"Livestock" slaughter is acceptable

This is a duplication of a debate started by kbub and I was pipped to the post by a more worthy adversary but we have agreed to also have the debate ourselves. The official resolution is: "The practice of humans' killing "livestock" animals for food in the US ought to continue (Is the preferred of the two possible worlds)" The "practice" may include ANY practices of "livestock" slaughter, including so-named "humane" slaughter practices. "Practice" limitation However, neither hypothetical examples nor obscure/extreme real-world examples will be included as instances of "practice" in this debate. Therefore, for example, it is not expected to address a slaughtering of two calves to save one human child on a deserted island, etc. Theory The burden of proof (BoP) will be shared. The Pro and Con positions will be evaluated on balance. Voting limit (elo) Voting will be limited to those with elo scores over 2500. No new arguments Furthermore, the last round is reserved for summaries. Neither Pro nor Con should give new arguments in their last round (R4). However, new analysis of old arguments (such as how to weigh them) is permissible. Failure to meet these standards is not an automatic loss, but the new argument in question ought to be completely ignored by the voter. Thanks for your interest! Feel free to message me or comment to suggest changes or accommodations. Best of luck! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pro Initial Argument First I wish to qualify my stance on the argument proposed. I believe that the current way in which we manage livestock is not acceptable. I will be arguing specifically on the point that consumption of meat as a part of our diets is preferred to a on meat diet and that therefore we ought to continue to rear and slaughter livestock. Point 1 - There is a revealed preference for meat consumption From a study completed by Gallop (http://www.gallup.com...) showed that 5% of the current population in the USA are vegetarian and that this has remained relatively static over the last 13 years. As a democratic society you can therefore see that the preference is towards meat consumption. Point 2 - Our bodies are designed for Meat https://www.vrg.org... Through evolution, homo sapiens have bodies designed to consume a mixed herbivorous and carnivorous diet. We do not have a fermenting vat commonly found in herbivores, our teeth are structured as those of a typical omnivore, our intestines are not large enough to extract enough nutrients from plants. It is therefore natural for us to consume meat and unnatural for us to live solely on a herbivorous diet. Point 3 - It can be sustainable http://www.cam.ac.uk... http://www.fao.org... Current farming methods for livestock are not sustainable but they could be. There are many things we are already aware of that can improve the sustainability of livestock based farming and I'm sure there will be more in the future. Also allocating areas of land for livestock grazing has been shown to maintain the landscape. (http://www.openspacetrust.org...) Point 4 - Carnivorous animals in zoo's and rescue centres There are currently many zoo's across the US and they house many carnivores. These carnivore rely on a meat based diet. If we were not to slaughter animals to feed these carnivores then we would not be able to keep what are mostly endangered species within zoos. A similar argument is applicable for rescue centres allowing for rehabilitation of animals into the wild. Point 5 - Vegetarian Diets to not provide us with the correct nutrients Vegetarian Diets tend to lack several vital vitamins and minerals including iron, calcium, vitamin B12, vitamin D and omega-3 http://www.nhs.uk... Although there are way to include these within a vegetarian diet but it involves large consumption. Vitamin B12 is the most difficult to include in a vegetarian diet. One option to mitigate this is the use of supplements but like all heavily processed products, we are realising that there may be drawbacks to this. http://www.netdoctor.co.uk... Point 6 - Highly processed alternatives The majority of meat alternatives are heavily processed and contain many additives to make them possible. As I touched upon in my last point there is a growing consensus that heavily processed products are generally less healthy of an option. http://www.eatlifewhole.com... Point 7 - High carbohydrate and low fat diets Meat is our best source of good fats and protein. The alternatives lead to eating a high carb low fat diet, like any unbalance diet this has health impacts. http://www.theepochtimes.com... I hope my argument is sufficiently well structure and look for ward to your responses.