chartreusepoolnoodle

Perhaps I can answer for OP. Vegans are opposed to any instance of animal exploitation and commodification. Even if farmers treat their animals decently, raising them to ultimately be slaughtered is exploitative and unnecessary. Plant-based diets are perfectly healthy, as long as you know what you're doing and don't live off of potatoes.

Additionally, it would be very difficult for every meat-eater to switch from factory farms to locally-produced, "ethical" farms because of the sheer volume of demand. Factory farms are as cruel as they are efficient; small farms could not keep up. Eventually, even the smaller farms would have to cut corners to ensure profits, and the animals will be the ones who end up suffering by being neglected, made to grow unnaturally large, or suffering from untreated injuries and disease. The solution that gets to the root of the problem is to eat less meat, preferably none. It is the only way to fully end the unnecessary suffering of animals. All that locally-sourced "ethical" and "free-range" labels mean is that you don't have to feel as guilty about your own contribution to a harmful system of animal exploitation.

Thanks for the AMA. You are very brave to be uncovering what the public needs to know.

Animal abuse is standard practice on factory farms because it is more efficient and profitable. I did some research on farm animal welfare in Canada and it seems that everything is regulated internally; the rules are set up and followed (sometimes--and only because it makes better quality "product" and is more marketable) by producers themselves. My questions: who regulates welfare? Is it true that it is not legally animal abuse and the humane society/police has no authority? How can the perpetrators be found guilty and appropriately punished?

The Vegan Society defines veganism as "a way of living that seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing and any other purpose." People who eat plant-based diets may call themselves vegan out of convenience, but do not strictly meet the definition unless they also implement a lifestyle change (i.e. not buying leather or non-vegan cosmetics).

We live in a world where alternatives to animal use are possible and practical. Meat and animal products are unnecessary, cruel, and resource-intensive. If you can get B12 from a source that does not require the killing of an animal, why wouldn't that be preferable? You are appealing to nature. Supplementing B12 is easy to do, and I've had my blood levels checked twice and they've been normal in the two years since I last ate meat. Simply because it is "unnatural" does not make it any different from obtaining it from meat; my body metabolizes it in the same way and I am healthy.