Animals Vegan FAQs

Would it be alright to kill and eat people if they’d had a good life? And what do we mean by a ‘good’ life, anyway? In the case of animals, we certainly don’t mean a long one. ‘Meat’ animals are killed as babies in the case of pigs and lambs between 6 - 8 months old - never get to lead any kind of adult life. Animals, of course, want to live just as much as we do. The first instinct every animal has is to survive. By killing them at all, we are taking away from them the most important thing they have; we are denying their intrinsic right to life. It is also naïve to imagine that any farmed animals lead good lives: the overwhelming majority of them are exploited, neglected and frustrated on factory farms – forced to lead lives of misery by a farming systems which sees them only as ways of producing a profit. They then face a violent, frightening death in the slaughterhouse: despite supposedly humane stunning, millions of animals are still conscious when their throats are cut. Even free range and organic animals suffer on farms and they face the same shocking death at a young age as factory-farmed animals.

Industrial farming practices often prioritize profit over animal welfare, leading to overcrowded and unsanitary conditions for animals. In factory farms, animals are typically confined to small cages or crowded spaces, which can cause stress, injuries, and behavioral issues. Additionally, routine practices such as debeaking, tail docking, and castration are performed without anesthesia to control behavior or promote growth. The intense confinement and stressful environments in industrial farms can compromise the physical and psychological well-being of animals.

The use of animals in industrial farming raises several ethical concerns, including the commodification of living beings, the denial of basic rights and freedoms, and the perpetuation of systemic cruelty. Animals raised in industrial farms are often treated as mere production units, subjected to confinement, mutilation, and premature slaughter for economic gain. The lack of consideration for their inherent worth and capacity to experience pain and suffering raises questions about the morality of exploiting animals for food production. Ethical alternatives such as sustainable farming practices and plant-based agriculture offer more humane and environmentally friendly solutions.