>    I remain firm in the believe that animals are
 > animals, and lack the needed
 > sentience to exhibit cruelty, which includes malice.
OK, try this for size:  I saw a litter of pigs once--all superficially 
identical except for two:  a normal-sized piglet with a prominent abdominal 
hernia, and a runt.  A couple of the other piglets butted or otherwise 
harassed the runt, and I saw one piglet repeatedly butting the hernia of the 
afflicted one. Obviously, all or even most of the others did not exhibit this 
behavior toward the different ones, or neither would have lived to the age it 
already had. Therefore, the nonagressive piglets were what--less piglike, 
stupider, smarter, more tolerant, kinder, less observant, got to the feed 
trough first and so were less hungry--what?
        >--->
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