Despite what many humans think, animals do not, in fact, belong to us. For example, cows do not live for us to use for our own benefit. They are intelligent beings capable of forming strong bonds with their calves. Pigs are not alive for us to confine in small, crowded cages and slaughter for our consumption. They are social animals known to form close relationships with humans.

More than 70 per cent of animals are factory farmed in the UK experiencing practices such as artificial insemination and selective breeding; there is nothing natural about animal agriculture. To use the ‘natural is best’ argument consistently, we would have to throw away our phones, get rid of our clothing and go live in a cave, as much of our modern day is totally unnatural. Eating meat isn’t natural. But it is perhaps wiser to ask what is ethical rather than what is natural, and eating animals can hardly be considered ethical with the abundance of delicious plant-based foods available.

The world will not go vegan overnight, and the reason we have so many farmed animals on the planet today (70-75 billion) is because of factory farming. As more people adopt veganism, the demand decreases, making it less profitable to farm and resulting in a gradual decrease in breeding. Plus, less animal farming means more land would be available to grow crops for human consumption, or it could be rewilded, helping with biodiversity and taking CO₂ out of the atmosphere – beneficial for tackling the global environmental crisis.

As the dominant species on the planet, we should not use our position as a justification to do with other animals as we please, but rather as an obligation to protect and provide care to those vulnerable to us. In other words, might does not equal right.