> I don't see how this story, the context of it, adds substantial merit to veganism.

If cows are smart enough to be potty trained then maybe we should not confine them to feedlots and slaughter them.

If you think that how we treat an animal should depend on its IQ, then you are heading down a road that many will find uncomfortable real quick.

I honestly don't see how being smart enough to be potty trained has anything to do with whether something should be eaten. That's a truly bizarre connection to make.

We are part of nature and eat food that is part of a traditional diet or a very close substitute. Whether something is in our traditional diet has only a limited relationship to how intelligent it is. For instance, if it is so intelligent that we have not been able to catch it then it would certainly be excluded from our diet. But in general, that's not why foods are actually excluded in practice, so this is a fringe theory to explain why humans have developed as omnivores that eat meat as well as vegetables.

These are not feedlots, are they? They video would not play for me). These would be herd homes, which are a very different concept. Generally cattle are very happy in "herd homes". Happier than living in the mud.

Golden retrievers may live happy lives, but we don't slaughter them.

If a being is killed, it ceases to be.

If it has no friends/family who miss its absence, who cares?

Death is not immoral, it just is.