Humans have more or less empathy for other animals. Some humans (me included) feel enough empathy for other animals, that they choose not to eat them, in order

Humans have more or less empathy for other animals. Some humans (me included) feel enough empathy for other animals, that they choose not to eat them, in order to reduce their suffering. I assume empathy is important evolutionarily to humans to ensure the society survives. As to "why have empathy for non-human animals?": I don't know, but I guess having a somewhat-arbitrary rule of which animals it's ok to eat, and which not, can lead to a certain amount of congnitive dissonance. There are also health issues with meat, that don't exist (or don't exist to the same extent) with a vegetarian diet.