Although the public has never been so united on a single social issue as on animal welfare, over a billion animals are killed annually in France to satisfy the demand for meat, eggs, and milk, while millions of others are hunted, fished, and shown in circuses or cages. Why is there such a gap between our intentions toward animals and our treatment of them? How can we bring a society into being in which animal exploitation would be the exception, not the rule? This work sheds light from several angles on the reasons for our paradoxical attitudes, reviewing the major theories that might explain the discrepancy between our stated values and our actions.