donors -- furries who donate their mortal remains to be processed as food, much like RealLife organ donors. This is explicitly mentioned in the fanfic The Basalt City Chronicles, where Eugene Catlow says he wishes he could thank the donor of the meat he is eating for keeping himself in good shape.
31	* Played very straight in ''Webcomic/{{Housepets}}'', with Grape herself being a frequent employer of this trope:
32	** In "Mouse Mouse Revolution", [[http://www.housepetscomic.com/2008/10/03/stop-the-revolution-i-want-to-get-off/ she ate the communist mouse leader, Karl-Lenin Faust]]
33	** In "Down at the Farm" we see Grape [[http://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/2009/07/06/playing-with-your-food/ heckling a cow about how she was going to eat it]]
34	** In a one-off, Grape [[http://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/2010/02/24/nature-is-ruthless/ casually stomps on a bird]] that interrupted a conversation she was having with Maxwell.
35	** Predation in the Babylon Gardens Woods is alluded to once or twice. The cover of one book, ''Housepets! Hope They Don't Get Eaten'', depicts two members of the wolf pack attempting to eat Zach, all of whom are established characters. When Marion (Squirrel) and Karishad (Fox) meet for the first time, Kari tries to discretely read from a cookbook behind him.
36	* ''Webcomic/{{Jack\|DavidHopkins}}'' plays it extremely straight. All the furries are considered herbivores. Eating meat is explicitly equaled to cannibalism. [[spoiler:Dwelling on sick meat-related fantazies and later ''giving in to them'' earns two characters a demonic rank of Sin of Gluttony.]] "Synth-meat" is mentioned briefly as being the only legal alternative.
37	* ''Webcomic/TheKennyChronicles'' seems to avert this, herbivorous [[FunnyAnimal Tarneki]] seem to have no problem with their non-anthro cousins being on the menu.
38	* ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'' is about a "mixed marriage" between a rabbit and a wolf. As such it addresses this issue with surprising frequency and from several different angles. Kell, the wolf, actually works for [=HerdThinners=] Inc., a predatory ''corporation'' that hunts other animals and sells the meat. Young carnivores are specifically taught ''not'' to talk to their prey, as it may result in befriending them. However, you need to eat the animal that you kill, otherwise it's murder. (There have been punchlines where people have eaten their attackers in self-defense).
39	** There's also a rule that states that predators are supposed to track down and eat ''specific'' prey (animals whom have chosen to live a simple life as wild animals), meaning they can't kill and eat anyone they know. One strip shows a mob-style execution where a Herbivore victim is stripped of his clothes and ID and dumped in front of [=HerdThinners=] in the dead of night.
40	** In a post about a GenderSwap comic for AprilFoolsDay of 2007, Holbrook mentions that there would be [[UnfortunateImplications a considerable]] [[UnequalPairing power imbalance]] if "Kelly" was the predator and "Kevina" was the prey. He admits that George and Danielle are a couple with a female prey species and a male predator, but notes that they're secondary characters (it probably helps that Danielle [[spoiler:was originally a human, so she eats meat and is not instinctively scared of George]]).
41	* The furry SpaceOpera ''Webcomic/LancerTheKnightsOfFenris'' has three young fighter pilots stranded behind enemy lines. Bosco (a bull) asks Jake (a dog) and Mika (a lynx) what they'll eat once they run out of rations, since they're carnivores and there don't seem to be any chickens on the planet.
42	* ''Webcomic/NatureOfNaturesArt: Lycosa'', the story about spiders, takes the "fact of life" approach. Our protagonist hunts other sapient arthropods for food, gets hunted by mantids and spider-eating wasps, and eats the corpses of her defeated enemies so they aren't wasted, and at no point is this treated as abnormal or immoral.
43	* One ''WebComic/OzyAndMillie'' strip features a character lampooning vegetarianism, but characters range from foxes to sheep to cows.
44	* ''Webcomic/{{Panthera}}'' gives us [[http://www.pantheracomic.com/?p=1620 this gem]] about a freshly killed deer.
45	* In ''[[http://fesandernst.com P.S.I.]]'', the only non-sapient land animals are insects. This has obvious implications on the food supply in the comic's universe.
46	* This is one of the major sources of angst among the animals in ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo''. Some predators will make friends with specific prey animals and protect them from other predators, but everyone acknowledges that this is not a typical state of affairs. On the other hand, one minor character is a squirrel who has made a conscious decision not only to eat meat, but to eat only obligate carnivores.
47	* A variation occurs in in [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-12-03 this]] ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' strip, which takes place after a very near tragedy occurred between two species who didn't recognize each others' sentience. But, hey, "Food that talks is not food". Schlock looks for [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-11-30 loop]]-[[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-03-07 holes]]. Sometimes, he doesn't even bother with the pretense.
48	** If it's an enemy it's not ''food''.
