Argument

Animals don’t suffer when they’re slaughtered because we do it humanely.

Rebuttal

Definition of Humane

Humane, Adjective: Showing kindness, care, and sympathy towards others.
- Cambridge English Dictionary

Quick Response

Taking animals into a building called a slaughter house, to wait in a single file while listening to the panic stricken cries of their brethren with the stench of blood in the air to be (in the best case scenario) shot through the head while they scream for their lives can in no way be described as humane.

Alternatively

Common slaughter methods include: suffocation in gas chambers, electrocuted stun baths, and being minced alive (see Slaughter Methods).

Detail

A 2013 study in Holland (see Slaughter Methods) found “Inadequate stunning occurred in 12.5% [of cases]s” while an independent assessor was present. Imagine how much higher that is when there is no oversight.

In all types of consumption in a 21st century society there is almost guaranteed to be some form of cruelty, and this must stop in all its forms. The difference with animal agriculture, however, is that stopping the cruelty without stopping the practice itself is impossible because the subject of the cruelty is the product. It’s possible to imagine a world, campaign for a world, vote for a world, spend towards a world where the production of consumer goods and food does not involve the suffering of human beings (and we should!). But it is not possible to have a world where animal agriculture does not have suffering when animals are the product. Any business will try to maximise profits and minimise costs, often at the expense of the humans working for them, and this inherent opposition between profit and welfare will always see welfare lose out because animals cannot advocate for themselves. It is nearly impossible for a minimum wage worker who needs the income to blow the whistle on unsafe or inhumane working conditions without putting their family’s livelihood in jeopardy. Animals are similarly silenced, unable to speak for themselves and tell a story even to those who will listen.

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