What about killing plants?

In each case, morality progressed because a small number of people looked at the ethics of their society, and concluded that it needed to be improved. Now is no better a time to think that we have it all figured out than were any of these other points in history. Simply put, truth is not democratic.  The Earth does not become flat just because the majority of the population thinks that it is.  Nor does an activity become morally justified just because it has been going on for a long time.  Slavery, genocide, rape, and torture are all activities which have been going on since long before the dawn of recorded human history.

In this web page, I am going to present logical arguments for claims which, at present, most people do not agree with.  For example, I am going to be arguing that it is immoral to kill animals for food or clothing.  Many people today view such claims as extreme.  However, if a person several thousand years ago had argued for the abolition of slavery, or the abolition of gladiatorial combat, he would have received the same reaction.

I personally eat a vegan diet, which is a diet which does not contain any meat, eggs, or dairy. I personally believe that is wrong even in principle to kill animals for food when it is not necessary for our survival. However, there are many people who disagree with this position, but still choose to eat a vegetarian or vegan diet due to the way in which farm animals are currently raised for food in modern agriculture.

It is commonly believed that farm animals must be treated well, since sick or dead animals would be of no use to agribusiness. However, as Bernard Rollin explains in the book Farm Animal Welfare, it is "more economically efficient to put a greater number of birds into each cage, accepting lower productivity per bird, but greater productivity per cage...Chickens are cheap, cages are expensive."

In the United States, virtually all farmed birds are raised in factory farms.¹ Under these crowded and stressful conditions, birds peck each other. To combat this, workers cut off the ends of the hens' beaks with hot knives, causing severe pain for weeks.² Some birds are not able to eat after being debeaked and starve.³ The federal Animal Welfare Act excludes farmed animals, and most state anticruelty laws exempt standard agricultural practices. These practices include castrating, dehorning, and tail-docking without anesthesia.⁴

Also, federal law requiring slaughter houses to kill mammals humanely has been increasingly ignored as meat plants grow bigger. According to Steve Cockerham, a USDA inspector at Nebraska slaughterhouses, and former USDA veterinarian Lester Friedlander, some U.S. slaughterhouses routinely skin live cattle, immerse squealing pigs in scalding water, and abuse still-conscious animals in other ways to keep production lines moving quickly. Cockerham said he often saw plant workers cut the feet, ears, and udders off cattle that were conscious after stun guns failed to work properly. He said, "They were still blinking and moving. It's a sickening thing to see."⁵ In a 1996 USDA survey, the stunning procedures in 36% of sheep and pig and 64% of cattle slaughterhouses surveyed were rated either "unacceptable" or a serious problem."⁶

Learn more about how farm animals are treated in modern agriculture

View the list of most commonly asked questions about animal rights

1. Peter Cheeke, PhD, textbook Contemporary Issues in Animal Agriculture, 1999.
2. BR Poultry Sci, 1989;30:479.
3. Bernard E. Rolin, PhD, Farm Animal Welfare (Iowa State University Press, 1995).
4. USDA, Animal Welfare Issues Compendium, 9/97.
5. Reuters, 4/2/98.
6. Meat & Poultry, 3/97.