Quote Originally Posted by Curtis
fetish, you've brought up another issue, which drifts even farther off-topic: What rights do non-sentient beings have? I don't believe the Bible is the word of God, so I don't believe that man was given dominion over the beasts. I believe that we're care-takers for the planet and that we have responsibilities toward the less-intelligent creatures, but not rights over them.

That doesn't mean we can't eat meat. Humans are omnivorous, and I, in particular, am carnivorous. It does mean we shouldn't mistreat our meat animals...or our pets.
Well, without pulling out my dictionary, by sentient what I was trying to convey was conscious. Animals are conscious. My cat is conscious. He definitely knows what he likes and doesn't like. This gives him rights. It does not however give him the same rights as a human. We as a society practice humane euthanasia for animals that are either too sick, mentally unstable, or too numerous to care for. These rights also do not apply to livestock killed for consumption. What I believe, and luckily the rest of society does too, is that all animals have the right not to be abused. Animals killed for food are done so in a humane, mostly painless manner. Animals that undergo euthanasia never even feel it coming.