Why are some animals treated differently from others?

A great deal of us own cats, dogs, hamsters, and many other “domesticated” animals. But what a lot of us are not aware of, or would not like to admit we are aware of, is that many other animals are routinely experimented on, slaughtered and tossed to the side like they are somehow lesser beings.

But why? Why do we treat some animals like members of our families, and other animals like objects for our consumption?

Statistically, 63 percent of American households have some kind of pet living in their home, according to Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, and Americans spend $34 billion on their lovable companions every year.

It is actually perfectly legal to eat a dog in 44 states, but we don’t eat them, partly because it’s probably not as appealing as a nice burger, but also because eating “man’s best friend” is considered taboo. Yet we eat burgers and rotisserie chickens for dinner all the time without a second thought of what that animal went through.

Most industrially farmed cows, chickens and pigs, are packed into spaces so tight that they can barely move. Many have no access to the outdoors, spending their entire lives on warehouse floors, or housed in cages or pens. Without the room to engage in natural behaviors, confined animals experience severe physical and mental distress, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. And there are no laws to protect them — if a particular practice is accepted by the meat or dairy industry, no matter how cruel it is, it is legal.

According to Safran Foer, 3 billion farm animals were slaughtered for meat in 2015. According to Speaking Of Research, in 2014, 834,453 laboratory animals were used in research. (These statistics do not include rats, mice, birds or fish, as these animals are not covered by the Animal Welfare Act, though they are still protected under other regulations.)

So why is it that we consider some animals lower than others? It’s reasonable to assume that this is because of the animals’ varying range of intelligence and ecological importance, but how does one animal’s “greater intelligence” justify the pure disregard for the respect that ALL animals deserve?

The mistreatment of all animals is obscene. Dogs and cats are heartlessly abused by owners who are supposed to love them. Whales, elephants, rhinos, lions and many more “exotic and rare” animals are slaughtered for ivory, meat, manes, and on and on and on. And of course, farm animals are slaughtered for meat and plenty are hunted.

Animals such as pigs, cows, and chickens suffer every day because of corporate greed and our society’s unwillingness to empathize or take responsibility for the animals and the suffering they experience. According to Animal Rights Action, “There is far more animal cruelty happening all over the world than most people realize, with hundreds of millions of animals suffering horrifically at the hands of humans who seem to think they have the right to treat animals this way.”