Ethical Eating Meat Essay

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Is it possible to be an ethical meat-eater? Well, in my opinion, it is not ethical. There are many animals that suffer in the process of being slaughtered. Federal law requires mammals be stunned prior to slaughter. Typically, electric current is used to induce a heart attack or seizure. Then a captive bolt gun is used to deliver a blow to the skull or to shoot a rod into the animal’s brain. Eating meat is not ethical; animals suffer, they are tortured, because there are not enough Federal regulations protecting the animals, and there are environmental issues, as well as the health issues concerning the consumption of meat.
As the animals move up the line they can see what is about to happen to them, some of the animals struggle and in turn are abused by frustrated workers, who are under pressure to keep the slaughter lines moving at rapid speeds. It is not uncommon for the animal to suffer one or two failed stuns. In this event, the animal may be paralyzed without losing consciousness and may regain their senses after being hung on the bleed rail, I would consider that torture. To soften a hog’s hide for skinning, hogs are dunked in tanks of hot water after being stunned. If a hog is not stunned properly they can be conscious as they are lowered into the hot tanks squealing and kicking to be scalded and drowned.
As for birds, over 95percent of U.S. land animals killed for food are birds, yet there are no Federal law requiring they be handled humanely.[Poultry slaughter is done with neck-cutting machines that routinely miss, slicing open the chicken’s wing, face, and other body parts. Numerous birds enter the scalding tanks for feather removal while fully conscious]. There should be some kind of Federal regulations that mandate m...

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...farmers and ranchers today raise 13 percent more beef from 30 percent fewer cattle. The modern cattle rancher uses less water, produces less greenhouse gas, and is preventing overgrazing. Cattlemen today are more environmentally sustainable than they were 30 to 40 years. Although cattle farmers have a more efficient beef production today, producing 16 percent less carbon emissions, using 33 percent less land, and requiring 12 percent less water to maintain.
In conclusion, eating meat is still unethical, because even with these changes that the cattlemen and ranchers have done over the years, trying to improve the industry, it cannot make up for the damage done. There are animals still suffering and being tortured and more should be done to help them. These are some of the reasons I have for not eating meat; it’s my own personal choice. And I choose to be meat-free.

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