David Ramms

A child cuddles a lamb, then is handed lamb chops. They watch cartoons of talking pigs, then eat bacon. It’s no wonder we’re confused. From the start, we’re taught to love animals and kill them at the same time.

Before going vegan, I said I needed cheese. I said vegans were annoying. But deep down, I knew I was avoiding the truth. I didn’t want to face that I was paying people to do things to animals that I’d never do myself.

People tell vegans, “Don’t show that video in public, it’s too graphic.” But it’s not the footage that’s upsetting, it’s the reality behind it. The only reason it hurts to see is because it’s wrong to do.

Behind every animal product is someone who didn’t want to die.

We see meat, not a body. Leather, not skin. Eggs, not what was taken from a bird who will never see daylight. We talk about products, but never about who they came from. That’s how we stay comfortable with what we do to animals.

If you know animals feel pain, then why put them through hell for something as trivial as a snack? Pretending it’s “just a personal choice” ignores the victim completely.

People say they just love the taste of animals. And I get it, I used to say the same thing about cheese. But when you realise that your pleasure means fear, pain, and death for an animal who wanted to live… suddenly, that taste doesn’t feel so good.

There’s this strange narrative that animals exist to be eaten. That farming them gives them a life. But they’re only born to suffer and die. We breed them into captivity, mutilate them, and kill them. That’s not a favour.

Cows make milk for their babies. That’s the only reason milk exists. We take that milk by force after forcibly impregnating her, taking her calf away, and doing it again and again until she can't, then we kill her. This is dairy.

Animals are “processed" or "harvested,” not killed. We’ve sanitised the language so much that their lives are ended without ever calling it what it is. That’s how you normalise violence, by never admitting its violence.

Imagine a smarter species breeding us, caging us, and eating our babies because we were “less intelligent.” That’s how we justify animal farming. We’d call it monstrous if the roles were reversed.

My first interview with @TobiasLeenaert left some calling him a traitor, saying he was harming the vegan cause. In our new interview, Tobias is back to respond to the backlash. youtu.be/S4tz9iAhpec

In pig slaughterhouses, gas chambers are common. They don’t just fall asleep. They panic, scream, and burn from the inside as the gas forms acid in their lungs. This isn’t peaceful. It’s torture.

People say they’re grateful for the animal that gave its life, but animals don’t give their lives. We take them. If we’re really grateful, the best way to honour their lives is to stop ending them for our enjoyment or comfort.

If you had to say “dead baby sheep” or "dead baby cow" instead of "lamb" or "veal", you probably wouldn't be as interested in eating it.

Talking about animal abuse in the meat, dairy and egg industries makes people uncomfortable. That’s exactly why we have to talk about it. Nothing changes if no one speaks.

A meal takes 10 minutes to enjoy. For a farm animal, it costs everything. We end their life just to enjoy a flavour. That’s not a necessary part of being human, it’s just a habit we don’t question.

It doesn’t matter if it’s free-range or grass-fed. All farmed animals end up in the same place. Their throat is slit. Their body is sold in pieces. Humane labels exist to ease our guilt, not their suffering.

Most people aren’t cruel. They’re just kept far enough away that they never see the fear and violence. If we had to kill animals ourselves, most people wouldn't eat meat.

You can call meat ethical, local, sustainable, whatever helps you sleep at night. But at the end of the day a defenceless animal's throat is cut. Fancy labels don’t change the outcome.