“Why do we keep some animals as pets while eating others?”

It’s a known fact that some farm animals are more intelligent than the cats and dogs we hold dear. Pigs, for example, will come to you when you whistle and enjoy being petted just like a dog.

Yet, billions of animals suffer at the hands of humans each year in the meat and dairy industries, while household pets like cats and dogs continue to thrive. In the Western world, these pets are treated as human companions—our little “human puppets.”

Unlike the beloved pets we care for, farm animals live their entire lives confined in industrial farming systems, unable to express natural behaviors. Their lives are cut short, their living conditions are cruel and inhumane, and they are processed like manufactured commodities.

In 2019, 59.7 million pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, and horses were slaughtered in Germany alone. Additionally, 703.4 million chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and other birds were killed. (Source: Statistisches Bundesamt/Albert-Schweizer-Stiftung)

EU regulations stipulate that a pig weighing 50 to 110 kilograms needs only 0.75 square meters of space. To put that into perspective, based on these measurements and the size of this glasshouse, nearly eight fully grown pigs would live their entire lives in this small, suffocating space (266 cm x 221 cm).

The empathy we have for certain animals over others is a paradox that continues to thrive in today’s society. The system keeps failing billions of animals while favoring others.

This contradiction stems from our unwillingness to take responsibility for our actions as consumers. We love our cats and dogs, treating them as part of the family, yet we consume the flesh of chickens and cows without giving their lives a second thought.

To end the suffering of the “other animals,” we need to find compassion for all beings.

This installation represents the animals humans have chosen as friends and companions. Designed to resemble an expensive marble monument to our pets, I aim to highlight the extreme paradox in human behavior. As a conceptual artist, my hope is that this work will provoke thought about the plight of “the other animals”—those whom humans treat with such cruelty for their own consumption.