Animal Cruelty

An interesting conversation I had with someone a while ago.

At first we were talking about going fishing. But later on the conversation expanded to the topic of hunting and the killing of animals in general. The human race is bestowed with brains capable of planning ahead and solving complex problems. We can invent and we have visions. We can make weapons to defend ourselves from fierce animals. In fact, with the help of those weapons we've invented, we can hunt and indeed kill animals much stronger and faster than us.

The conversation I had with my friend revolved around animal cruelty. What exactly is "animal cruelty"? It is interesting that different people have different perceptions on animal cruelty.

My view is that if, for example, I have a pet dog, and I deprive it of food until it dies, that is animal cruelty. But catching fish for self consumption is not cruelty. I'm killing the animal not for the sake of killing alone—I'm killing for the sake of eating that animal. Humans have been doing that for ages.

But my friend has a deeper consideration. He agrees that animals found in higher levels in the food chain will kill and eat those below them. And he can accept that humans, too, hunt and kill other animals for consumption.

However, hunting for sport is a different thing—while he can accept that humans eat fish, he's against the idea of us having fun while catching and killing the fish! He sees that as an act of cruelty, even if the angler eats the fish eventually. I sort of brushed off his arguments, but now that I'm thinking about it again, perhaps there is something in his opinion after all.

I don't think this is gonna stop me from going fishing, but what do you think, do you see fishing and enjoying the thrill of catching and eventually killing it (and then eating the fish) as an act of animal cruelty?