By Nick Zangwill a professor of philosophy and honorary research fellow at University College London, writing for aeon
Animals have no rights. There is a mutual understanding since early humans that they are there to be eaten. They have likely come to accept the order of things.
We do not eat pets because history matters and historical dogs have been bred as pets. However, cows pigs, and sheep have been bred to be eaten, so we eat them. In fact it's our moral and ethical duty to do so.
If you care about animals, you should eat them. It is not just that you may do so, but you should do so. In fact, you owe it to animals to eat them. It is your duty. Why? Because eating animals benefits them and has benefitted them for a long time. Breeding and eating animals is a very long-standing cultural institution that is a mutually beneficial relationship between human beings and animals. We bring animals into existence, care for them, rear them, and then kill and eat them. From this, we get food and other animal products, and they get life. Both sides benefit. I should say that by ‘animals’ here, I mean nonhuman animals. It is true that we are also animals, but we are also more than that, in a way that makes a difference.