49	** Tropers and Schlockites beware: ordinary animals (and for some time, a computer on Luna) are sentient, but humans, aliens, most AIs, and {{Uplifted Animal}}s are sapient.
50	** Kreelies only become sapient if inoculated with a specific microbe while growing, the non-sapient ones are commonly sold as pets or food, which occasionally leads to [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-05-31 accidents]]. Of course it turns out later that they have no problem selling their own kind as meat, and the Kreely government is even in on it.
51	** In general, though, Schlock has no problem with eating his enemies alive (and why should he, if he doesn't have a problem shooting them), and him doing so frequently played for laughs. He does get a bit weirded out when he's forced to eat his ''allies'' from the neck down to keep going during Schlocktoberfest 2001, but he still goes through with it.
52	*** He also had only 5 cryokits for 29 people, so he had to trim them down a bit.
53	* Lampshaded in [[http://www.sheldoncomics.com/archive/021127.html this]] ''Webcomic/{{Sheldon}}'' strip. While Arthur is eating the Thanksgiving turkey, Sheldon points out how disturbing it is that he - a bird - is eating another bird. Arthur tries to justify it by claiming that humans eat apes.
54	-->'''Sheldon:''' We do NOT eat apes!
55	-->'''Arthur:''' Oh yeah? What about "[[UsefulNotes/McDonalds McDonalds]]"?
56	-->'''Sheldon:''' THAT'S '''BEEF'''!
57	-->'''Arthur:''' [[TakeThat SUUUURE it is...]]
58	* The {{Webcomic}} ''Shivae'' has this as an important, if not main issue: most characters are non-anthropomorphic animals, the protagonists are predators, and all carnivores seen so far are sapient (and mostly sympathetic). Herbivores seem to be split between sapient and non-sapient within each species, and sapient herbivores show little respect or concern for non-sapients, even those part of their own herd, and allow predators to hunt the latter. It is considered taboo to kill another sapient animal, but since they can all communicate with each other, it's easily avoided. Then the [[FunnyAnimal very anthropomorphic]] colonists show up, and for some reason can't communicate with the non-anthropomorphic cast members, who they consider to be all dumb beasts...oh, and their society [[WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}} is advanced enough to have guns]].
59	* One of the filler strips of ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'' shows why this would [[http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20080327.html not happen]] if there were sentient versions of animals as well as non-anthropomorphic ones.
60	** Another [[http://poisonedminds.com/d/20151109.html page]] features rabbits and fried chicken.
61	* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', Trog tries very hard to stop [[XenomorphXerox Aylee]] from eating humans. The cast at one point stage an intervention, only for her to eat the group leader. A strip later Torg enrolls her in Cannibals Anonymous. She eventually does stop eating humans, just in time for Riff and Torg to get trapped at the 1999 annual cannibal convention, triggering a relapse (and making Torg realize that it's pointless to try and change her nature). A few arcs later [[ShaggyDogStory Aylee transforms into a dragon that eats potatoes]].
62	* Frequently brought up in ''Webcomic/{{Subnormality}}'' as, despite being higher in the food chain than people, the Sphynx frequently holds discussions with people and integrates into modern society as best she can. Especially notable in that she later becomes good friends with the Pink Haired Girl (and goes as far as [[spoiler:saving her life]] in one comic), yet continues to eat humans regularly.
63	* ''Webcomic/TheSuburbanJungle'' follows the 'fact of life' approach. Except in specific situations, such as the workplace, or a specifically 'No Predation Allowed' bar, it's A-OK to eat each other. Although you might expect a girl to get cross if it turns out you accidentally [[http://suburbanjungleclassic.com/?p=49 ate her date]].
64	* ''Webcomic/SuicideForHire'' features a LampshadeHanging when Arcturus and Hunter, a mouse and a fox respectively, discuss milk: "You know of any wild animals that continue drinking milk not only after infancy, but from a source not even of its own species?" A caption in the border between panels reads: "To anal-retentive assholes like myself: You know what I mean. STFU."
65	* In ''Webcomic/TallyHo'' the main characters are a fox and a hound. The fox is a carnivore but is only ever shown eating human food he has obtained somehow. He even points out to a frightened rabbit that thinks she's about to be eaten that he prefers his meat "batter-fried in 30 herbs and spices and served in a paper bucket".
66	%%* ''Webcomic/{{Thingpart}}'' [[http://www.jsayers.com/thingpart/thingpart67.html 67]].
67	* In ''Webcomic/{{Wereworld}}'', it's taboo for weres to eat weres, but non-sentient animals are fair game, even related species (like Were-cats hunting down normal big cats). In the latter case, it's considered weird, but not strictly taboo (A footnote explains that it would be like a human snacking on primate meat).
68	* Averted in ''Webcomic/TheWhiteboard''. The author keeps track, which species appeared as characters and which as food. It doesn't apply to cameos, though.
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Context CarnivoreConfusion / WebComics