Animal Flesh
The animals we use are very badly harmed. The very best they can hope for is a life that is free of pain but completely controlled by another because of their status as the property of humans. At worst their lives are tortured. Sadly, the latter is true for almost all of them.
One of the best sources of information on animal use is the film Earthlings, the first in a trilogy produced by Nation Earth. You can view it here. (Warning: disturbing content).
Bearing Witness
It should not be necessary to know the intricacies of the cruelty we perpetrate on other animals in order to go vegan. It should be sufficient to realise that it is not morally justifiable to own or use another being. However, other animals, in their billions, endure suffering that is beyond the imagination of most people. It is important that we know the truth of the consequences for them when we are not vegan. Vested interests strive to keep this truth from us by depersonalising the animals they use, and continually advertising their products as if other animals willingly suffer and die for us. But in this day of accessible information, there is little excuse for pandering to mainstream advertising and for remaining ignorant of the injustice we perpetrate by our choices. The following information and resources will ensure that you are fully informed.
Animal Flesh
Every animal used for their flesh died because of the demand by non vegans for meat. Farmed animals do not have happy lives. From the day they are born they endure the pain of mutilation such as dehorning, debeaking, removal of tails, teeth and testicles, castration, and branding, all of which are conducted without anaesthetic or pain relief (not that alleviation of pain would justify such gross bodily assault). Even if they had the happiest possible existence, there is no justification for killing them. All of them are killed years before the end of their natural lifespan. Chickens are a mere six to to twelve weeks when slaughtered for ‘chicken’ flesh. They may look like adults but at the slaughterhouse they still chirp like the babies they are.
Even if they did not endure the suffering that is standard practice in animal agriculture, they all face a frightening and savage death at the slaughterhouse. The fact that a significant percentage of them are conscious during dismemberment is only one of the many reasons to stop harming them by going vegan. The most important reason is that their bodies are not our property. They are not food. None of them wants to die.