Introduction - Killing Happy Animals: Explorations in Utilitarian Ethics - page 5

Meat production (An animal is killed and a new animal takes its place:

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that is the core of the business.)
Milk and dairy production (A dairy cow is killed and a new one takes

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her place. Here the new calf already exists, as the dairy cow has to
give birth each year in order to give milk. This calf would be killed if
it were not used as a replacement of a killed dairy cow. So, its exist-
ence does not directly depend on the killing of another cow, but its
continued life does.)
Egg production (A laying hen is killed and a new one takes her place.)

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Aquaculture (Animal husbandry with fish.)

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Animal experimentation, and in particular the breeding and selling

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of animals for that purpose (Animals with particular characteristics,
so-called 'animal lines' are produced, and sold animals are replaced
by new ones)
Sport fishing, where bred fish is released in the waters where the fishing

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takes place in order to keep the fish population on a certain level
Sport hunting of animals bred for this purpose (Animal populations

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are often maintained by providing them with food, and sometimes
tame animals are released for the hunt.)

These are all practices in which non-human animals are killed and
replaced. In these practices, the killed animals are not replaced for moral
reasons. Rather, the animals are replaced for practical reasons: their
replacement is necessary in order to carry on with the practice. According
to the Replaceability Argument, the fact that killed animals are replaced
(for whatever reason) is relevant for the moral evaluation of the killing.
The Replaceability Argument has implications for human beings as well,
which I will indicate in my exploration of the argument.
In order to introduce the question whether utilitarianism is compatible
with the ideal of animal-friendly animal husbandry, let me first explain
what I mean by the ideal of animal-friendly animal husbandry and why
my focus will be on utilitarianism. Furthermore, I will introduce the
question whether we do have any moral obligations towards animals
and relate it to utilitarianism and the justification of animal-friendly
animal husbandry. This will be followed by the outline of this topic.

2 The ideal of animal-friendly animal husbandry

In the last decades, there has been a growing public concern about the
welfare of animals in animal husbandry. After World War II, agricultural
policy in the Western World was directed towards safeguarding food