History Main / CarnivoreConfusion

May or may not result in SapientEatSapient, depending on how it is handled. See also SuperPersistentPredator, LetsMeetTheMeat, AscendedToCarnivorism, and ITasteDelicious. Compare FurryConfusion, CatsAreMean, ReptilesAreAbhorrent (notice that lizards and turtles, two groups that include herbivores, get to be non-abhorrent far more frequently than snakes and crocodilians, which are all carnivores), and WhatMeasureIsANonCute. As with What Measure is a Non Cute, do not expect to see realistic animal behavior taken into account. When it's between a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire and a human, it's WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere. Things get ''really'' ugly when ImAHumanitarian or ToServeMan gets thrown into the mix.

May or may not result in SapientEatSapient, depending on how it is handled. See also SuperPersistentPredator, LetsMeetTheMeat, AscendedToCarnivorism, and ITasteDelicious. Compare FurryConfusion, CatsAreMean, ReptilesAreAbhorrent (notice that small lizards and turtles, two groups that include herbivores, get to be non-abhorrent far more frequently than snakes, which are all carnivores), and WhatMeasureIsANonCute. As with What Measure is a Non Cute, do not expect to see realistic animal behavior taken into account. When it's between a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire and a human, it's WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere. Things get ''really'' ugly when ImAHumanitarian or ToServeMan gets thrown into the mix.

* ''Film/StuartLittle'': No rules are put in place for who can and cannot be eaten. Stuart is immediately gobbled up by the cat Snowball upon entering the Little house, and Snowball is given the ultimatum that he cannot eat him. Upon being told about this, the other neighborhood cats laugh at the idea, implying cats eating mice is common and understood, in a world where both species can talk (Although with the cats, its ambiguous who can understand them, and only mice wear clothes).

* ''Film/StuartLittle'': No rules are put in place for who can and cannot be eaten. Stuart is immediately gobbled up by the cat Snowball upon entering the Little house, and Snowball is given the ultimatum that she cannot eat him. Upon being told about this, the other neighborhood cats laugh at the idea, implying cats eating mice is common and understood, in a world where both species can talk (Although with the cats, its ambiguous who can understand them, and only mice wear clothes).

* CarnivoreConfusion/{{Film}}

[[caption-width-right:349: "[[ImAHumanitarian You are what you eat]]"? No. This is [[RussianReversal eating what you are]], and apparently being okay with it.]]

[[folder:Asian Animation]]

Works of fiction will address this in one of several ways:

