Americans are outraged by images from China’s Yulin dog meat festival, but for those who still eat meat from other animals, we seriously need to talk.





It makes sense that many Westerners are sickened by the very thought of eating dog meat. To us, dogs are companion animals. We cuddle with them, take them for walks, and treat them like members of our families.





We’re horrified by images of dogs in cages so tiny they can’t even turn around, yet we cruelly confine billions of pigs and egg-laying hens in the exact same way. We’re in shock when we see graphic photos of a dog being slaughtered, yet we don’t bat an eye when it’s a cow or other farmed animal.





Even though cows, pigs, and chickens are similar to dogs in all the ways that matter, we fail to recognize that farmed animals we kill for food here are treated just as terribly as the dogs killed for meat in China.





Don’t believe us? Watch.









When you stop and think about it, the animal abuse in China that appalls us is the same abuse we’re supporting when we buy animal products here. Our outrage over Yulin's dog meat festival exposes a blatant hypocrisy we must face.





There is no way to justify the lines we’ve drawn between species.





Watch this video from Dr. Melanie Joy.









No one needs to eat animal products to survive. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. There are tremendous health and environmental benefits to ditching animal products. Right now, millions of people are thriving on a delicious and humane plant-based diet.





So if you love dogs and see them as the unique, sensitive, and intelligent beings they are, it’s time you opened your eyes and started seeing farmed animals the same way.



