30/04/2026
"I am surprised at those people who love dogs, cats, and beautiful birds, yet kill and eat the meat of other living creatures."
— Khalid Mahmood Qurashi
President;
Animal Save Movement Pakistan.
Every year, more than 80 billion land animals are raised and slaughtered worldwide for food. Behind this number are living beings capable of feeling pain, fear, and love for one another. The decision to stop killing and eating animals is ultimately a choice about what kind of world we want to live in.
1. Animals Are Sentient Beings, Not Products
Modern science confirms what many of us already know: cows, pigs, chickens, goats, and fish all experience emotions, pain, and stress. Pigs have the mental capacity of a 3-year-old child and can play video games. Cows form lifelong friendships and mourn when separated. Chickens communicate with their chicks even while they are inside the egg.
When we treat them merely as production units, we ignore their capacity to suffer. Killing an animal for the pleasure and taste of the tongue is equivalent to prioritizing a few minutes of sensory experience over a whole life.
The Contradiction We Teach Our Own Children
We teach children to be kind to animals. We rescue dogs, keep cats as pets, and cry over wildlife documentaries. Yet, the same society tells them that eating chicken nuggets or beef burgers is normal. This contradiction teaches us that love can be conditional: we love some animals and kill many others.
The decision not to eat animals eliminates this contradiction. It aligns our actions with the values of compassion and justice that we already claim to hold.
Health and Environmental Impact
Health Benefits: The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen (cancer-causing) and red meat as Group 2A. Major nutritional organizations believe that a well-planned vegan or vegetarian diet is nutritious for all stages of life and can reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
Environmental Impact: Animal farming uses 77% of the world's agricultural land but produces only 18% of calories. It promotes deforestation and species extinction, and produces 14.5% of all greenhouse gases. Switching to a plant-based diet can reduce an individual's food-related carbon footprint by up to 73%.
Ethics and Morality
Many harmful practices were once considered traditions: slavery, child labor, and public executions. Tradition alone does not make an action moral.
Predators kill to survive. Humans have supermarkets, agriculture, and the ability to make choices. It is our moral agency that makes us human.
A Healthy, Compassionate Diet
Millions of vegans and vegetarians around the world are living healthy lives without animal products. We have lentils, chickpeas, seeds, grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables that, along with supplements, meet all the requirements for protein, iron, and vitamin B12.
Lentil dishes, chana masala (chickpea curry), vegetable pulao, and bean tacos are protein-rich and familiar. We can live excellent lives and eat a highly nutritious, protein-rich diet without killing or slaughtering animals, birds, and marine life.
Animals cannot protest against their fate. They cannot write articles. Their suffering happens behind closed doors. So the question is not, "Why become vegan or vegetarian?" but rather, "Can we offer any justification for not doing so?"
Not killing and eating animals is not a deprivation. It is expanding your circle of compassion to those who never had a voice. By following the philosophy and practices of vegetarianism or veganism, we can foster feelings of peace, tranquility, compassion, kindness, and love in society, turning the Earth into a cradle of peace and making our lives better and more beautiful as conscious human beings.
