There are many people who go vegan because they detest the systemic cruelty to animals that is entrenched in society both in hunting pursuits and in farming. Hunters often try to justify that their activity is not cruel because they kill their victims quickly. The reality is that the vast majority of animals that fall victim to hunters are wounded, and escape to die a slow, painful, and lonely death hidden in the wild. From the hunter’s point of view, they ‘missed’. From the animal’s view point, they have been sentenced to spending their last days on earth in a living hell.
Within the farming industry the cruelty is systemic. The animals are seen as a commodity to be purchased and resold at a profit. The word ‘care’ is used to refer to protection of investment. Dead animals are normally sold on weight at the time they are killed, so care is limited to ensuring the weight is kept up. If an animal is smaller than the group, it is killed early to reduce the cost of feeding the herd. Where animals are injured, decisions are made based on simply economics without consideration for the animal.
Because the people working in the industry are conditioned to think like this, the animals are treated as if they have no feelings. They are made to move around generally by scaring them with trained dogs who will bite if they do not move fast enough and hitting them if dogs are not available to bite.
Likewise the living conditions of the farmed animals are of no concern to the farmers unless they have an effect on the money they receive when the animal is sold or killed. Animals are regularly left out in snow and winter storms. Where they die from exposure the farmer looks only at the economics of the situation, the cost of protection versus the losses from death in the paddock. In the wet season, animals are regularly left in areas of mud. In the dry season they are regularly left without protection from the sun.