Of course, the main reason most vegans are vegans is for the benefits to the animals. It stops them being killed, exploited and abused.

Whether they’re raised and fattened up for meat or have their young torn away from them to carry on producing milk – it’s not a nice thing for an animal to have to go through. Yet, humans continue to do this day in, day out.

Although some of the posts over this month will go into things such as milk production more in depth, this post is simply to tell you some facts and figures. It’ll help you realise just how many animals in the world are slaughtered, simply for those who want to eat meat or their produce.

The amount of animals killed in the UK per year.

Cows: 2.6 million
Pigs: 10 million
Fish: 4.6 billion
Shellfish: 2.6 billion
Sheep: 15 million
Ducks and geese: 15 million
‘Spent hens’: 50 million
Chickens: 982 million
Turkeys: 14 million

Overall, this is over 8 billion animals killed in the UK. This is more than the entire world’s human population.

Other facts.

• If the UK human population was killed at the rate of farm animals around the world, it would end within 11 hours. Now that’s scary.
• For every 1kg fish caught and killed for food, another 5kg is caught up by fishermen and then disregarded back into the sea.

During World War II, the deadliest conflict in human history, more than 60 million people were killed over 6 years. The same number of animals die in support of the UK food supply every 3 and a half days.

Worldwide animal killings.

Over 150 billion animals are killed worldwide. Every. Single. Year.

By being vegan just for the month of January, you can personally save the lives of 31 animals. People may say ‘well they’re going to get killed anyway’. As with all food products, if the demand goes down, so will the production of it.

To give you more of an insight, keep your eye on the animal kill clock for the UK, along with other facts and figures, here: Animal Kill Clock.

I hope this opens your eyes just to how many animals lives are taken, simply to provide you with food which isn’t actually needed for a human to survive and get all the nutrients they need.

As always, if you have any questions about veganism, be sure to let me know in the comments. Keep updated on my illustrations, inspirations and facts via Instagram and thanks for stopping by!

Love, always – B
Etsy shop: beccabynature