If slaughterhouses are as humane as they claim to be, why don’t we see more of them?

Why aren’t they on TV? Why aren’t they featured in ads? Why do even the most accidental glimpses of what happens inside these places get blurred, censored, or removed from social media for being “graphic content”?

An ad by Vegan Friendly UK was literally banned because it showed common farming, fishing, and butchering practices that the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) deemed “graphic violence towards animals” that caused viewers “unnecessary distress”. Oh, the irony. 

We’ve got entire TV channels dedicated to cooking burgers, grilling steaks, and festively stuffing dead birds within birds—but slaughter? Oof. That’s a bit much.

Even while trying to generate thumbnail for this blog post, AI refused my simple request for a slaughterhouse image on the basis of it being too graphic.

It’s insane that we deem something too upsetting, gory, or disgusting to lay eyes upon, yet we’ll put the product of that process in our mouth.

“I Don’t Want to Look at That”

I’ve said it. You’ve probably said it. It’s an almost universal reaction to slaughterhouse footage. 

“I don’t want to see that.”

Why not?

Oh, that’s right: because it will put us off our food. Because once we see the horror of an intelligent, emotional, sentient being having their life taken, we feel awful for supporting that industry—all in the name of a sandwich we’ll eat in five minutes then promptly forget all about.

It’s much easier if we pretend the animals die peacefully, that they didn’t know what was coming, and that they didn’t feel a thing.

The truth is, animals fight for their lives. They struggle, they thrash, and many of them jump the barriers and try to escape. They scream, they bellow, and they squeal in sheer terror. They smell the thick stench of blood, they hear the cries ahead, the clanging of metal, the shot of the bolt gun. They listen to the ratting of chains as their companions are hoisted by the leg to have their throat slit, the blood spurting and draining from their body, pooling on the tiles while a worker brushes it down a metal grate in the floor. 

If you’re a pig, it’s death by gas chamber. That’s a slow, painful death—up to a minute of spasming, desperately gasping for air while feeling like your eyes, mouth, nostrils, and lungs are burning from the inside out.

The Necessary Evil Argument

Alright, fine. Gross. But we want to eat meat. And in the absence of at-scale lab-grown alternatives, slaughterhouses are just a necessary evil. If we want to eat animals, we have to… well, kill them. 

At least we have the courtesy to do it behind closed doors—see no evil, do no evil.

Meanwhile, we claim to be none-the-wiser as we browse the supermarket for neatly packaged, plastic-wrapped flesh—plucked, scraped, singed, skinned, scalded, de-haired, split, trimmed, cut, and cleaned.

A living, breathing individual turned carcass. Pulled into pieces. Reduced to a breast, a leg, a thigh, a belly. Or minced into mush and slapped onto a polystyrene tray. Because nothing says “humane” like ensuring the victim can’t scream loud enough for the public to hear. The real question is, is there a humane way to kill someone who doesn’t want—or need—to die?

Are There Other “Necessary Evils” Like This?

The world is full of terrible things. Surely, there are other industries we choose not to look at but accept because we need them. There must be other victims we’re willing to sacrifice to feed our desires.

Like, nobody wants to see child labour, but we need cheap clothes so we can refresh our wardrobe every month. 

Oh wait…

Just like we don’t need fast fashion, we don’t need to eat animals. We just really want to.

What the Science Says

All major health organisations—including the WHO, NHS, and American Dietetic Association—agree that a plant-based diet is nutritionally adequate for all stages of life.

Kids, teens, adults, pregnant women, seniors. From cradle to grave.

In fact, research has consistently linked plant-based diets to lower rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.

Processed meat, on the other hand, is a Group 1 carcinogen, which means it definitely causes cancer. This includes things like sausages, ham, bacon, hot dogs, salami, jerky, canned meats, and luncheon meats, as well as meat-based ready-made sauces like carbonara or bologanise. Just 1 sausage (50g) per day increases your cancer risk by 18%.

So, the point is: if we can get all our nutrients without eating animal products…

We remove the “necessary” from the evil.

Are We Justified in Causing Unnecessary Suffering?

That’s the uncomfortable question.

When you strip away the myths, the justifications, the marketing, and the social conditioning, it comes down to this:

We don’t need to hurt animals. So should we? 

We don’t need to pay someone to slit a cow’s throat, suffocate a fish, or grind a male chick alive, so… how about we don’t?

It really is that simple.

Beyond the Plate—The Bigger Picture

We breed and slaughter over 9 billion land animals every year, not because we need to, but because we’ve been brainwashed into thinking it’s normal.

And it’s not just about suffering—it’s killing the planet, too.

• Animal agriculture is a leading cause of deforestation, habitat destruction, and biodiversity loss.
• It pollutes our water and air, contributes massively to greenhouse gas emissions, and accelerates climate change.
• It’s one of the biggest culprits behind antibiotic resistance, with 80% of medically important antibiotics being used in the animal agriculture sector—mostly to keep factory-farmed animals alive in horrific conditions.

And for what? A momentary taste? A tradition we refuse to question? A system designed to keep us blind to the reality of what we’re funding?

Breaking the Cycle

We’ve lost our connection with the natural world. With the idea of living in harmony with the other creatures we share this planet with.

Instead, we’ve normalised violence, industrialized suffering, and convinced ourselves that if we don’t see it, it’s not our problem.

But it is.

So, if slaughterhouses are so humane—where are they? Why don’t we see more of them? Why is it that, even in 2025, the most effective pro-vegan argument is simply showing people what happens behind those walls?

Maybe it’s time to start looking.

Ready to Peek Behind the Curtain? 👀

Go on, I dare you. 

Check out vegan legend, ex-gang member and activist Joey Carbstrong’s latest exposeé—the sh*t he caught on camera is so gruesome, he made a censored version. This is not it.
If you love bacon, it’s only fair you see where it comes from. And as always, if you’re vegan-curious, Dominion is the classic go-to.