You don`t have to be a vegan/vegetarian to have a moral compass regarding animal welfare. A while ago a large animal home in nearby Manchester caught fire and hundreds of dogs were rescued and people dashed down there to help, give them temporary homes and do what they could. I daresay lots of those people ate meat but they still cared.
My son`s Mother in Law is a sheep farmer in Wales. She cries when a ewe dies in childbirth, she spends weeks without sleep hand rearing lambs and she spends 12 hours a day in the depth of Winter cracking the ice on water troughs or taking out feed to the sheep and ponies on the hillside when the rest of us are tucked up in bed. She eats meat too but she cares how her animals are reared and slaughtered.
I`ve seen how animals are reared for fur and minks are squashed 20 to a cage unable to lie down and actually begin to gnaw on each other. How pythons are bloated with gallons of water whilst still alive so they`re easier to skin. How foxes are shoved into cages way too small and how people like Basso buy from Poland, Russia, China, Vietnam for dirt cheap prices and where animal welfare is non existant.
Yes I eat meat but I care how it`s reared, how it`s slaughtered and where it comes from. I wouldn`t eat a dog which was cruelly captured on a street then boiled alive, I wouldn`t wear a coat which was made from fox or mink but I will wear shoes and clothes which are a by product from the food chain. I buy my meat from reputable sources and I don`t mind paying a bit over the odds to do so. I make no apologies for eating it and nor should I. We have choices and within those choices we have further choices. I choose to eat meat but I also choose where to buy it from and I choose to ensure its from a reputable source. My conscience is clear.