On today’s factory farms, our favorite fuzzy barnyard animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy, windowless sheds, wire cages and gestation crates.

These animals will never raise their families or do anything natural to them. They will never feel the sun on their backs or breathe fresh air until the day they are loaded into trucks bound for the slaughterhouses. Yet farmed animals are no less intelligent or capable of feeling pain than are the dogs that Americans consider man’s best friend.

Benjamin Franklin called turkeys “true American originals.” He had an enormous respect for their resourcefulness, beauty and agility. If Franklin saw his beloved birds crammed into filthy sheds after their beaks and toes are burned off with hot blades, he would turn in his grave. Many turkeys suffer heart failure or debilitating leg pain, often becoming crippled under the weight of their genetically manipulated and drug enhanced bodies. When the time comes for slaughter, they are thrown like trash into trucks and when they arrive in the slaughterhouse, their throats are cut and their feathers burned off, all while they are still fully conscious. But turkeys are not the only animals suffering—cows, pigs, chickens, horses, cats, fish, monkeys and just about every other animal you can think of are used for greedy human consumption all over the world. All animals have rights and deserve to have their interests taken into consideration. Just like humans, they suffer and are interested in leading their own lives. Why should humans be able to exploit them?

The most common reason to become a vegan or a vegetarian is the respect for animal life. Vegans eat nothing of animal origin, including meat, eggs and dairy products. As a result, the vegetarian and vegan lifestyle is often considered horrifyingly difficult, and the question of proper nutrition always comes up.

But never fear, all the essential vitamins and minerals to a healthy diet are jam-packed in a vegetable-based diet. For instance, calcium—a major mineral essential for healthy bones and teeth—need not come from milk but also from nuts, figs, molasses, sea vegetables, soya milk and hard tap water. Similarly, protein is abundant in brown rice, beans, tofu and sesame.

In fact, a diet free of animal products is better for one’s health, as fewer than one out of every 250,000 slaughtered animals are tested for toxic chemical residues, leading to potentially toxic meat. Also, a vegan diet aids in preventing hypertension, diabetes, asthma, arthritis and gall bladder disease as well as in reducing heart disease, the leading cause of death in industrialized countries. With a heart attack death occurring every 45 seconds in the United States, meat consumption nowadays is exorbitant—in 2005, an estimated 25.6 billion pounds of commercially sold beef was consumed in the United States alone.

On top of avoiding meat, vegetarians and vegans do not wear animal skins or use products experimented on animals, including many cosmetics and household cleaners. Vegans and vegetarians are aware that they cannot stop the atrocities that go on around them, but they refuse to participate in or further the cause.

So the next time you settle down with a steak knife in hand, keep in mind that unfortunate cow’s journey to your dining table.