Because someone convinced a judge that it would be in the best interests of local culture and society to not eat our pets , and other judges agreed and the idea spread . So are you saying what is right is basically a matter of law and culture ? Because I think that position kinda falls flat easily . If there ' s another culture that believes that slavery is permissible , does that mean we have no right to call them out for their shitty treatment of slaves ? Isn ' t that where a moral relativism outlook leads us ? And this is where I have a huge problem . You ' d really deny your kid existence because they ' re eventually going to have a bad day ? Like none of the joy and happiness in those 18 years mattered because of what ' s going to happen on the final day ? First off , just because one vegan said it , doesn ' t mean it ' s the views of all vegans . The bigger issue you are missing here is that these animals do not live with any joy or pleasure through their whole existence . It ' s constant suffering . Would you bring a being into the world that would experience constant pain and suffering throughout its whole life until it was slaughtered ? I definitely wouldn ' t , and I don ' t think you would either . If you choose not to breed a cow , a calf will not exist . I don ' t think we can look at the interests of a being who doesn ' t even exist can we ? Seems a bit absurd . I think this argument also falls flat if we apply it to humans . Surely most of us in the western world could raise 7 kids with relative ease . But we don ' t . We use birth control etc . Aren ' t we depriving those unborn kids of ever seeing the light of day ? And they ' d have much better lives than the cows being farmed for meat . Doesn ' t that seem absurd ? If you let all the cows go from the factory , would they be more scared outside with the predators and cold and lack of food ? They ' d probably just come back to the factory and beg to be let back in . It ' s not about letting the cows free from the factory . It ' s about breeding less cows so less are exploited in the system . Animals are food to me . I don ' t know how to see it any other way . Open your mind up a little bit Animals are sentient beings , first and foremost .