An argument I often see from many meat-eaters is that they believe it is OK to eat animals as long as they are killed "humanely." While they agree that the meat industry is extremely harmful and their methods of killing animals should change, ultimately they see eating meat as just part of the circle of life. It's what humans have always done, therefore it is what they are meant to do.
"Humane" slaughterhouses aren't a good alternative to normal slaughterhouses. They are not a compromise between meat eaters and non meat eaters. Humane slaughter is just as ethically corrupt as regular slaughter houses. Let's discuss some reasons why:
1. No Difference
Let's first look at what "humane" really means. A quick google search would define it as: "having or showing compassion or benevolence." Nothing about "humane" slaughter is humane. Nothing about it shows compassion or benevolence. Humane slaughter looks better in comparison to regular slaughter houses because the regular slaughter houses are so inconceivably repugnant that anything seems better. That doesn't make it humane though, you're simply just measuring it against the worst possible thing there is.
Bear with me here. Imagine two circumstances in which a child was murdered. The first situation involved torturing the child first before killing it, the second situation involved a quick shot to the head of the child. Both situations are absolutely horrible, right? Both situations involved the death of an innocent living thing. One of the circumstances, however, could be argued as being worse. The first situation involved the child being tortured; they were in more pain, their death was prolonged. At least the second child was able to have a quick death. Does that make the death of the second child okay, though? Both situations are wrong, both situations are inhumane.
2. Intentions
Having the intention of killing an animal for mass production and to eventually eat is not humane. You are already going into the situation with inhumane intentions. Your intentions aren't in the best interest of the animal and you aren't showing the animal any kind of true compassion. In fact, your intentions aren't even in the best interest of human kind - they're simply selfish. Contrary to popular belief, meat is not a necessity. Therefore the killing of these animals is not a necessity, it is strictly for pleasure and a purely selfish act.
3. Betrayal
There is something even more inhumane about humane slaughter itself. Animals are given more of an opportunity to have something closer to a real life. They're given more attention and a bit more freedom to behave in their natural ways. These animals are also given more of an opportunity to create a bond with their caretakers—which they naturally will do. There is something incredibly inhumane about allowing an animal to trust you and bond with you knowing that one day you will shatter that connection in the end.
4. Superiority complex
Humans seem to sit on a pedestal. We pride ourselves on our intelligence and ability to communicate flawlessly with one another. We also pride ourselves on the ability to conquer every other species. Despite having the ability to live up to grand new levels of intelligence, we seem to falter. We ignore facts for our own senseless fallacies. Furthermore, we create even more disillusions to justify our senseless acts. Humane slaughterhouses are one of these disillusions. We justify the killing of animals for our own greedy desires by saying that we're doing it "humanely." We say that it is okay to kill these animals and eat them because we're doing it in a "compassionate" way. We ignore the facts that animals are sentient beings and are capable of feeling pain and emotions. As a society, we are ignoring the fact that any kind of non-human animal can have value attached to their life. And yet we are still creating this fallacy that we do care by saying we'll kill the animals "humanely." This just proves that we are aware of the fact that animals can feel pain and emotions, we simply cherry pick when we want to acknowledge it. A humane slaughterhouse is just a cop out from responsibly handling the evidence that an animal's life has value.
5. "Necessity"
A common comparison I hear from people is that a humane slaughterhouse is not much different than euthanizing a pet. Not to dive too deeply into what it means to favorite certain animals and not others, which you can read more about here, there is actually a big difference between the two acts. Killing animals for the purpose of eating meat is not a necessity. It is not a "necessary evil." There is absolutely no reason we have to do it, "humanely" or not. Euthanizing a pet is a humane act, it is an act of compassion. You are putting an animal out of their suffering - a suffering that you did not cause. You have allowed them to have a fulfilled life and you have respected the value of their life along the way. You did not get a pet with the intention of putting them down one day. Killing an animal, even "humanely," is different. You are the cause of any suffering they may have. You are the reason they are living a false life.
Humane killing is truly an oxymoron. Unnecessary humane killing does not exist.
