Did you know that every year nine billion animals are relentlessly slaughtered for their meat in the United States (U.S. Department of Agriculture)? Unfortunately, it doesn't end there; The USDA statistics do not take into account the animals that are discarded, imported from outside the United States, or the many marine creatures that are killed each year. If these other animals are also included, the total figure would be around eighty billion animals killed every year in the name of human consumption (Animal Liberation Front). This massive commercial enterprise of slaughtering unwilling animals when other nutritionally adequate food sources are available is unethical because it is inhumane, environmentally devastating, and unnecessary for human survival. Most people are unaware of the dark side of meat production; consumers only handle the finished product and never get blood on their hands, out of sight, out of mind. But the sad truth is that all those attractive cuts of meat perfectly packaged and presented under the fluorescent lights of grocery stores have a dark history behind them. The meat came from tormented animals that were allowed to live only a fraction of their natural lives before being loaded onto trucks and shipped to their final destinations. The 2010 report from the Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission suggests that most domestic animals have a very sensitive sense of smell and the smell of slaughterhouses can provoke fear and negative responses (2). This statement is plausible, because when the time comes to unload the animals from the truck, they usually huddle together and resist disembarking. They will then be kicked and prodded by workers to be forced to conform: only some people are perfectly capable of thriving without meat. In fact, a meat-free diet can lead to better health. The claim that meat is a normal part of life doesn't have much validity when you take into consideration that it's a preference. One could then respond by saying that animals exist exclusively to become our food. As the philosopher Peter Singer observed, “The capacity to suffer and enjoy things is a prerequisite for having interests” (Ethical Vegetarianism 171). Since animals have these abilities, it follows that they also have interests. It is evident that the interest of any animal must not be harmed. Therefore it cannot be said that the purpose of an animal's life is to be killed since this goes against its interest. This is a fallacy commonly used to justify meat eating and attempts to make the practice appear altruistic.