What does killing entail?

1884:

The most abused animals are the food animals. What if they could speak? What would they say about caged hens and cows attached to machines? What would they say about denuded forests and the latest frightening changes to the weather? They’d give us such an ear-bashing.

It’s just as well they are voiceless. But it’s sad. And it’s humans, for much of the ongoing damage is being caused by omnivores. And what’s worse, they won’t admit to the part they play in the damage.

That act of animal-attacking starts on the farms and ends up in the mechanised surroundings of the modern abattoir. The murder, slaughter, execution and torture happens to every domesticated animal used for food and clothing, weather killed for its carcass or at that time when its usefulness has ended. When the steer is fat enough, when the hen’s egg-lay is no longer regular enough or the cow’s milk not plentiful enough, then keeping these animals alive no longer makes economic sense.

But are we humans just barbaric killers, unconcerned for the animals’ feelings or are we sensitive to them. How far will any of us go to have the body of the slain pig at our disposal, to satisfy our taste for ham and bacon and pork?