Exploitation
800 million animals are slaughtered anuually in the UK.
The vast majority of these animals will have spent their brief lives in the cramped, distressing conditions of the factory farm. Their close confinement and the overworking of their bodies will have led to increased susceptibility to injury and disease. They will have been reared on an unnatural diet designed to increase productivity and many will have undergone various painful and traumatic procedures.
Those that make it to the slaughterhouse (and many do not - dying of neglect, exposure, disease, and starvation) must endure a final journey in over-crowded, under-ventilated vehicles, by land or sea, before they are killed and butchered.
Giving up meat is a step in the right direction - why not take the next step? Dairy cows and laying hens are amongst the most ill-treated of all farm-animals. With their bodies being viewed as factories for food production, they are often over-worked and neglected. When they have been worked to the point of exhaustion, they end their days in the same way as those raised solely for the meat trade. No farm animal can avoid the slaughterhouse and the plate.
The best way to end their suffering is to go vegan.