Eating Plant-Based: A Solution to Animal Suffering?
Animal suffering in farming
Even today, in 2025, mistreatment in intensive farming plays a major role. Despite the efforts made by associations to fight against this animal suffering, most farms continue to use practices that are inappropriate and difficult for the animals.
Among these practices, some are particularly shocking, such as the tail docking of piglets. *¹ Carried out without anesthesia just a few days after birth, this mutilation aims to prevent biting behaviors between animals caused by stress and boredom. However, in addition to being cruel, this operation causes them intense pain and acute stress. Piglets suffer heavy consequences: behaviors of prostration, isolation, loss of appetite, aggression, as well as a significant rise in stress hormones in their bodies. This type of treatment clearly illustrates the invisible but constant suffering that animals endure in intensive farms.
In 2021, 447,759 tons of animals died on farms, well before arriving at the slaughterhouse, thus showing the scale of the suffering these animals endure. *²
Most of these deaths are not even linked to disease, but to difficult living conditions, stress, and sometimes poorly adapted practices.
The rendering services, in charge of collecting carcasses of dead animals, remind us of the sad reality: dumpsters full of animals, dead or dying, ready to go "to the trash". *²
Unfortunately, this situation also exposes workers to health risks, as they handle animals in appalling conditions.
Transport conditions: an additional ordeal
The transport of live animals is another difficult stage in the intensive farming process, often synonymous with animal suffering. The stress associated with change, unloading, and long journeys in sometimes inappropriate conditions causes considerable suffering for the animals.
Some animals do not even survive the transport due to the intense suffering they experience. *³
It is clear that this stage represents a major factor of suffering in the journey of animals destined for consumption.
Slaughter: a process that remains problematic regarding suffering
Slaughter, even if it is governed by strict rules, remains a moment of suffering for many animals. Images of suffering animals during slaughter circulate every year, showing that despite progress, some practices remain problematic. *²
In 2013, Anne-Marie Vanelle, president of the food and health section of the General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas, pointed out that "the notion of avoidable suffering refers to the conditions of waiting in the lairage, the proper functioning of equipment, or the quality of the training of the agents who carry out the killing. It is a combination of things that must be checked for both traditional and ritual slaughter." However, she also stated that "despite all these precautions, we can, however, never completely avoid the stress and suffering of animals" *⁴
Taking action to reduce animal suffering
Today, we know that many animals feel emotions and have cognitive abilities. *⁵
This awareness makes it even more important to fight against animal suffering, in particular by reducing our consumption of animal products.
Reducing one's consumption of animal products, particularly those from intensive farming, is a concrete way to limit animal suffering. Choosing plant-based alternatives or prioritizing products from farms that respect animal welfare allows one to actively contribute to the reduction of this suffering.
A concrete gesture against animal suffering
The animal suffering in intensive farming is a problem that persists and affects millions of animals each year. However, solutions exist, and plant-based consumption is one of the most effective ones. By making more conscious food choices and reducing our consumption of animal products, we all have a role to play in decreasing animal suffering and improving the living conditions of animals.
Of course, the most effective way to prevent the suffering of animals is to not kill them, and therefore, not to consume them.
*² https://savoir-animal.fr/cadavres-elevages-lanceur-d-alerte-temoigne/
*³ https://www.viande.info/elevage-viande-animaux#transport
*⁴ https://agenda.l214.com/faq/les-abattages-la-ferme-ne-seraient-ils-pas-une-bonne-solution
*⁵ https://lejournal.cnrs.fr/articles/les-animaux-des-etres-sensibles
