The meat industry prefers to work behind the closed doors of factory farms and slaughterhouses, but the pandemic is giving Canadians a rare glimpse into the dirty business of animal slaughter, and the unique and intense forms of suffering the industry unleashes on animals, workers, and sometimes even farmers.

By now it’s old news that Canada’s largest COVID-19 outbreaks have all been at slaughterhouses (the industry prefers the term “processing plants”). In Alberta, over three times as many slaughter workers have fallen ill than have health-care workers. Nationwide, these killing factories are closing or running at reduced capacity, throwing a wrench in the meat supply chain.

The meat industry raises animals on a strict, just-in-time basis, and slaughter disruptions are most keenly felt in the pig and chicken meat industries because those animals have shorter lifespans and higher…