Ethics of Eating Meat - Treatment of Animals

Treatment of Animals

The golden rule states that "one should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself". Accordingly, some have expressed the opinion that since humans do not want to be eaten, a human following the golden rule should not eat animals either. One argument against this application of the golden rule is the claim that the golden rule does not apply to non-human animals. However, this does not explain why the golden rule applies to some "others" (humans) but does not apply to other "others" (animals). Some believe that it is not possible to raise or kill animals for meat and simultaneously follow the golden rule of treating animals how we would want to be treated if we were them. Application of the golden rule is therefore dependent on studying what causes duress or pain to animals and avoiding these causes.

Ethical vegetarianism has become popular in developed countries particularly because of the spread of factory farming, faster communications, and environmental consciousness. Some believe that the current mass demand for meat cannot be satisfied without a mass-production system that disregards the welfare of animals, while others believe that practices like well-managed free-ranging and consumption of game, particularly from species whose natural predators have been significantly eliminated, could substantially alleviate the demand for mass-produced meat.

Various programs operate in the U.S. that promote the notion that animals raised for food are treated humanely, but Farm Sanctuary believes that commodifying and slaughtering animals is incompatible with the definition of "humane," which according to the Webster's Dictionary, means "characterized by kindness, mercy or compassion".

Defenders of factory farming argue that the animals are better off in total confinement. According to F J "Sonny" Faison, president of Carroll’s Foods:

They're in state-of-the-art confinement facilities. The conditions that we keep these animals in are much more humane than when they were out in the field. Today they're in housing that is environmentally controlled in many respects. And the feed is right there for them all the time, and water, fresh water. They're looked after in some of the best conditions, because the healthier and content that animal, the better it grows. So we're very interested in their well-being up to an extent.