* By far the most common approach, especially in older fiction, is the PredatorsAreMean subtrope. All your heroes are herbivores. All the villains are carnivores à la TheBigBadWolf from ''Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs''.[[note]]In RealLife, pigs and wolves are both omnivores, eating both plants and other animals. Wolves will prey upon pigs, but only to the extent that they would prey on other organisms, e.g. it would be rewarding and they could pull it off without getting themselves killed.[[/note]] This subtrope is so strong culturally that people assume RealLife predators are mean, evil, and nasty, and all the herbivores are cute, cuddly, and friendly. Anyone with any knowledge of real animal behavior knows that's not the case at all; some herbivores like rhinos and hippos can be ''extremely'' aggressive, while social predators (wolves, orcas, etc.) can be tamed, trained, and even become companions — this is why domesticated dogs and cats, in real life, even ''exist'' in their modern forms.
* Sometimes your heroes are predatory animals. Now carnivores are okay, so [[ScavengersAreScum scavengers]] often become the [[VillainByDefault Villains By Default]]. The usual ethos is that only evil weirdos eat carrion, and only cowards do not hunt. They will be depicted as ugly and intimidating. Often the carnivorous heroes will [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything never be seen actually killing and/or eating another animal.]] Example: ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}''.[[note]]Non-exclusive scavenging and predation is rarely used in fiction. In RealLife, lions scavenge off hyena kills more often than vice versa.[[/note]]
* An increasingly popular option in fiction has been to render the carnivore's prey in a realistic, [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute non-cute manner]]. The prey does not talk — the prey is not humanized in any way. [[NoCartoonFish Fish]], in particular, are nearly always a viable mealtime option, unless they're major characters. Invertebrates of all kinds usually get a pass as well, again with the exception of times where [[BugWorks they are the main characters]].
* Similar to the option immediately above, some works such as ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' and the ''Literature/{{Spellsinger}}'' novels make it clear that [[FurryConfusion only some of the animals have human-like intelligence, while others are normal animals]]. In some fiction, there are explicit differences between the anthropomorphic and normal members of the same species — bipedality, speech, clothing, etc. It's okay for a talking lion to eat a non-talking deer, but [[SapientEatSapient eating a talking deer]] would be tantamount to cannibalism, even for a human.
* Similar to the option above, some works just does not include meat or any product coming from animals and make all the animals vegan.
* Establish that the carnivore is unlucky ([[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Wile E. Coyote]]) or that their chosen prey is too fast or aggressive to catch — for example, Jerry of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry''. This makes the point moot, since we never see the predator eat.
* [[InvertedTrope Invert]] most of the above examples by making the prey totally unlikable. The cat gets double satisfaction when eating that {{jerkass}} [[YouDirtyRat rat]], as not only is he delicious, [[AssholeVictim he also deserves it]].
* The prey is suicidal and wants to end their life. The suicidal prey does this by waiting to be caught by the predator or walking/running/crawling/slithering/flying into the predator's mouth/beak. The predator, who would likely eat nonsuicidal prey, doesn’t want to eat the suicidal prey.
* VegetarianCarnivore: Depart from real-world biology completely: the carnivore can choose to go vegan if they really want to. A common way of doing so is by rendering carnivorism as something similar to [[TropaholicsAnonymous alcoholism]] (''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', etc).
* Somewhat similarly, the solution in works with more of a science fiction bent is that the technology available has created meat substitutes that are readily available for humans and animal carnivores (''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' explicitly pointed this out in an early episode).
* Some works, such as ''WesternAnimation/HappyFeet'', will [[HandWave half-refer]] to this problem, and then avoid the issue entirely.
* Others, such as ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'', will play it up for RefugeInAudacity. The pig knows enjoying a nice ham dinner is cannibalistic, but just doesn't care.
* Still others, usually ones that take place in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals, will completely ignore the issue altogether. The cow will happily join her dog friend for some burgers, and absolutely ''no one'' will think of the implications.
* This may be caused by PredatorTurnedProtector: a carnivore for some reason decides to protect their prey and live with them.
* More recent works will use this aspect for social commentary (''Manga/{{Beastars}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'', etc.). YMMV on how well they do.
* Animals might donate their bodies to be used as food, skins and other products after natural death, similar to real life organ donation. Some animals might even make sure to die in areas with carnivores with the latter waiting for the animal to die peacefully before eating.
* Similar to the example of predators protecting their prey, there will occasionally be an InterspeciesFriendship between a predator and a prey animal, which usually leads to one of three outcomes: 1.) The predator still eats members of their friend's species, but would never eat their friend in particular, 2.) The predator still eats meat, but has given up eating their friend's species, or 3.) The predator struggles not to eat their friend, particularly when hungry. The third variation is typically played for BlackComedy.
* Finally, predation can be [[PredationIsNatural treated as just a fact of life]]. See Creator/RudyardKipling's ''Literature/TheJungleBook'', the ''Literature/{{Dinotopia}}'' books, and the {{Webcomic}} ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', among a very, very few others: Carnivorism happens, it's nature, and it may even be incorporated as a part of both the talking animal economy and social structure.

* By far the most common approach, especially in older fiction, is the PredatorsAreMean subtrope. All your heroes are herbivores. All the villains are carnivores à la TheBigBadWolf from the Three Little Pigs.[[note]]In RealLife, pigs and wolves are both omnivores, eating both plants and other animals. Wolves will prey upon pigs, but only to the extent that they would prey on other organisms, e.g. it would be rewarding and they could pull it off without getting themselves killed.[[/note]] This subtrope is so strong culturally that people assume RealLife predators are mean, evil, and nasty, and all the herbivores are cute, cuddly, and friendly. Anyone with any knowledge of real animal behavior knows that's not the case at all; some herbivores like rhinos and hippos can be ''extremely'' aggressive, while social predators (wolves, orcas, etc.) can be tamed, trained, and even become companions — this is why domesticated dogs and cats, in real life, even ''exist'' in their modern forms.

* Littlepip and Velvet Remedy argue over the former's eating rabbit shish kebab in FanFic/FalloutEquestria

->''"Let me get this straight. You know her; she knows you. But she wants to eat him. And... everybody's okay with this? DID I MISS SOMETHING?!"''

* In ''WebOriginal/{{Serina}}'', this factors into the shared backstory of the Woodcrafters and the Gravediggers. The Gravediggers are a culture of trap-making hunters who prey on the herbivorous, social Woodcrafters, with neither one recognizing the other as intelligent. Eventually, the Woodcrafters and Gravediggers manage to form a civilization together, until a changing climate causes the Woodcrafters to go extinct. Later on, during the Ocean Age, we're introduced to the Warmongers, a ferocious sea-based culture of the Daydreamer species who have no moral qualms about preying on other intelligent species.